Johnny Ball My Life on a Plate

'For everyone, there's a taste of food or a smell of cooking

'that zooms you right back to childhood.'

It's just like my mum's cake!

'I'm Brian Turner.'

Reminds me of someone I used to know about school, does that.

'And I'm going to stir up the food memories of much-loved celebrities.'

-ALL:

-Ohh!

-Look at that!

'Going back to their early days before they were famous...'

Oh, my gosh!

'..with recollections of Sunday roasts and school dinners...'

-It's time for something to eat.

-Brilliant!

'..and celebrating food their home regions are proud of.'

BRIAN LAUGHS

-Which way would you like to go?

-This way.

'I'll recreate a nostalgic family favourite...'

Mmm. You can't beat a crumble.

'..and a tribute dish that puts my guest's life on a plate.'

Magic.

Magic!

'Today, television presenter Johnny Ball is back in his home town,

Bristol.'

'He'll be revisiting old haunts...'

That was our sweet shop.

But during the war there were no sweets!

'..and telling tall tales from bygone days...'

WG Grace actually hit the ball over the spire.

'..while I'll be cooking dishes'

'that should unlock some long forgotten memories.'

Oh, you're going to love that, lad.

Johnny was born in 1938 to Daniel and Anne,

who'd moved to Bristol from Lancashire.

Bristol was one of England's most important ports,

and is still proud of its maritime heritage.

Perhaps its most famous son,

apart from Johnny, of course,

is Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

who designed its docks, its railway station,

and its most famous landmark,

the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Brunel was Johnny's childhood hero,

so we're starting our journey into his food memories

against this amazing backdrop.

-Johnny, hi.

-Hello.

-How you doing?

-I'm very well.

-What a very pretty view.

-Isn't it gorgeous?

-Look at that.

When I was about seven, at school,

the only drawing I ever did when they said, "Do a drawing, anything you like",

was two green blobs and the bridge across.

It was so easy.

But I love the bridge, and it's just wonderful.

Had he ever kept any of those pictures?

No, I don't think so, I don't think they're worth keeping.

No, but they must be worth a fortune, now. Johnny Ball.

The teacher would rather have hung me than the pictures.

THEY LAUGH

Sit down and have a chat, and tell me more of these stories.

Certainly, certainly.

What were you good at school?

I was immediately good at maths

because my dad always played maths games with me.

He built a bagatelle table, you know, with the marble.

But he built it, and it was much more ornate

and elaborate than the other ones.

And I could total the numbers as the ball fell in, you see.

Then, at school, the teacher...

We used to... "We want homework! We want homework!"

-No!

-Can you imagine...?

I can't, I can't, no!

And he said "You don't get homework till you're nine",

and we were seven.

"We want homework."

So he got these horrible Xeroxed copies,

they always smelled oily,

because of the copying system in those days,

and there were 100 simple additions or subtractions or multiplications.

He said, "If you do ten, I'm happy."

And me and about four others would do all hundred.

In the 1970s, maths and science made Johnny a household name,

when he inspired a generation of children with his programmes,

Think Of A Number, and Think Again.

Nitro-glycerine is the stuff.

And apparently, you don't even need a match!

Just a little tap with a hammer.

HE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS

Oh, mate. I'll be nobbled.

But back when Johnny himself was a child,

he was living in a country at war.

How did Bristol cope during the war, was it badly affected?

Well, I think there were four nights of Blitz, and the first one,

every other house around us had an Anderson shelter with a concrete...

Concrete coffin, almost.

And it would fit two households, so we went in there with the Churches,

who lived next door, you know.

Over 3.5 million Anderson shelters

were distributed across the country in the early war years.

They were designed to be part-buried, and then covered with soil,

for protection from falling bombs.

We didn't like it. It was horrible.

-BRIAN LAUGHS

-Just me and my mum.

-My dad was on nights, you see.

-Right.

So that was the first night.

We didn't get hit.

The second one, we went under the stairs.

In your house?

In the cupboard under the stairs, in our house, me and my mum.

On the third night, and the fourth night,

we were under the kitchen table. That'll do.

Just under the kitchen table.

-Those must be memories that will stay with you forever.

-Very much.

Nothing was hit anywhere near us,

but when we came shopping, a few weeks later,

St Mary Radcliffe, the church, was totally left unmarked,

but everything around it was blitzed.

Everything was just...

Department stores, completely gone.

-Rationing must have played a very big part in everybody's lives in those days.

-It was a big thing.

You had ration books, and you had to give your coupons in,

and you had to know your butcher to get your pieces.

-A bit like Dad's Army.

-Oh, really?

-It genuinely was.

You had to be friends with your butcher.

And I remember my dad used to, on a Sunday, right,

because eggs were so rationed and so scarce,

my dad used to give me a mark.

Do you remember a mark?

It's a slice of bread, rub it in his yolk.

"There you are."

And that was my egg.

-Do you know, I've never heard that one before.

-It was amazing.

Amazing, that is, in't it, eh?

So what do you remember eating in those days,

in your junior school days?

I remember my mother used to make a lot of stews. And she...

And there was a problem

because she used to thicken the stews with barley. Right.

-So it's a Scouse sort of type thing.

-Yeah, yeah.

-But with barley.

Well, the barley made me cockle terrible.

-Cockle?

-Choke.

-Yeah, yeah.

And I couldn't take it and the sweat used to pour out of me,

because of its consistency, the barley.

And so I couldn't eat my Sunday lunch.

-Did you have a war with your mum?

-With my dad.

-Your dad said,

"You're eating that, lad. You know how much..."

-My dad used to put me over a chair.

-Did he?

-Yeah.

Virtually every Sunday lunchtime.

Before they took the food away cold. You know.

And that was tiring,

because everything else that was in my childhood was happy, it was...

That was the only thing that I remember,

and my God, do I remember it.

You used to get a lot of offal.

-Now, not many people like offal. How did you get on with it?

-That's right.

That was fine. Liver, I've always liked liver.

I think we had...

..not so much lamb's liver as pig's liver, in those days.

-I think it was cheaper and easier to get.

-Yeah.

You also had cheese in milk.

Yes, you'd have a metal plate, and you would cut the cheese,

and just almost cover it in milk, and that was it,

-and just grill it just like that.

-My dad used to do that.

Oh, it's just gorgeous, you can't beat it.

After the war, cheese was one of the items that were still rationed.

Each person was allowed 3oz in old money.

That's 75g, today.

But what I've ordered for us looks like a couple of months' worth.

Wow, look at that!

-Whoops.

-A real Ploughman's.

-Thank you.

-Well, it is, isn't it?

Got a bit of fruit there, we've got some cheese,

we've got gherkins, onions, eggs, bit of bread. They look fantastic.

It's definitely not wartime rationing Ploughman's,

this is certainly not.

What about other foods that you eat, now, what kind of thing do you like?

-Anything. Anything.

-Oh, really?

-Oh, yes.

We love the fish, I love mackerel and the oily fishes.

Well, that reminds me, of course, that your mum and dad,

-coming from Lancashire, wouldn't eat cod.

-Oh, no.

Cod is dirty fish.

Swims on the bottom, eats all the rubbish. No, they wouldn't.

-Full of worms.

-That's why I love it.

JOHNNY CHUCKLES

Oh, no, it had to be haddock.

Because in Bristol... What was it?

Gurnit. We used to get gurnit.

-Gurnard.

-Is that...? Gurnard.

Well, it's called gurnit in Bristol.

-And I think that was a cheaper fish.

-It's got a lot of bone to it.

-Yeah, it had. Always had.

-Got a tough head.

-Yeah.

-But actually it's got a nice flavour to it.

-Mmm. Yeah.

That is lovely, that really is lovely.

A Ploughman's was always Cheddar cheese,

and nothing else but Cheddar cheese.

You know, they say that Cheddar is probably the most eaten cheese

in the whole world, these days.

And it should be, it's gorgeous. It's unadulterated.

When you say it's gorgeous, is that because of the Cheddar Gorge?

-Oh, behave, behave!

-Because if you did I missed it, I'm sorry.

The southwest isn't just home to

arguably the world's favourite cheese, Cheddar.

There are over 2,500 dairy farms here.

'I've come to Marshfield Farm

'to find out what makes this part of the world so good

'for milk production.'

-Morning, Will.

-Hello, Brian.

-How you doing, boss?

-Fine, thank you. How are you?

-Yeah.

'Will Hawking has lived on the farm since he was a child.'

So, Will, we're on the very edge of the Cotswolds.

We're really in the heart of the West Country.

What is it that makes dairy farming so prolific?

It's probably got one of the best climates in the world

for dairy farming.

At the end of the day, the key thing that you need is a mild climate,

and steady, fairly high rainfall to produce grass.

What the cow does for us is to take that grass

and to turn it into what we can make, and salvage, as milk.

So these are easily recognisable cattle,

and I assumed they're chosen because their qualities are good for

-dairy production?

-Exactly.

So, these are Friesians,

but they also have some Holstein blood in them as well.

They have phenomenal ability to convert grass to milk.

-Milk machines?

-Exactly.

Nowadays, the cows are milked twice a day,

in purpose-built milking parlours where it's all about cleanliness.

Moooo!

But cows are cows,

so you wouldn't go to work here wearing your best suit.

So, this is the action part, now,

we're actually going to see where the milk actually...

How it's unloaded from the cattle, yeah?

This is the business end, really.

-Yeah. We're togged up as we are.

-Fully togged up.

I'm sorry about this.

-No, no!

-I know this has been a shock to your system.

I'd much rather be this way than getting caught out.

Messy in there, sometimes?

It is messy, I'm afraid, that's part of the job.

-Let's go and get this job done.

-OK.

-We can do it!

'In all my years drinking milk and eating cheese,

'this will be a first for me.'

Would you like to have a go at milking a cow, Brian?

Well, I'm going to see how it works, yes.

TUBE HISSES

-There's a good strong vacuum, there.

-Yeah.

Let me just get my finger out. So...

Pop...

Each of the...

Each of the lines onto the teats of the cow,

and away she goes, and you can see the milk coming quite fast.

She'll only take about two minutes to give us probably 20 litres.

-And there's no pain, it's the fact that they need to be milked?

-No, they love it. They love to be milked.

In fact, in a robotic system,

cows will naturally come in four or five times a day to be milked,

so they like the relief, I think...

-Yeah.

-..of unloading the milk.

Now, do you think you can locate them onto the cow's teats?

-So, this one goes onto...

-That one goes over there, be careful.

That's it. I'll get the inside one.

-OK, this one goes...

-That one goes there.

That's it. Perfect.

I've got the other one.

-Right.

-You'll see the milk.

And your man, James, does this by himself, normally?

James does it all by himself. You can see him starting at the back.

-And he's doing 250 cattle?

-About 200 in milk at the moment, yeah.

Every morning and every evening. Yeah.

Quite amazing, isn't it, eh, really?

'Every day, Will's herd produces up to 10,000 litres of milk.

'But it's not all destined to be drunk.'

Moo.

In 1988, Will's family decided to make something with their milk.

Ice cream.

It would take a day for our milk to become ice cream.

Whether it's exotic mango, or good old vanilla, the process is the same.

Heat the milk to kill the nasties.

Chill down again, and add natural flavours and colours.

The smell is fantastic.

'Will's told me there's one part of the process that's a bit tricky,

'and I've drawn the short straw.'

It's not easy, most people, it takes a good week,

-so I'm expecting a muddle.

-So, the next one, I'm going to take over.

The next one. OK. So, I'll finish this.

-Yeah, you say go and I'll take over.

-Then you have a go,

-and we see how we go.

-It looks simple but I'm sure it's not going to be.

-We've a bucket underneath,

so it's not the end of the world if you make a muddle.

You'll be a natural, if you get it.

Off you go. Not bad.

Very good.

Follow around the tub.

That's good. Follow round the tub.

You get a bit frightened then, when you get near the end.

You're doing fine. Keep going.

Keep going, and to the end, keep going and... hop!

Not bad!

-He's a natural.

-Yeah, I don't know about that.

This is a skill that has to be practised to be learned, it is...

You could do this on the Generation Game, I suspect.

Filling it isn't too bad, it's when you get near the end...

-You've got to dip it right in and pull it away.

-Yeah.

-Don't forget, we're going at about a third speed, here.

-Oh, shut up!

You don't have to tell people that!

Oh, no! Now, now, you see? You've got me going now.

-I've ruined it for you.

-OK, right, off you go.

Concentrate, Turner, concentrate.

-You could have a great future here if you want one, Brian.

-Hey!

Oh, that was a clean one.

That's not bad at all.

'I don't think I'll be giving up the day job any time soon.'

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Back in the city, Johnny and I are on the way to his old manor.

Johnny's family lived in Kingswood,

a suburb on the side of Bristol,

just seven miles from Brunel's famous bridge.

Over there, there was an arbour,

and it was absolutely covered in roses and it was just beautiful,

and it was really like a dark cave, even when it was sunny.

It was gorgeous. And the playground's down there.

And that's still there.

And the church's over there.

The church is over there,

and I was in the Cubs. 111th, Kingswood, Bristol.

And the school down there.

So, it's just amazing. It's amazing that so much of it is the same.

Was the headmaster at the primary school

-an officious kind of person, or...

-The headmaster was wonderful.

And the headmaster taught me maths,

and was one of my inspirations, no question about that.

He got me going in the right direction. Mr Benson.

Well, the right direction, sir, for Mr Benson's, won't be there.

-You go and have a look at the school.

-Oh, yeah.

It'll bring back loads of happy memories,

and I'm going to cook a little dish

which will also bring back some memories, I hope.

-Wonderful!

-You go enjoy yourself.

-See you later.

-Cheers, Johnny.

Wow!

My old school, and it hasn't changed in the 70 years

since I was here, more or less.

And I remember the first day,

because I remember there was a classroom over there,

and at playtime they all went out

and I was kept in, by this horrible teacher,

because I wouldn't drink my milk. Little bottle of milk.

And it smelt sour and awful, I wouldn't drink it.

So, on my first day I was kept in at playtime!

But I loved the school. I loved being at school.

I walked about a mile, up the road here, every morning.

First day, my mother said, "Tag along with the others",

and off I went, and walked for a mile.

I was never taken to school, never brought home,

always walked up and down the road here.

And afterwards if we had a penny,

and I usually had a penny,

we'd go in the shop and, look, it hasn't changed.

It's still there.

And that was our sweet shop.

But during the war there were no sweets!

So...

What could we have?

We used to buy liquorice, which was very nice,

but it was actually a laxative,

and that what it was supposed to be.

Or we'd buy hundreds and thousands for cake decoration.

And suck them with our finger, because there were no sweets!

So we had a tough time.

But we survived!

'I'm planning a dish for Johnny packed full of childhood memories.'

'I know he likes liver, but I'm going to add some extras,

'to make a cheap ingredient into a feast.'

Lamb's kidneys, still in their fat, and some black pudding,

and I've got some local Somerset cider to make the sauce.

Firstly, what we need to do, however, we get some onions cooking away.

So, we'll just shred these onions.

Nice and finely.

Bags of flavour. Sweetness...

..flavour, and texture.

Leave them to cook, slowly.

Put some salt and pepper in.

And I'm going to put in there a little knob of butter.

Really tasty.

And just let them slowly cook away.

Wow!

The senior playground.

We were only up to 11, I took my 11+ here,

but this playground didn't have cars or fences,

it was a big open space,

and we all used to play in here and we all had hobnail boots,

and the great thing about hobnail boots is you could slide in them.

But what we'd do is get a chain of kids, and they'd run round,

and the one on the end was like a water skier, hanging on.

And whoosh!

We'd swing them round in their hobnail boots,

and try and smash them into the wall.

But if you were sensible, you let go just at the right time,

and either stopped yourself against the wall,

or slammed into some other kids.

We were very robust kids.

There was no health and safety,

but I don't remember any of us coming a-cropper in those days.

'The onions for my dish are softening gently,

'so I can get on with preparing the rest of the ingredients.

'Starting with kidneys, for the sauce.'

These are lovely when they're in their fat,

you can't get them in the fat all the time.

Just take the fat off,

and there's a skin on the outside of the kidney,

which peels off, as well.

Delicious.

And they're not expensive, either, these.

Good for you, very tasty.

Going to cut them into a little bit of a dice.

Two will probably be enough.

Wonderfully sweet shallots will be the base for the sauce.

Don't worry if they're not too fine, it's just to get that real...

..flavour out of them.

And I just want to sweat them off, put a bit of butter in there...

Just to get that...

..flavour on the go.

So, bags of onions, there.

And we all know that liver and onion works fantastic.

Tried and tested throughout the years.

Perfect marriage.

So, those onions are on the go, and the shallots just softening up.

And all I do now is just flip them into a pan.

Make sure you get them all out.

Because we don't want to burn.

And then put the pan back on.

Bit more oil in there.

A tad of butter.

And when it's hot enough, and you need to be patient, now.

You need to just let the heat get in there.

So you can hear that the butter's getting hotter,

and when it starts to change colour,

in go the kidneys.

Starting to get hot enough.

Quickly...

..into the pan.

And the trick here is not to mess about with it too much,

just let it sit there for a moment, then we turn it over.

Seal it on all sides, get it warm in the middle.

See, it's just been coloured

on all sides,

so let's take that off

and put that in here...

..to keep. We don't want it to overcook, that's the secret.

What I don't want to do is throw away any of this flavour from the pan.

So, we've got some wonderful local Somerset cider.

And the cider goes in.

And it'll start to reduce.

Washing the flavour of the pan, all collecting together,

and we put a bit of chicken stock in there...

..and we'll just leave that.

Wow!

Oh, just to think that when I was here,

I was always top, or next to top, and always top in maths.

In the Second World War,

they had gas masks hanging from the hooks,

and they were Mickey Mouse gas masks.

They smelt horrible, horrible.

You thought you were going to suffocate in them,

but they had little ears like Mickey Mouse,

just to make kids feel happier in them.

We hated them!

Mickey Mouse gas masks.

Eurgh! They gave me nightmares!

So far, I've softened a whole heap of onions,

and cooked some lamb's kidneys with shallots,

which I'll add to a cider sauce.

Everything else will happen now Johnny's back from his school tour.

-Ey up, lad.

-That was wonderful.

-Was it all right?

-Seeing the old school, yeah.

-Happy memories?

-Oh! Tears in my eyes!

-No, it was gorgeous.

-Look, I just need to do this fairly quickly,

because I've put together a dish that I think'll take you back to your childhood,

because you had lots of offal.

So, we've got some lambs liver, I've got some kidneys,

and I've got some black pudding.

First, I need to put that lamb's liver on.

Now, it's such a good price, and it's so good for you.

Just get rid of the excess oil.

Not too hot. But yet hot.

OK, so...

I'll just turn that...

..over. That looks grand.

Lovely. And then a piece of black pudding.

Which is very northern, but it's not quite Bury Market.

-I like it when the fat is very fine, like that.

-Yeah, me too, yeah.

I eat black pudding sandwiches raw, you know.

-Just black pudding and a little bit of salt.

-My relations do that.

-Now, look. In here, I've got some shallots.

-Yeah.

Some butter and some kidney, and I'll put that...

..into the sauce. Excuse me, sir.

Give it a whirl round.

Oh, yeah.

Ah, that's coming together nicely, is that, now.

Oh, you're going to love that, lad.

Let's have a quick look over here.

-Oh, look at that black pudding.

-Oh, it's beautiful.

So, I'm going to take the liver off, don't want that to overcook.

Want to keep it under-done. And all I need to do now...

..is dress up.

Not dress up, dress the plate up, that is, of course.

-You know what I mean, don't you, eh?

-I do, I do.

-Oh, look at this.

-Look at those.

So, we'll put a few onions...

..in the middle of the plate.

That's good.

Take the liver across.

Oh, look at that! Still pink.

-The thing in my book is not to hide everything.

-Yeah.

So, we put that...

..down the bottom, there. OK.

Mustn't forget a nice lump of black pudding in there.

Oh, look, and it's still tender.

Bit of parsley in there.

Bit of colour.

Make sure we get some of that...

..kidney on the top. And then, all I'm going to do...

-..is dribble that around there.

-Dribble, it's one of those words...

-What do you think to that, guv'nor?

-That looks tremendous.

The nostalgia dish I've cooked for Johnny is grilled lamb's liver

with black pudding and onions,

with a kidney and cider sauce.

I do hope he likes it.

Oh, the...

The kidney's wonderful.

-Still pink.

-Still pink, lovely.

-Oh, that's gorgeous.

-JOHNNY CHUCKLES

-But does it remind you of the days when your mum used to give you the stuff that they could afford?

-It did.

It was the cheaper ends that were available, and you went for.

We had it a lot, and oh, I loved it.

I loved it.

Mmm.

I love offal too, and it's been a pleasure to make my version

of liver and onions for such an appreciative guest as Johnny.

-Reet good, in't it?

-It's all right so far, in't it, lad?

-Reet good.

BRIAN CHUCKLES

'Fresh offal has a short shelf life,

'and I prefer to buy it from a local butcher,

'who can get me the cuts I'm after.'

'Nowadays, we are all interested in where our food comes from,

'whether it's meat, fish or vegetables.'

In Bristol city centre, there's a food business

that's all about growing the freshest food, and benefiting the community.

In the shadow of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Temple Meads station

is the headquarters of the Severn project.

It's an urban farm that supplies some

of the best shops and restaurants in Bristol,

AND provides much-needed work opportunities in the inner city.

And what's the crop that's working such miracles?

Would you believe it... simple bags of salad.

The founder of the project is addiction counsellor Steve Glover.

We started in 2010 with £2,500 and a book by Monty Don.

We learned how to grow food,

then we learned how to sell food.

This year, 2015, we will probably turn over £500,000.

As the project's expanded,

they've opened a second site on the outskirts of Bristol

to keep up with demand.

This site is special because it has being used to grow vegetables

since, they say, the end of the First World War.

The people who run the allotments,

who know the area a lot better than I do,

have told us a story that the most fertile land here

is where it was bombed by the German bombers in the Second World War,

which broke up the limestone pavement underneath the clay,

allowing the soil to drain better, and become more fertile.

It's a great story, and even if it IS just a suburban myth,

there's no denying just how productive this plot's become.

On average, we produce and sell 700 kilos a week. Quite amazing, really.

It's a real feat.

This is a list of our restaurants.

Don Giovanni's is an Italian.

Earthbound is a small whole food shop.

The Pony and Trap is a Michelin star.

River Cottage.

Nice to be actually supplying people like that with salad.

It's a bit of a feather in our cap. I'm really proud of this board.

Five years ago, as a student, a mature student,

I couldn't afford to eat in a lot of the restaurants we supply food to.

Everything the project grows is organic.

The salad mix contains six different types of leaves,

and the crop's ready to pick in just three weeks.

We are now harvesting for mixed leaf salad.

That's the bulk of what we do.

They do say that the average lettuce travels 1,800 miles

before it actually gets into the customer's fridge.

And in that time, of course,

it's degenerating and losing its mineral content...

..whereas ours is quite often delivered

the same day as it's picked.

Most of the places that the project delivers to

are within five miles of Temple Meads station.

At the heart of the city is the beautiful St Nicholas market.

This Victorian covered arcade

has become a foodie destination over the last few years.

Joe Wheatcroft opened this deli and restaurant in 2009,

aiming to sell the best ingredients from this region.

The locality is really, really key.

Living here in the south-west,

I think we are extremely blessed. It's... abundant.

The land around us has been producing food for years,

and it's really, really good quality.

Using local food not only gives you a low food mile,

but it also brings you the freshest product you can possibly get.

So when we're talking about the Severn project leaves,

for example, they are picked on that day or the day before,

and brought to us and then they're on people's plates that same day.

Steve's idea of growing food on a patch of wasteland isn't a new one.

In the Second World War,

every inch of the available land was pressed into service

for growing fruit and vegetables.

It became everyone's patriotic duty

to dig for victory.

And in neat suburban gardens,

homeowners replaced their lawns with

runner beans.

In the 1930s, there had been a housing boom across the country,

including in Bristol.

Many of these new houses were smart semis, with big back gardens.

That meant lots of room for a spacious vegetable plot.

Just like Johnny's childhood home.

So this is our street, and the grass verges went right out,

and the road was narrower, so there was lots of grass verge.

-It was beautiful.

-It wouldn't be as busy road in the...

We never saw cars.

The chap in one of these houses

was the only person in the whole road with a car,

and we would go and meet him on his way home...

-To get in the car!

-And he would give us lifts.

So we'd walk two miles to get a lift back,

which was lovely, because it was such a novelty, a car.

Johnny's parents moved here when he was just a toddler.

Mum and Dad were so happy in this house. It was beautiful.

And on VE night, across there,

we built a bonfire, and it was enormous,

and all the troops, everybody celebrating.

All the troops, American, English,

all did a crawl from bonfire to bonfire,

and they always had some hooch with them,

and we had a searchlight on a lawn over there,

which was probably there,

a piano, an upright piano on this one or that one,

record players...

The people working in the aircraft industry made lights,

VE Night, flashing.

And it was just phenomenal.

And I was, at seven years old,

I was still kicking the embers of the bonfire

at four o'clock in the morning. It was a wonderful night.

Yes. Always been a stayer.

Brian Walsh lived over there, Graham Greene lived at the end.

-Graham Greene?

-Not the author.

-So, did you have a whole gang of mates?

Oh, it was wonderful. We played out here literally till it went dark,

about nine o'clock at the latest.

-Many happy memories about your mates around here?

-Absolutely.

But now, I'm going to cook for you

outside somewhere that you know very well...

I've still got the taste of the kidney in my mouth,

and it's wonderful. You've got to go some to top that.

Well, we're going to do that, then.

For the final stage of our trip around Johnny Ball's Bristol,

we've come to Frenchay Common,

where his family would often spend a relaxing afternoon.

Good cricketers played here.

And I'm not sure whether they played cricket there,

which would be small, a tight ground,

or whether they played here, which is a bigger ground.

But the story my dad always told me that WG Grace,

the greatest, perhaps, of the old cricketers,

actually hit the ball

over the spire.

They'll tell kids anything, won't they?

But it's just a lovely, lovely spot.

I've designed a tribute dish for Johnny

inspired by his childhood food.

It's going to be based around a fish that holds special memories.

Just for Johnny, we're going to cook some gurnard,

because his parents didn't like cod, they only liked haddock.

Couldn't get much of it, so they ate gurnard.

'I'm going to serve the gurnard with some green veg

'that would have been easy to grow in a wartime garden.

'Peas, onions and lettuce.'

And a few fresh peas in there.

That should be enough.

And I'm going to use some chicken stock to cook them in,

not water, as Johnny's mum would probably have done.

And once again, to make them slightly different,

I'm going to use some lettuce to go in there.

Just shred it up...

Delicious.

And I've got a couple of spring onions.

We'll do the same with those, just shred them up.

So, put the spring onions in first.

And then I've got these lovely mangetout peas,

"eat all" peas.

And all we are going to do is just going to shred these.

Lovely, look at that. Lovely colour.

And a bit of lettuce and all.

That goes in there.

Salt and pepper.

Won't take too long.

About five to ten minutes.

'On the edge of the common is a place that Johnny should know well.'

Last time I was here, I was about ten, I think,

and my dad loved this pub.

And so did I, because there was always kids to play with

and it was great fun,

and we only came when it was a beautiful sunny day.

HE CHUCKLES

Hello, there.

Can I have a pint? Oh, I like that one.

-Yeah, this end one is fine.

-Yeah.

We would walk miles.

This pub is 3.5 miles from where my house was,

and we would walk here,

and this was one of the nicest ones.

We'd play out on the grass, out there,

and we'd run around and run around until we were dizzy, and daft.

And I remember falling down, absolutely exhausted, out there,

and I didn't know, I had my eyes closed,

and suddenly opened my eyes,

and my dad is pouring my bottle of lemonade onto my face.

HE LAUGHS

And everybody around is laughing. It was the human spirit.

People got together, and had fun, and relaxed.

And in wartime, that was very important.

So, here's to pubs.

'The veg for my tribute dish is bubbling away.

'I've got two types of peas, fresh and mangetout,

'as well as shredded little gem and spring onions on the go.'

I've got those all cooking away nicely.

-Hello, mate. How you doing?

-How's it going?

-It's going very well.

-How's your trip been?

-"It hasn't changed a bit", I said.

They said, "Yes, it has." It's double the size of when I was here as a kid.

But when I was little, it was a big pub anyway, because I was little.

Did you ever go inside it while you were a kid? Were you allowed to?

I don't remember a children's room here,

but most of them in this part of the world had children's rooms.

But if it was fine, you used to play out on the lawn here.

-And it was just fabulous.

-Come on, bags of space here. It's wonderful.

-Yeah.

-Right, now let me tell you what I've done.

-Right.

-Look. This...

-Remember your fish, gurnard?

-Yes.

This is gurnard, from Cornwall, just for you.

A nice little small fish, and I've filleted this one here,

but what we've done, very carefully,

-we've taken all the bones out.

-Right.

I'm going to put a bit of oil in there.

And a wee bit of butter.

So would this have been a cheap fish in the war?

Or an available fish in the war?

It would have been available fish, and you're quite right,

it wouldn't... It'll be an inexpensive fish.

Nothing was cheap in those days, I don't think. And today is the same.

It is not the most expensive of fishes.

Look, as soon as that starts to change colour,

it goes in, skin side down,

and the trick is just to hold it for a little while.

-It's cold, you won't burn yourself.

-..until the fat scalds your fingers?

-No, not at all! Till it just sets.

-Wow.

-Cos if you don't, otherwise the heat makes it curl up.

-Right.

So, we'll just put that...

Wow.

Like all fish, you want to make sure you don't overcook it.

-A bit of salt...

-Oh, my dad had salt on his food like snow.

-Yeah, I know.

Some people do, it's not a great idea, but you do need salt.

To give it some flavour, but that's really going to be...

-And it won't take long to cook.

-We never had much butter in the war.

-You do realise that?

-I know.

Well, this is actually is still left on your ration book.

-LAUGHING:

-Thank you, thank you!

-I'll turn it over.

-Doesn't that look nice?

-Oh, gorgeous.

See how I think that looks.

That looks very pretty, does that.

Over here, I've melted some butter, just a little bit of butter,

could've been margarine, and some flour, and you take a little bit...

And you just put that in there, like that,

and give it a stir.

And that will just help to thicken it up,

-so instead of having a gravy, it'll just hold it all together.

-Yeah.

This is peas in the French style,

-but for today we're in Frenchay Common, so...

-Ha-ha!

-We're almost there.

-Yes.

-Lovely.

OK.

With this,

I'm just going to take that oil and butter.

-Mmm, look at that.

-Just put it over the top there, just to cook it.

You've got to keep this under-done, you don't want to overdo fish,

you don't want it raw, but you've just got to make sure.

And that, I think...

And will you eat the skin as well?

I personally don't like the skin on this fish. Some people do,

-but the nice thing is it protects it.

-Yeah.

I'll tell you what, I'm just going to take this off here,

-it's starting to get a bit thick.

-OK.

So take that off, that's ready to go. This is just about ready.

-Right. Have you got a plate?

-So let me take that...

-Yeah, if you put that here for me, please.

-Is that coming here?

-Yeah.

I'm just going to take these off for a second.

And what I'm going to do is put a little bit of butter

-in this pan here.

-Yes.

We definitely never had that much butter in a year.

So look, we've got peas, two different kinds of peas,

-fresh garden peas, mangetout peas.

-Yeah.

We've got spring onion, we've got lettuce in there.

Yeah, the lettuce is...!

We've got a lovely colour, that's what I like about this dish.

It's got just lovely colour to it.

Uh-huh.

I'm going to take that one, there.

And in this butter here,

I'm going to squeeze lemon juice in,

that'll just stop it cooking,

stop it colouring any more, which is what I want.

And then I'm just going to lay that quickly over the top,

give you that lovely bit of colour, there,

and then the last little bit.

These are pea shoots.

They're quite tasty.

-We used to throw them away, once upon a time.

-Really?

But I'm just going to take a couple of pea shoots...

And there you are, dear boy.

'My tribute dish for Johnny is beautiful fillets of gurnard,

'a fish he enjoyed as a child.

'I'm serving them with a sauce of spring vegetables.

'Fresh peas, mangetout, spring onions,

'and little gem lettuce, all braised in chicken stock,

'as a reminder of those wartime mums and dads digging for victory.'

Wonder if I can remember the taste?

That's lovely.

-It's all right that, in't it?

-I can't recollect, but that is lovely.

And you've got shredded lettuce in here as well.

Lettuce and spring onions.

Mangetout, peas.

-Chicken stock and butter.

-Mmm! MMM!

That is gorgeous!

Really is.

Oh, if we had butter during the war, we'd have been wonderful.

HE CHUCKLES

Oh, look at that.

-So that's gone down well?

-Oh, it's lovely.

I don't recall that it was like that at all, when I was a child.

No, probably you wouldn't, you were young,

but what about the rest of the day?

I've loved it, you know.

And Bristol always gives me happy memories, I love the place.

I really do.

-Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you.

-Oh, it's been fantastic.

-Enjoy the rest of that fish.

-I will, I will!