0:00:14 > 0:00:16Hello, I'm Alex Jones,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18but this is not the usual version of The One Show,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22this is a really special edition, all about my home country of Wales.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24This is the studio, and it's usually frantic in here.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27There'll be showbiz celebrities over there,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30some reporters arguing about who's sitting where on the sofa,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33occasionally, the odd animal, but today, it's just you and me
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and this really lovely pile of Welsh films, handcrafted by BBC Wales,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40that have been shown on The One Show over the last couple of years.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45It's always nice when we've got a Welsh film on the show but today we got them stacked wall-to-wall.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49So sit back and relax and enjoy Wales On The One Show.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Coming up on the programme - deadly deception.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Dan Snow is in the Rhondda Valley on the trail of a man who never was.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00They created this completely false personality, this person who'd never existed.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03- Who is the picture of? - The picture is of a MI5 officer
0:01:03 > 0:01:06who just happened to look a bit like the dead man.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11It's as Welsh as Tom Jones, so what will an English man make of laverbread?
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Jay Rayner gets his first taste of Gower seaweed.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18I must admit, I'm a little nervous because I have no idea
0:01:18 > 0:01:20whether I'm going to like it or not.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Where does a perfect landscape artist look for inspiration?
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Gyles Brandreth follows Turner to Tintern.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29He became known as the painter of light
0:01:29 > 0:01:35and what he achieved began here, in the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39And Medieval mayhem at Caerphilly Castle,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Joe Crowley is catapulted back in time for a lesson in siege warfare.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Prepare to loose.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54- Huzzah! - ALL: Huzzah!
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Let's start with a really moving film.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06During World War II, thousands of children were separated from their families
0:02:06 > 0:02:08and evacuated to the safety of Wales.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10For many, it was an unsettling experience,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13but for Dorothy Young, it was life-changing.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Angellica Bell went to Camrose near Haverfordwest to hear her story.
0:02:20 > 0:02:231939, war was about to be declared.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28Britain braced itself for air raids from the mighty Luftwaffe.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Anticipating four million civilian casualties,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35the Government decided to evacuate children aged 4 to 14
0:02:35 > 0:02:37from cities most at risk.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Codenamed Operation Pied Piper, the mass evacuation was traumatic.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Parents sobbed as 1.5 million boys and girls were labelled
0:02:45 > 0:02:50and marched onto trains, with no idea when they'd be back.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56Two-thirds of the children from evacuation areas such as London, Manchester and Liverpool
0:02:56 > 0:02:58joined the voluntary exodus.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Carrying only a suitcase and gas mask,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05they were transported far away to the countryside.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Many evacuees have painful memories of being separated from loved ones
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and mistreated at their new homes.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15But for others, it was a great adventure.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20And some found a completely different life from the one they had left behind.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22'Next train to arrive at platform one...'
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Dorothy Young is retracing the steps she took 70 years ago as an evacuee -
0:03:29 > 0:03:33a journey that changed her life forever.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Aged just four, she and her big sister were brought to Camrose in Wales.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41They were billeted on a farm with Elwyn and Florence Thomas,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44total strangers.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49I still get butterflies when I come up here. It's like coming home.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Hi!
0:03:51 > 0:03:53'The farm's still in the family
0:03:53 > 0:03:57'and run by the Thomases' daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59'Dorothy is a regular visitor.'
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- I'm back.- Hiya, Dot, you all right?
0:04:02 > 0:04:06It's beautiful here. I've got a question for you.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08What's it like, really, having Dorothy come every year?
0:04:08 > 0:04:12- ALL LAUGH - She's just like one of the family to us, she really is.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15You're always welcome back here. She knows that.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18'The farmhouse has kept its traditional feel
0:04:18 > 0:04:24'and Dorothy still sleeps in the same room she slept in as an evacuee.'
0:04:24 > 0:04:27- Aw! This is the exact room you stayed in?- Exact room.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30- Can I sit on the bed? - June used to sleep there
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- and I used to sleep here.- Did you miss your mum on that first night?
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I did miss her but then when Mrs Thomas tucked us up,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39- I thought, "Oh, she's like Mum."- Aw!
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Far from the terror of air raids, Dorothy spent five long years
0:04:46 > 0:04:50with her foster parents and grew to love her life in rural Wales.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55Mr Thomas, we'd sit on the garden step there
0:04:55 > 0:04:58and he'd make a flute out of a cane.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03He'd cut it so you could go... Mrs Thomas was baking.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05I'd be mixing the butter.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09- So you did things with them that a child would do with their parents? - Yeah.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Was that hard for your mother? Did you have much contact with her?
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Not really. Only when she came down for school holidays.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20- Would you say the relationship with your real mum and dad, that deteriorated?- Yes.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Well, you've lost that bond.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25'By the end of the war,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29'Dorothy had spent half her life on the farm but now faced the prospect
0:05:29 > 0:05:35'of returning to her real family - a mother and father she barely knew.'
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- So what was it like when you had to leave?- Horrible.
0:05:38 > 0:05:44We had to go down to the station. Mum came for us. All crying.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48And Mrs Thomas said, "Could Dorothy stay down here?"
0:05:48 > 0:05:50She said, "Could we adopt her?"
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And Mum said "no".
0:05:52 > 0:05:56- So what do you remember from day, being at the station?- Crying.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Never stopped crying for ages, I don't think. Wanted to come back here.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06Dorothy returned to urban life only to find her parents' relationship in ruins.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10When her mother and father split up, she found herself
0:06:10 > 0:06:15in a children's home but never forgot the Thomases back in Wales.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18You always remember people that love you.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23I wish they had been my parents because they were a lovely couple.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Very caring people. But it wasn't to be.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Operation Pied Piper was the biggest mass movement of people
0:06:35 > 0:06:40in British history and it left deep psychological scars.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44The war had broken family bonds which were hard to restore.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47For many evacuees, things would never be the same.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59What a story, and incredible footage.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03There's something about the faces of all those lost-looking children
0:07:03 > 0:07:05that really does tug at your heartstrings.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09Of course, when they arrived in Wales, it was quite a culture shock for the evacuees.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14But I imagine there was one thing that they might have found particularly intriguing.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18It's green, it's slimy and it's about the only food which Jay Rayner has never tasted.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Richard Burton called it Welshman's caviar.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Food writers have described its flavour as being like olives
0:07:26 > 0:07:29with marine undertones. Me?
0:07:29 > 0:07:33I'd describe it as an adventure in food. Because I've never eaten it before.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35It's laverbread, a very Welsh concoction
0:07:35 > 0:07:39made by boiling down a particular kind of seaweed for many hours.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44I must admit, I'm a little nervous because I have no idea whether I'm going to like it or not.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49The tradition of eating seaweed is centuries old
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and is as Welsh as Tom Jones and Rugby Union.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Probably first eaten as survival food by people
0:07:56 > 0:08:00forced from their farmland and hunting grounds by Roman or Viking invaders,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03it gradually became a staple of the national diet.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Eating seaweed may be in decline elsewhere in Britain,
0:08:06 > 0:08:11but it's still going strong here on the Gower Peninsula.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Local lad Rick Bennett has been picking seaweed since he was a boy.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18So, Rick, what exactly are we looking for?
0:08:18 > 0:08:22We're looking for laver, purple laver. Its Latin name is Porphyra umbilicalis.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25It's a seaweed, and we've got some right here in front of us.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30- It's quite slimy.- Bring some up. - There we go. There's some laver.
0:08:30 > 0:08:31It is very tough, isn't it?
0:08:31 > 0:08:34It's quite tough but in that rubbery sort of way.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Almost like Clingfilm in the way it sticks to the rock.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43- Why should we eat laverbread? - There's lots of vitamins - all the B vitamins, B1, B2, B12,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46- there's vitamin A, vitamin C... - Is there anything not in it?
0:08:46 > 0:08:50There's iron in it. There's pretty much everything you need, really.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I like it in a bacon sandwich or cooked into little bannock cakes -
0:08:54 > 0:08:56oats, flour, a bit of milk,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59a dollop of that in and baked in the oven.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Superfood it may be, but it's hardly pretty.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Then again, many of the foods I really love, like offal,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07are rarely considered good-lookers.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10But good food is not a beauty pageant.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15The method of turning seaweed into laverbread has retained the same key elements for centuries.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19It's repeatedly washed, then boiled for four to five hours,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22then minced to produce a stiff green mush.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Now, that is not looking appetising.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28The laverbread industry here is tiny,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33producing just around 40 tonnes a year, and most of it never crosses the border out of Wales.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37If I've not eaten it before, it must be in culinary obscurity.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Just a stone's throw from the Gower, Swansea's market stalls
0:09:43 > 0:09:46have been selling laverbread for hundreds of years.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48It must have something going for it.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54We have our regulars who come every day, or every other day to get it,
0:09:54 > 0:09:55once a week or whatever.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58But people will try it, holidaymakers will try it.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00They come here to see what it is
0:10:00 > 0:10:05because they always expect a loaf of bread but obviously it's seaweed. They have a bit of a shock on that.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09But what do the modern Welsh think of their forefathers' staple meal?
0:10:11 > 0:10:15- It's not bad, actually.- Not bad? - No.- What is it? Seaweed? - It's seaweed, yeah.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- Oh, is that a no?- Mmm-hmm!- You don't like the taste of that?- Nmm-mmm.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27- Just knowing what it is doesn't do it for me. I can't help it. - Is that the problem?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Yeah, and the taste of it doesn't do it for me.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35- It's very moreish.- Is it?- Very filling. But you can't beat this.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37'As a food critic and professional greedy man,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41'it's my duty to taste this food that seems to have eluded almost all but the Welsh.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44'So the moment of truth - my first taste of laverbread.'
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Thank you very much.
0:10:48 > 0:10:49Oh!
0:10:51 > 0:10:53That is one of those real seaside flavours.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58You can taste the minerals, it's slightly salty,
0:10:58 > 0:10:59very green, very rich,
0:10:59 > 0:11:04full of what the Japanese call umami - savouriness. You know it's good for you.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08I could get used to this.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19I don't know what it is about our traditional dishes
0:11:19 > 0:11:22but they usually taste much better than may look
0:11:22 > 0:11:26and you can actually get laverbread in some of the posher London shops,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30so Jay Rayner could eat it for breakfast, lunch and tea if he wanted.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35If you remember the film The Man Who Never Was, you'll have heard of Operation Mincemeat,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38one of the greatest wartime deceptions ever attempted.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44MI5 made it look as if a plane carrying an important messenger had crashed at sea.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Dan Snow went to Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley
0:11:46 > 0:11:50to find out who the unfortunate victim really was.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57April 1943. A body was dumped at sea
0:11:57 > 0:12:02off the coast of Spain. It was dressed in British uniform.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08Attached to his belt was a briefcase crammed with top secret invasion plans.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The secret documents were, of course, false,
0:12:11 > 0:12:16designed to hoodwink the Nazis. And that's exactly what they did.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19The body was found by fishermen
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and the decoy invasion plans were soon in German hands.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26The deception was so convincing that Hitler was fooled
0:12:26 > 0:12:29into believing Greece was the Allies' invasion target,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33leaving the real target of Sicily vulnerable.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35Operation Mincemeat has been hailed
0:12:35 > 0:12:40as the most successful wartime deception plan ever attempted.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42It saved thousands of lives.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45But very little is known about its silent hero.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Examining the body,
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Nazi spies were convinced he was the high-ranking Major William Martin.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55But they were wrong.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58The planners of Operation Mincemeat had worked out
0:12:58 > 0:13:01if they could convince the Germans that this was a real character
0:13:01 > 0:13:03they would be that much more likely to believe
0:13:03 > 0:13:06what was in his briefcase, all these fake documents that they had made.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09They created this completely false personality,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11this person who had never existed. And here he is.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14William Martin of the Royal Marines.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- There's his identity card. - Who's the picture of?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19The picture is of a MI5 officer,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21who just happened to look a bit like the dead man.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Here you have his watch, his cigarettes, his keys,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28but the tour de force was the creation of a love life for him.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31So here they have Pam.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35She was actually a secretary in MI5 whose photograph was thought
0:13:35 > 0:13:38- to be just saucy enough to put in his wallet.- Wonderful.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44And then we've got a completely bogus receipt for a diamond ring
0:13:44 > 0:13:46costing £53, 10 shillings and sixpence.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50- He's a generous man, I'm not surprised, she's a beautiful woman. - Absolutely.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54These are the love letters that he is carrying on his person when he's found.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58"That lovely golden day we spent together, oh, I know it's..."
0:13:58 > 0:14:04"I know it's been said before but if only time could sometimes stand still for just a minute."
0:14:04 > 0:14:07- So beautiful.- Isn't it? - I've got this funny mental image
0:14:07 > 0:14:12- of a leather trenchcoat-wearing Gestapo officer reading this out. - I think that's exactly right.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16But this was the kind of grain and the grit that actually convinced them
0:14:16 > 0:14:19that, yes, this had been a living, real person.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Although the body appeared to be that of a rich and well-loved hero,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29the reality couldn't have been further from the truth.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35It was, in fact, Glyndwr Michael, a vagrant from Trealaw in South Wales.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Now, this is the house where Glyndwr Michael lived with his mother at the start of the war.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46Not just his mother, but his sister and a brother, all crammed into one tiny room.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49- Is it this one here? - Yup, it's this one here.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53This was originally divided into two rooms. There were four of them in here.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56That would have been the bedroom at the end and the living area in here.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Four people in this space?!
0:14:58 > 0:15:02They lived in conditions of extraordinary poverty.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07- They had absolutely nothing.- There was no father to help bring in money? - No.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12Here we have the only evidence of Glyn Michael's signature.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It's on his father's death certificate in Angleton mental hospital.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20It appears that Glyndwr Michael himself might also have suffered from mental illness.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24His mother died in 1940. He slipped through the cracks.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26There was no-one to look out for him.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31He wound up destitute, homeless, and really desperate.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35He was found having poisoned himself with rat poison in a disused
0:15:35 > 0:15:36warehouse in Kings Cross.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41This shows this young man, he was 34, on a mortuary gurney
0:15:41 > 0:15:45dressed in British uniform just before he is about to set sail
0:15:45 > 0:15:47- on Operation Mincemeat.- Amazing.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Glyndwr Michael was the perfect hero for Operation Mincemeat.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54He was a nobody and nobody would miss him.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Did anyone ask permission from his nearest surviving relatives to use his body?
0:16:01 > 0:16:05There is no evidence that anyone asked anybody's permission to use the body.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08It was simply expropriated for a wartime operation.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15Operation Mincemeat played a vital part in the successful invasion of Sicily.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Two months later Mussolini had fallen and Italy had surrendered.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24An unknown vagrant had helped to change the course of World War II.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27In life he had been abandoned by his country, but in death
0:16:27 > 0:16:29he had done Britain proud.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43A really haunting tale there.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48The true identity of Major Martin was kept secret for a long time after the war.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51It was only in 1998 that his gravestone in Spain was finally
0:16:51 > 0:16:53corrected with the engraving,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57"Glyndwr Michael served as Major William Martin".
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Recognition at last.
0:16:59 > 0:17:05Military tactics have not always been as subtle as Operation Mincemeat.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08In medieval days it was more of a case of chucking boulders at your enemy.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Joe Crowley was catapulted back in time for a lesson
0:17:12 > 0:17:14in siege warfare at Caerphilly Castle.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Any excuse to wear tights!
0:17:18 > 0:17:21'Medieval warfare was a grim and bloody business.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23'The skill of the cavalry and swordsmen prevailed
0:17:23 > 0:17:26'and human life was cheap when there was a war to be won.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30'But by the 13th century all that changed.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32'Battles got much more challenging.'
0:17:32 > 0:17:36By the Middle Ages a nobleman's home was literally his castle.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Formidable ones were being built like this one here in Caerphilly.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43They could hold out for months under siege.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Attackers needed a new approach.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48- Heave! - Time to bring on the big guns.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51- Heave!- 'The mighty trebuchet.'
0:17:51 > 0:17:55'A formidable medieval siege engine capable of demolishing
0:17:55 > 0:17:59'a castle wall, it changed the face of warfare.'
0:17:59 > 0:18:00Prepare to loose!
0:18:00 > 0:18:05'Seen in action during The Crusades it was copied for battles nearer to home.'
0:18:05 > 0:18:06Loose!
0:18:08 > 0:18:13Previously sieges were often just like blockades
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and it was necessary to starve a garrison out.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19But the trebuchet was such an efficient and deadly weapon
0:18:19 > 0:18:23it could shorten the length of the siege and produce a devastating conclusion.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27There had been smaller siege engines but the trebuchet was a giant.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It measured 60 feet high.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34It could hurl 100 pound stones a distance of up to 300 feet,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36but that was not all.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41They could propel fire, beehives, and even dead animals.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44The point about firing animal carcasses
0:18:44 > 0:18:47is if they are decaying, they land inside, they splatter everywhere.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51You have the potential of spreading disease amongst a garrison.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55That was often more fatal than any other form of attack in the Middle Ages.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00They also had a form of chemical warfare. Sometimes they would use lime.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Lime burns when it touches the skin
0:19:02 > 0:19:05so it is a horrible effect and very demoralising.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07'How exactly did they work?'
0:19:08 > 0:19:12They would have built them off-site. They would have built them flatpack.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16This is what we are trying to demonstrate. It would be in a flatpack format.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19You are telling me that flatpack was once at the centre of military hardware?
0:19:19 > 0:19:22It was when you look at the medieval war machine.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26'Malcolm Beacham from the Company Of Chivalry is an expert
0:19:26 > 0:19:28'on medieval life.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32'He has created a model of a trebuchet.'
0:19:34 > 0:19:36The most important thing with a medieval siege weapon
0:19:36 > 0:19:38is a counterbalance box.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42When you pull the arm down you have a counterbalance.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45'When the huge weight of the counterbalance drops,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47'the arm is released with powerful force.'
0:19:49 > 0:19:53- Look at that.- There we have it. - That was perfect.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59The trebuchet could strike terror into the hearts of those
0:19:59 > 0:20:01hiding within castle walls.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05In 1304 Edward I took a trebuchet to besiege Stirling Castle.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11When the Scots saw it they were so terrified they wanted to surrender.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15He was so proud of his siege engine called Warwolf that when he had it shipped up from the South
0:20:15 > 0:20:21and assembled he would not accept a surrender and insisted on seeing it used to batter down the castle.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27But the trebuchet had another important influence.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30As they got more accurate and lethal castles like Caerphilly needed
0:20:30 > 0:20:33to raise their game to keep the enemy out.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36One of the issues of the trebuchet is that because it was
0:20:36 > 0:20:40so good at knocking down walls, you get the development of concentric castles -
0:20:40 > 0:20:43You have one wall inside another such as at the castle at Caerphilly.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46This means that if attackers did break into one area
0:20:46 > 0:20:49of the castle they were then confronted by another.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52There is only one thing for it.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56I cannot leave without experiencing the mighty power of the trebuchet.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Time for battle.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02And of course the first rule in medieval warfare - always dress the part.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06And heave!
0:21:08 > 0:21:10'This is really hard work.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13'The counterbalance weighs a huge two and a half tons.'
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Heave! Heave!
0:21:17 > 0:21:20'Imagine doing this with arrows raining down on you.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Clear the engine!
0:21:25 > 0:21:27It is on!
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Here we go. The moment I have been waiting for.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31Prepare to loose! Loose!
0:21:40 > 0:21:43CHEERING
0:21:43 > 0:21:47- Good work, lads. Next castle then? - Indeed.- Come on then.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58You cannot take Joe Crowley anywhere!
0:21:58 > 0:22:02But it was pretty impressive how far they flung that rock.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06You will be pleased to hear that no ducks were injured during the making of that film!
0:22:06 > 0:22:09We're coming towards the end of the show,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12but before we go let's have something more refined.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Turner is one of England's greatest landscape artists.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20In 1792 he made a long and arduous trip to Wales.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Gyles Brandreth went to Tintern to find out why.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32Joseph Mallord William Turner is regarded by many as Britain's most gifted landscape artist.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Dramatic, powerful paintings like Snowstorm, Norham Castle,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39and Rain, Steam And Speed
0:22:39 > 0:22:43have a unique place in our national heritage.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47John Ruskin called him "The only perfect landscape painter whom
0:22:47 > 0:22:49"the world has ever seen".
0:22:49 > 0:22:53But I am going in search of the precocious young Turner who was
0:22:53 > 0:22:57so driven to be a successful artist that he came here to
0:22:57 > 0:23:00the ruins of Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire
0:23:00 > 0:23:03aged just 17 to make a name for himself.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09Turner was born in 1775 in London's bustling Covent Garden.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13He was the son of a humble barber and wig maker.
0:23:13 > 0:23:20But his father quickly spotted the boy's precocious talent and did everything he could to promote it.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Turner's father was hugely ambitious for his son
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and very supportive of his talents.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27He was an audacious talent, Turner.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29He joined the Royal Academy at the age of 14
0:23:29 > 0:23:33which was the youngest that anybody had ever joined the Academy up to that point.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37He then gained an apprenticeship as an architectural draughtsman,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40so learning to draw very detailed and precise pictures.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44The young Turner knew that self promotion was crucial,
0:23:44 > 0:23:49but his appearance was against him. He was short and slight and hated his own portrait
0:23:49 > 0:23:52saying, "It's no use taking such a little figure as mine.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54"It will do my drawings an injury."
0:23:55 > 0:23:59But the young man who hated images of himself knew which images would
0:23:59 > 0:24:03capture the public's imagination,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08which is why the 17-year-old boy came here to Tintern in 1792.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10It was a popular tourist landmark.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14He travelled 130 miles from his home in Covent Garden by coach,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and then by pony, to get here.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22He knew that other artists had painted the ruined abbey before.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24He knew that these were recognisable images of recognisable
0:24:24 > 0:24:27landscapes that he could make money from.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28So he came to explore it for himself
0:24:28 > 0:24:33and to find his own way of doing those images.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38From his original sketches Turner created four watercolours
0:24:38 > 0:24:39of Tintern Abbey.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41One of the most celebrated
0:24:41 > 0:24:43is the Chancel and Crossing of Tintern Abbey,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Looking towards the East Window,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48completed in 1794.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55You can see in Turner's images of Tintern Abbey that his architectural training allowed him
0:24:55 > 0:24:58to depict with great detail and skill the architectural details.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03He's very precise in the way that he renders those sorts of forms.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06But in another way it is a very romanticised and classicised image.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08You can begin to see
0:25:08 > 0:25:10hints of Turner's later work -
0:25:10 > 0:25:14his use of light and the way that he illuminates the forms.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21By the end of the 1790s Britain was at war with France,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so travel to the continent was virtually impossible.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27People were looking to the native landscape more and more as an escape.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Turner even featured tourists in the painting
0:25:31 > 0:25:33to give it a sense of scale.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38But while he painted these romanticised images,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41his own experience would have been less comfortable.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46He travelled by pony with just a small bag of clothes and his sketchbook.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49He would brave the weather and explore to find the most
0:25:49 > 0:25:53evocative, exciting, atmospheric landscapes he could.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55He was happy to rough it for his art.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00Many people regarded this young man from humble origins as a genius,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03but it was more complicated than that.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Throughout his life he worked incredibly hard at his craft.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It was not just a case of a born talent.
0:26:09 > 0:26:16He put a lot of effort and energy into exploring and innovating and experimenting with his techniques.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20Turner the boy draughtsman lived to be a grand old man of 76.
0:26:20 > 0:26:26He was prolific and prosperous. He became known as the painter of light.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32What he achieved began here in the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40A beautiful place. Well worth the long pony ride.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42That is all we have got time for.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44But BBC Wales do make lots of films for The One Show
0:26:44 > 0:26:48so keep tuning in, weekdays at 7pm.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51I am sure there will be more gems coming your way shortly.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Thanks for watching this very special edition.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57We have really enjoyed putting it together.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59From Wales on The One Show, nos da, goodbye.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:27:08 > 0:27:10E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk