0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains some strong language
0:01:14 > 0:01:19Into my heart an air that kills from yon far country blows.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24What are those blue remembered hills?
0:01:24 > 0:01:27What spires, what farms are those?
0:01:28 > 0:01:31That is the land of lost content,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33I see it shining plain.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37The happy highways where I went
0:01:37 > 0:01:39and cannot come again.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18I met a traveller from an antique land who said,
0:02:18 > 0:02:23"Two vast and trampless legs of stone stand in the desert."
0:02:23 > 0:02:27"And on the pedestal, these words appear:
0:02:27 > 0:02:30"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Nothing besides remains.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
0:02:42 > 0:02:46the lone and level sands stretch,
0:02:46 > 0:02:47far away.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51If Liverpool did not exist,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54it would have to be invented - Myrbach.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14We love the place we hate, then hate the place we love.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16We leave the place we love,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19then spend a lifetime trying to regain it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Come closer now,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26and see your dreams.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Come closer now,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31and see mine.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39No meat on Friday, confession on Saturday,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42emerging cleansed and pleasing to God.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Despite my dogged piety, no great revelation came.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54No divine balm to ease my soul,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58just years wasted in useless prayer.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03If I pray long enough, I will be forgiven.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07If I am forgiven, I will be made whole.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11All I'll need then is the girl.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Suddenly I knew.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Suddenly I thought, "It's all a lie."
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Paradise betrayed.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24There was no God, only Satan
0:05:24 > 0:05:27sauntering behind me with a smirk, saying,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30"I'll get you in the end."
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Tu es petrus - you're a brick, Pete.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Here, people married.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Here, people died and were buried.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49In deconsecrated Catholic churches, now made into restaurants as chic as anything abroad.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Now the congregation can eat and drink in the sight of God.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Who will no doubt disapprove of cocktails in Babylon.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Is this happiness?
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Is this perfection?
0:06:09 > 0:06:11As you are now,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13we once were.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16James Joyce.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33They that go down to the sea in ships
0:06:33 > 0:06:36and that do business in great waters,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39these see the works of the Lord and his wonders of the deep.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Anno Domini.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Removed from the sight of happier classes,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53poverty may struggle along as it can.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54Friedrich Engels.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05'Preston North End 2, Blackpool 3.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08'Everton 2, West Ham United 0.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12'Leicester City 0, Leeds United 2. 'Manchester United 3...'
0:08:12 > 0:08:18On slow Saturdays, when football, like life, was still played in black and white, and in shorts as long
0:08:18 > 0:08:23as underwear, when it was still not venal, when sportsmen and woman knew
0:08:23 > 0:08:27how to win and lose with grace, and never to punch the air in victory.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Match over, pea soup made, my mother calling from the kitchen,
0:08:42 > 0:08:47my eldest brother listening to the football results in front
0:08:47 > 0:08:51of the Bakelite radio, marking his coupon, hoping to win millions.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Accrington Stanley, Sheffield Wednesday,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Hamilton Academicals, Queen of the South.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07And on even slower Sundays, when it felt as if the whole world was listening to the light programme,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Kenneth Horne, promptly at two o'clock,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and long before the repeal of the Sexual Offences Act,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17would visit two of his very special friends.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23..very uncomfortable it was. And I was recommended to a fashionable firm of solicitors in Lincoln's Inn.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26The brass plate on the door read Bona Law. Hello, anybody there?
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Oh, hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34I've got me articles and he's taken silk, frequently.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Well, Mr Horne, how nice to varder your dolly old eek again!
0:09:38 > 0:09:42- Oh, what brings you trolling in here?- Can you help me? I've erred.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Yeah, we've all 'eard, ducky. It's common knowledge, innit, Julian?
0:09:46 > 0:09:48- Will you take my case? - Depends on what it is.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51We've got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- Yes, but apart from that... - Ooh, ain't he bold!
0:09:57 > 0:10:00But the law proscribed and was anything but tolerant,
0:10:00 > 0:10:06as when, contemporaneously, two gay men were arrested and convicted, and were to be made an example of.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10And the judge said to them before he was passing sentence, "Not only
0:10:10 > 0:10:16"have you committed an act of gross indecency, but you did it under one of London's most beautiful bridges."
0:10:24 > 0:10:29Showplace of the north, the Ritz Theatre, Birkenhead, again presents a replica Royal film performance.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32# Hooray for Hollywood
0:10:32 > 0:10:35# That screwy, ballyhooey Hollywood
0:10:35 > 0:10:38# Where any office boy or young mechanic... #
0:10:38 > 0:10:41At seven, I saw Gene Kelly in Singin' In The Rain,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44and discovered the movies, loved them,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46and swallowed them whole.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48# ..Can be a top girl
0:10:48 > 0:10:50# If she pleases the tired businessman... #
0:10:50 > 0:10:55And my love was as muscular as my Catholicism, but without any of the drawbacks.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00Musicals, melodramas, Westerns - nothing was too rich or too poor
0:11:00 > 0:11:03for my rapacious appetite and I gorged myself
0:11:03 > 0:11:06with a frequency that would shame a sinner.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09# ..Try your luck You may be Donald Duck
0:11:09 > 0:11:11# Hooray for Hollywood... #
0:11:11 > 0:11:13But soon, darker pleasures.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17At 15, I saw Dirk Bogarde in Victim,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19and discovered something entirely different.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25And when I was not at the movies, on Friday nights,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I was at the Liverpool Stadium watching the wrestling.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Not for its pantomimic villainy, but for something more illicit.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36And in short, I was afraid.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41As I struggled with my adolescent desires, as I waited at the top of the aisle as the wrestlers swaggered
0:11:41 > 0:11:47up from the ring, their trunks tight across the buttocks, I could feel their body heat as I furtively
0:11:47 > 0:11:53touched a back or a thigh, choking with schoolboy guilt and trembling with the fear of the wrath of God.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00Oh, save me from those dark desires which thrill and compel.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01The world,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03the flesh...
0:12:04 > 0:12:06- ..and the devil. - BELL RINGS
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Caught between canon and the criminal law,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21I said goodbye to my girlhood.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36Here, I wept, wept and prayed, until my knees bled.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38But no succour came,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40no peace granted.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Here was my whole world:
0:12:51 > 0:12:55home, school, the movies,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and God.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01You who damn, but give no comfort.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Why do I plead?
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Why do you not respond, Angel Eyes?
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Jesus mercy, Mary help...
0:13:14 > 0:13:17..lull me to safety.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Between sleeping and waking,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Earth does not revolve,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32and slow turns a life of meagre timbre,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34of dullest breath.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42Between birth and dying, some lovely moments grow, and sorrows, not known
0:13:42 > 0:13:47until tomorrow, cloud the happy hours spent dreaming in the sun.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Between joy and consolation, no easy path.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Some flights of fancy, some colour,
0:13:56 > 0:14:01glorious old Hollywood, small comic England, black and white.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Between loving and hating, the real journey starts.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Let go the latter, embrace the former,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12then fall to heaven on a gentle smile.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Between waking and sleeping, the Earth resumes its turn.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20The soft light fills the room,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24the nightly demons perish from the bed,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and all humanity braves another day.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33'We used to help one another out...
0:14:33 > 0:14:35'and go the washhouse.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39'Do washing for anyone. Nursing them if they were sick.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49'And then, of course, my mother died on Christmas Eve.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'And she left me, at 14,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55'a little baby, 12 months old,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58'and another one, erm, four.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01'Me dad stayed with us eight weeks.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04'Then he got a ship and went away and left us.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08'So, of course, he died after, you know.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11'Then I had more trouble on me plate, like.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13'Me husband never ever got much work
0:15:13 > 0:15:16'and I had to work all me life.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20'But, thank God, God's been very good to me, and his Holy Mother.'
0:15:30 > 0:15:35# I found my love
0:15:35 > 0:15:38# By the gas works croft
0:15:39 > 0:15:43# Dreamed a dream
0:15:43 > 0:15:46# By the old canal
0:15:47 > 0:15:51# Kissed my girl
0:15:51 > 0:15:54# By the factory wall
0:15:56 > 0:16:00# Dirty old town
0:16:00 > 0:16:04# Dirty old town
0:16:04 > 0:16:09# I heard a siren
0:16:09 > 0:16:11# From the dock
0:16:13 > 0:16:17# Saw a train
0:16:17 > 0:16:19# Set the night on fire
0:16:22 > 0:16:25# Smelled a spring
0:16:25 > 0:16:28# On the sulphured wind
0:16:30 > 0:16:34# Dirty old town
0:16:34 > 0:16:36# Dirty old town
0:16:52 > 0:16:56The year moves towards November.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Bonfire Night, a penny for the Guy,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01someone singing Keep The Home Fires Burning.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06As Jimmy Preston and me, the only ones left now,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09roast potatoes on sticks.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13We sit, quiet at the last.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Jimmy Preston who was a real boy, and whom I envied.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Jimmy Preston who once put his hand on my shoulder, and I didn't want him to remove it.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Don't go in just yet,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28please, not just yet.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30But he does.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Twilight and evening bell,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and after that,
0:17:36 > 0:17:37the dark.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12# Goodbye, Betty
0:20:12 > 0:20:14# While you're away
0:20:14 > 0:20:17# Send me a letter to tell me that you're better
0:20:17 > 0:20:20# Goodbye, Betty, and while you're away
0:20:20 > 0:20:23# And don't forget your old pal Anne
0:20:23 > 0:20:25# Goodbye, Anne,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27# While you're away
0:20:27 > 0:20:30# Send me a letter to tell me that you're better
0:20:30 > 0:20:33# Goodbye, Anne, and while you're away
0:20:33 > 0:20:36# Don't forget your old pal Pat. #
0:22:10 > 0:22:13# He bought me a shawl of red, white, and blue
0:22:13 > 0:22:17# And when we got married he tore it in two
0:22:17 > 0:22:21# Oh, gee, I love him, I can't deny it
0:22:21 > 0:22:24# I'll be with him wherever he goes. #
0:22:46 > 0:22:49I would have liked to have worked on, but they threw me out,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51because I was old.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54It's a sin to grow old, you know.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59We had an old lady here, and erm... She...
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Everybody would run and get her a cup of tea, and they'd wait on her,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06and do all those little things, but she'd always say, "Nobody wants me."
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Well, I mean, if you take that attitude,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13you can't expect anyone to want you, can you?
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Oh, watch and pray, watch and pray.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Do you remember, you who are no longer young, and you who still are,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27do you remember the months of November and December?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Wet shoes and leaking galoshes,
0:23:30 > 0:23:36and for the first time, chilblains, with Christmas in the air.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43God was in his heaven, and, oh, how I believed, oh, how fervent I was.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48And on Christmas Eve, pork roasting in the oven, the parlour cleaned,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50with fruit along the sideboard.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55A pound of apples, tangerines in tissue paper, a bowl of nuts,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and our annual, exotic pomegranate.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Do you remember?
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Do you?
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Will you ever forget?
0:24:05 > 0:24:07- LAUGHTER - Happy days.
0:24:09 > 0:24:15My mother, generous with her small nest egg of £25, borrowed from the Leigh & Lend.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Love and cellophane.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23My brothers, with their made-to-measure suits, bought on HP.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27My sisters and a dab of scent, maybe only Evening In Paris,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32but making it seem as if the whole world was drenched in Chanel.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Being taken to the pictures, and in all those movies,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40it was always Christmas, and it was always perfect.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Young At Heart,
0:24:46 > 0:24:47All That Heaven Allows,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51but all, all are gone,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53the old familiar faces.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00And yet, time renders -
0:25:00 > 0:25:04deceive the eye, deceive the heart.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07A valediction and an epitaph.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12Now, voyager, go forth, to seek and find.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19But my eldest brother, lying in an army hospital in Leamington Spa,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21he will not go to war.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23He will be safe.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Cometh the hour, cometh the man,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32cometh the Korean War.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50# The road is long
0:25:50 > 0:25:55# With many a winding turn
0:25:57 > 0:25:59# That leads us
0:25:59 > 0:26:05# Who knows where
0:26:05 > 0:26:09# Who knows where
0:26:11 > 0:26:16# But I'm strong
0:26:16 > 0:26:22# Strong enough to carry
0:26:25 > 0:26:27# He ain't heavy
0:26:30 > 0:26:32# He's my brother
0:26:35 > 0:26:40# So on we go
0:26:40 > 0:26:47# His welfare is my concern
0:26:47 > 0:26:51# No burden is he
0:26:51 > 0:26:55# To bear
0:26:55 > 0:26:59# We'll get there
0:27:01 > 0:27:06# For I know
0:27:06 > 0:27:14# He will not encumber me
0:27:16 > 0:27:18# He ain't heavy
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# He's my brother
0:27:27 > 0:27:28# If I'm laden
0:27:30 > 0:27:33# At all
0:27:33 > 0:27:35# I'm laden
0:27:36 > 0:27:39# With sadness
0:27:39 > 0:27:45# That everyone's heart
0:27:45 > 0:27:48# Isn't filled
0:27:48 > 0:27:52# With the gladness
0:27:52 > 0:27:55# Of love
0:27:57 > 0:28:00# For one another... #
0:28:02 > 0:28:07For Queen, country, and the civil list.
0:28:07 > 0:28:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Yet, all over the country, street parties were held
0:28:11 > 0:28:14to celebrate the start of The Betty Windsor Show.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21When the golden couple married in 1947,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25the following was lavished on the ceremony -
0:28:25 > 0:28:28jewellery from other Royals, a washing machine,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31a fridge, 76 handkerchiefs,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34148 pairs of stockings, 38 handbags,
0:28:34 > 0:28:3716 nightgowns, 500 cases of tinned pineapple,
0:28:37 > 0:28:4010,000 telegrams, 2,000 guests,
0:28:40 > 0:28:46five kings, seven queens, eight princes, and ten princesses.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50And for the 10,000 pearls sewn onto her wedding dress,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Her Majesty allegedly saved all her clothing coupons.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55PARTY HORNS SQUEAK
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Even more money was wasted on her coronation,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04as yet another fossil monarchy justified its existence by "tradition",
0:29:04 > 0:29:06and deluded itself with the notion of "duty".
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Privileged to the last, whilst in England's green and pleasant land,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13the rest of the nation survived
0:29:13 > 0:29:18on rationing in some of the worst slums in Europe.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25And in bonny Scotland, they gave Her Majesty a 21-hose salute.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Or maybe they were just taking the piss.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35# Vivat
0:29:35 > 0:29:37# Regina
0:29:39 > 0:29:43# Vivat Regina Elizabetha
0:29:44 > 0:29:47# Vivat! Vivat! Vivat! #
0:29:55 > 0:29:57After Korea, EOKA, and Mau Mau,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01India had gone. Soon Africa would go.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06Then Suez as a last hurrah, leaving only a fading memory
0:30:06 > 0:30:08of when most of the globe was red,
0:30:08 > 0:30:14and Victoria was the first and only diminutive bourgeoisie imperatrix.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Betty and Phil with a thousand flunkies.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27"The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time."
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Willem de Kooning.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33"The trouble with being rich is that it takes up everybody else's."
0:30:36 > 0:30:39After farce...realism.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50The heart that beats beneath the heart is tender, is not savage.
0:30:50 > 0:30:56It beats in time, though years apart from struggle's silent marriage
0:30:56 > 0:30:59of storm and stress, of quiet love,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03as when the lights begin to fall and he just smiles
0:31:03 > 0:31:07as she just hums, a tune that fitted like a glove,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11that tapped its rhyme, still and small, into their room,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14when nightfall thrums a kind of peace
0:31:14 > 0:31:20that soothes the heart and lets the years fall from nought and down
0:31:20 > 0:31:23as they shuffle off to bed apart,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27then meet again beneath the eiderdown.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04# Someday
0:32:05 > 0:32:07# We'll build a home
0:32:07 > 0:32:11# On a hilltop high
0:32:12 > 0:32:15# You and I
0:32:15 > 0:32:19# Shiny and new
0:32:19 > 0:32:22# A cottage that two
0:32:22 > 0:32:25# Can fill
0:32:28 > 0:32:31# And we'll be pleased
0:32:31 > 0:32:34# To be called
0:32:36 > 0:32:38# The folks who live
0:32:38 > 0:32:41# On the hill
0:32:48 > 0:32:50# Someday
0:32:50 > 0:32:55# We may be adding
0:32:55 > 0:32:57# A wing or two
0:32:58 > 0:33:02# A thing or two
0:33:02 > 0:33:05# We will make changes
0:33:07 > 0:33:11# As any family will
0:33:14 > 0:33:19# But we will always be called
0:33:22 > 0:33:25# The folks who live
0:33:25 > 0:33:28# On the hill
0:33:33 > 0:33:37# Our veranda
0:33:37 > 0:33:40# Will command a view
0:33:40 > 0:33:43# Of meadows green
0:33:43 > 0:33:45# The sort of view
0:33:45 > 0:33:48# That seems to want
0:33:48 > 0:33:51# To be seen
0:33:54 > 0:33:58# And when the kids grow up
0:33:58 > 0:34:01# And leave us
0:34:03 > 0:34:06# We'll sit and look
0:34:06 > 0:34:10# At that same old view
0:34:10 > 0:34:14# Just we two
0:34:14 > 0:34:18# Baby and Joe
0:34:18 > 0:34:21# Who used to be
0:34:21 > 0:34:24# Jack and Jill
0:34:26 > 0:34:30# The folks who like to be called
0:34:33 > 0:34:40# What they have always been called
0:34:42 > 0:34:46# The folks who live
0:34:46 > 0:34:53# On the hill. #
0:35:06 > 0:35:10By the waters of Babylon, where we sat down,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13we wept when we remembered Zion.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16And they that carried us away captive
0:35:16 > 0:35:21required of us a song, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion."
0:35:21 > 0:35:26But how shall we sing in a strange land?
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31# For goodness sake
0:35:32 > 0:35:35# I got the hippy, hippy shakes
0:35:36 > 0:35:37# Yeah, I got the shakes
0:35:39 > 0:35:42# I got the hippy, hippy shakes
0:35:42 > 0:35:44# Ooh, I can't sit still... #
0:35:44 > 0:35:49And in an era when pop music was still demure, before Presley,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52before the Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo -
0:35:52 > 0:35:54not so much a musical phenomenon,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56more like a firm of provincial solicitors.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04When they are given the freedom of the city, Teddy Johnson and Pearl Carr,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07Dickie Valentine, Lita Roza, Alma Cogan,
0:36:07 > 0:36:13sedate British pop was screamed away on a tide of Merseybeat
0:36:13 > 0:36:15and the witty lyric and the well-crafted love song
0:36:15 > 0:36:20seeming as antiquated as antimacassars or curling tongs.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28After the rise of rock and roll, my interest in popular music waned.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32And as it declined, my love of classical music increased.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37Sibelius, Shostakovich and my beloved Bruckner.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42Then, in my overwrought adolescent state of mind, I discovered Mahler
0:36:42 > 0:36:46and responded completely to his every overwrought note.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52And in classical music, they had such wonderful foreign names -
0:36:52 > 0:36:57Amy Shuard, Otto Klemperer, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Anneliese Rothenberger.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Furtwangler and Munch, Knappertsbusch and Gauk,
0:37:00 > 0:37:05Robert Merrill and Jussi Bjorling, the Pearl Fishers.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17But there was still ballroom dancing,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19as staid as a funeral parlour.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Hectares of tulle, Brylcreem, and the Fishtail.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26accompanied by Victor Silvester and his famous orchestral whine,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30as thin as a two-step, as quick as a foxtrot.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46ALL CHANT
0:37:54 > 0:37:58ALL CHANT
0:38:01 > 0:38:06A thousand-throng Aintree racecourse for the biggest event of the steeplechasing world,
0:38:06 > 0:38:07the Grand National.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Umbrella weather won't stop the crowds coming to this racing classic.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17All of Britain listened to the Grand National on radios as small and brown as Hovis, made bets,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19off-course and absolutely illegal,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23but it was only once a year and a shilling win, so where was the harm?
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Sundew, ESB, Early Mist.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Even Mum opened her purse for her annual little flutter and said,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35"I really fancy Quare Times... each way."
0:38:35 > 0:38:38M'as-Tu-Vu has a slight lead from Sundew as they turn away
0:38:38 > 0:38:42from the stands and back towards the 14 jumps they have to tackle again.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Bob Danvers-Walker, the voice of British Pathe,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Michael O'Hehir, Peter O'Sullevan - the voices of racing,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53listening to their controlled excitement pouring through the wireless.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57And Quare Times, who cost his owner only 300 guineas,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00has won the National. A 12-lengh victory...
0:39:00 > 0:39:05Mum, smiling at her small win, and those who've lost think, "Well, there's always next year.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07"God willing."
0:39:09 > 0:39:14The 12th of July and the Orange Day Parade through the city,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17winding their way towards Exchange station and Southport
0:39:17 > 0:39:19to toast King Billy,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23and say, "Fuck the Pope, and all those Fenian bastards."
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Whatever, whoever they were.
0:39:27 > 0:39:28And on the train coming home,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33slightly the worse for wear, howling at the papist moon.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38But no religious divide in my street,
0:39:38 > 0:39:43just quiet acceptance that Catholics did everything in mysterious Latin,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47while Protestants sang Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam
0:39:47 > 0:39:49in plain, no-nonsense English.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Although, sometimes,
0:39:51 > 0:39:57it felt as if one's entire world was one long Sunday afternoon.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Nothing to do, nowhere to go.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Then Mum or one of my sisters would say,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04"Lets have a day out next week,"
0:40:04 > 0:40:09and the ensuing seven days were streaked and gilded.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12But you still had to wait.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16Those days, queuing was de rigeur,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19queuing modestly for modest entertainment at the local fete
0:40:19 > 0:40:23in posh parts of the city like Stoneycroft,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27where they sounded their Hs and knew what sculleries were.
0:40:30 > 0:40:35A jumble sale, a fancy dress parade, a foot race, with someone collapsing of heatstroke,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40because the temperature rose a couple of degrees above freezing.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49The scouts, darts, and a May queen crowned.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54A nation deprived of luxury, relishing these small delights.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Decorated prams and bicycles,
0:40:57 > 0:41:01a smattering of applause, all the fun of the fair.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So to New Brighton, only a ferry ride away,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12but happiness on a budget.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16They board in black and white,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20then disembark in colour, for things were changing.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25World War II was over - peacetime, and hardship eased.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31And all day on the beach, completely unsupervised,
0:41:31 > 0:41:36with no factor 200 sunblock, and safe as houses, little baby Joyce.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Tarquin and Gemma being, as yet, unknown.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46Stiff at joy time with Auntie Lil.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Bathing beauty competitions, in their day harmless, now as quaint
0:41:52 > 0:41:56as the bustle, now as unacceptable as Chinese foot-binding.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Pretty young women being kissed by the Lord Mayor, given a sash,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06a trophy, and some small modest fame.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10- And, oh, how we laughed. - LAUGHTER
0:42:10 > 0:42:15A stroll along the prom, deckchairs and the floral clock.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Sand in the egg sandwiches,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22tea at three, then a snooze.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25New Brighton rock, as sweet as sick,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and gobstoppers that would last until your middle age.
0:42:32 > 0:42:37A ride or two, then the miniature railway.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Then maybe to the dance, maybe a jive,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44maybe a gin and orange, and maybe love.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Kiss me quick and roll me over, announce an engagement, plan a wedding.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55Taffeta skirts and blue serge, youth that cannot end,
0:42:55 > 0:43:00hopes as high as Blackpool Tower, when all the world was young
0:43:00 > 0:43:01and knew no bounds.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04BAND MUSIC PLAYS
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Then the journey home, tired.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20Cocoa and toast, and happiness unlimited.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30"The golden moments pass and leave no trace."
0:43:30 > 0:43:32Chekhov.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19We had hoped for paradise.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24We got the anus mundi.
0:49:51 > 0:49:52Rise. Oh, rise.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55Oh, surely thou shalt rise.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59But not before the opening of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03inaugurated by Cardinal Heenan in his brand-new frock.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06The Vatican's response to Schiaparelli.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10I had lived my spiritual and religious life
0:50:10 > 0:50:16under Popes Pius XII, John XXIII and Clitoris the Umpteenth, which is enough to turn anyone pagan.
0:50:16 > 0:50:23As far as I knew, Holy Mother Church still wanted me, but I no longer wanted her.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28For I was now a very happy, very contented, born again atheist.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30Thank God.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Oh, come all ye faithful,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35have another plateful.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Municipal architecture, dispiriting at the best of times
0:56:09 > 0:56:12but, when combined with the British genius for creating the dismal,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16makes for a cityscape that is anything but Elysian.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21MAN HUMS LULLABY
0:57:15 > 0:57:20Out to sea, the dawn wind wrinkles and slides.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24I am here or elsewhere.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28In my end is my beginning.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36We meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it -
0:57:36 > 0:57:37Carl Jung.
0:57:40 > 0:57:47I said to my soul, be still and let the dark come upon you, which shall be the darkness of God.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57for hope would be hope for the wrong thing.
0:57:57 > 0:58:01Wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing.
0:58:01 > 0:58:07There is yet faith, but the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09The rest is not our business.
0:58:09 > 0:58:15At the still point of the turning world, suspended in time between pole and tropic
0:58:15 > 0:58:18and all is always now.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21Home is where one starts from.
0:58:21 > 0:58:27As we grow older, the world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated, of dead and living.
0:58:27 > 0:58:31There is a time for the evening under starlight,
0:58:31 > 0:58:33a time for the evening under lamplight,
0:58:33 > 0:58:36the evening with the photograph album.
0:58:36 > 0:58:41Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter.
0:58:41 > 0:58:43I said to my soul, be still
0:58:43 > 0:58:49and accept this, my chanson d'amour for all that has passed.
0:58:49 > 0:58:54But where, oh where are you, the Liverpool I knew and loved?
0:58:54 > 0:58:56Where have you gone without me?
0:58:56 > 0:58:59And now I'm an alien in my own land.
0:59:00 > 0:59:04O tempora, O mores.
0:59:04 > 0:59:07O the times, O the fashions.
0:59:08 > 0:59:13Tread gently, stranger, as you softly turn the key,
0:59:13 > 0:59:17to unlock time and cause the years to fall towards their end.
0:59:17 > 0:59:20Speak low, love, but speak wisely
0:59:20 > 0:59:24for frail time hangs by a thread above the world
0:59:24 > 0:59:27with only hope to keep us safe.
0:59:27 > 0:59:32Tap lightly at the door, then close it with a silent shock,
0:59:32 > 0:59:36but never, ever yield to the night.
1:01:22 > 1:01:26We shall return with hope to the good earth,
1:01:26 > 1:01:30and you, my dear children,
1:01:30 > 1:01:32you are the earth.
1:01:40 > 1:01:42But, I reason, earth is short,
1:01:42 > 1:01:46and anguish absolute,
1:01:46 > 1:01:48and many are hurt,
1:01:48 > 1:01:51but what of that?
1:01:53 > 1:01:56I reason, we could die,
1:01:56 > 1:02:00the best vitality cannot excel decay,
1:02:00 > 1:02:03but what of that?
1:02:04 > 1:02:08I reason that in heaven, somehow it will be even,
1:02:08 > 1:02:12some new equation given...
1:02:13 > 1:02:15..but what of that?
1:03:03 > 1:03:06We shall not cease from exploration,
1:03:06 > 1:03:11and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started
1:03:11 > 1:03:14and to know the place for the first time,
1:03:14 > 1:03:17through the unknown remembered gate,
1:03:17 > 1:03:19when the last of earth left to discover
1:03:19 > 1:03:22is that which was the beginning.
1:03:22 > 1:03:26A condition of complete simplicity costing not less than everything.
1:03:26 > 1:03:29And all shall be well,
1:03:29 > 1:03:33and all manner of thing shall be well.
1:03:40 > 1:03:43If all the world and love were young
1:03:43 > 1:03:45and truth in every shepherd's tongue,
1:03:45 > 1:03:48these pretty pleasures might me move
1:03:48 > 1:03:51to live with thee and be thy love.
1:03:51 > 1:03:55But time drives flocks from field to fold,
1:03:55 > 1:03:58when rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
1:03:58 > 1:04:00and Philomel becometh dumb,
1:04:00 > 1:04:04the rest complains of cares to come.
1:04:04 > 1:04:10The flowers do fade, and wanton fields to wayward winter reckoning yields.
1:04:10 > 1:04:13A honey tongue, a heart of gall
1:04:13 > 1:04:16is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
1:04:16 > 1:04:20Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
1:04:20 > 1:04:23thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
1:04:23 > 1:04:28soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
1:04:28 > 1:04:31in folly ripe, in reason rotten.
1:04:32 > 1:04:34Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
1:04:34 > 1:04:37thy coral clasps and amber studs,
1:04:37 > 1:04:40all those in me no means can move
1:04:40 > 1:04:43to come to thee and be thy love.
1:04:43 > 1:04:47But could youth last and love still breed,
1:04:47 > 1:04:51had joys no date, nor age no need,
1:04:51 > 1:04:55then those delights my mind might move
1:04:55 > 1:04:58to live with thee and be thy love.
1:05:05 > 1:05:07We are being gathered in
1:05:07 > 1:05:09at gloaming.
1:05:17 > 1:05:20Is it sleep
1:05:20 > 1:05:22or is it death?
1:07:41 > 1:07:43Good night, ladies.
1:07:43 > 1:07:47Good night, sweet ladies.
1:07:47 > 1:07:51Good night, good night,
1:07:51 > 1:07:52good night.
1:09:19 > 1:09:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1:09:22 > 1:09:25E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk