Chelsea to Tower Bridge Britain's First Photo Album

In the Victorian era, Britain changed as never before.

It was the time of great inventors, engineers,

but above all, great businessmen, entrepreneurs,

and one of the best examples was the pioneer photographer,

Francis Frith.

'It was in the 1860s that Francis Frith

'embarked upon a monumental mission,

'using the newly invented photographic camera.

'He wanted to document every city,

'every town and every village in the land.

'I'm tracing the footsteps of this remarkable man

'and his team of photographers.

'Using their pictures as my guide,

'I'll be travelling the length and breadth of the country,

'finding out what has altered

'and what has stayed the same and along the way,

'I'll be taking my own photos

'to try and capture the mood of the place as it is now.'

That's great.

Welcome to Britain's First Photo Album.

Before the middle of the 19th century,

it was up to artists to paint a scene,

so you can imagine the excitement when the first photographs appeared,

pictures of places you'd never been to, of people you didn't know.

Francis Frith was quick to see the commercial opportunity.

Before long, he was selling popular photographs

in their tens of thousands.

'Nowadays, Frith's photographs are a treasure trove

'of historical surprises and long-forgotten stories.

'I can't wait to find out more. My trip around Britain

'is going to take me as far south as the Isle of Wight.

'I'll be travelling to the West Country and into Wales,

'before heading north to Scotland,

'then back down through England to the Midlands.

'But my adventures begin in London

'where today, I'll be meeting a group of real-life heroes...'

-Did you say "knickers"?

-Get 'em up!

-You did!

'..taking a starring role in one of the first West End theatres...'

"What means this strange sensation?"

'..and delving deep under one of London's most famous landmarks.'

When you're up above, you don't see any of this.

-The public see none of this.

-It's amazing.

'My first location is rightly regarded as a national treasure.'

The place we're going to

is one of the very few institutions in the country

which in my experience is never criticised.

'Our first Frith photograph was taken in 1898

'and is of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea,

'complete with a group of proud Chelsea pensioners.

'This heroes' home was founded by King Charles II in 1682

'for soldiers who were unfit for further duty

'because of injury or old age.

'Designed by Sir Christopher Wren,

'the Royal Hospital still serves its original purpose.

'It's a symbol of our commitment to the brave people

'who have fought for their country.

'Paddy Fox is one of the 300 or so Chelsea pensioners who live here now

'and he's in no doubt about their place in Britain's heart.'

I'm right in saying that nobody criticises this place, do they?

No, it's loved throughout the world.

They've heard about it in Canada

and places and they all love it.

The gratitude that people show...

People shake hands with me and think I was in the First World War.

-I'm not that old.

-It's the lovely uniform too.

The uniform attracts attention.

It all goes back to the age of it

and why this was founded as the Royal Hospital.

It was founded, as it says up there,

for the succour and relief of veterans, broken by age and war.

-And we've been living here for 316 years.

-Not personally!

-Indeed, yes.

'The Frith picture was taken here in the square,

'but there seems to be something odd in the background.'

It's like a tree there. What is it?

Charles II, our founder, hid in an oak tree to get away from Cromwell.

So we wear oak leaves, the statue is covered in oak leaves...

-This is what we're seeing here.

-That's Charles II.

We call it Founder Day. Some call it Oak Apple Day.

-Do you still cover up the statue on Founder's Day?

-Yes.

Not quite as much as that, but there's oak leaves all around it

So that all looks very familiar.

We all wear the tricorn hats, we all wear the oak leaves.

'All the traditions of the Chelsea pensioners

'are still keenly celebrated every year,

'as they have been since the founding of the hospital,

'but recently, there has been one very significant change.'

The biggest change has been the arrival of women.

They served in the army, they got their medals.

Now we've got some en-suite rooms, they're entitled to come in.

Were there some people who thought, "Not women"?

Some people said, "Why do these women want to come in amongst 300 old men?

They served in the army. They're here and that is it.

'The decision was made in 2009 for women to be eligible.

'It made sense, given the increasing role of women in the armed forces

'since the Second World War.

'Dorothy Hughes was the first to come here

'and she is now one of four female Chelsea pensioners.'

Do you think it was long overdue

-to make sure that women could come here?

-Definitely.

I felt like a pioneer.

I wanted to open the doors

for younger women to come in

and I think we'll come in hordes

in about ten years' time.

What's the general atmosphere like here?

It's like a very large family.

Obviously, there are quarrels that go on as they do in any family.

I know some people say it's a place you come to die.

We're all going to die some time.

But, here, you don't feel alone.

You're amongst people who are in the same position as you

and we don't think of death.

We live from day to day.

You wake up and say, "Good, I've got another day,"

and you get on with it.

I'd been living on my own for 18 years.

I never liked knitting or playing whist or bridge.

-I wanted an adventure.

-And this is an adventure.

-And I've got it!

'What a marvellous spirit! Dorothy is a true inspiration.

'For my first photo that's going to go into the album,

'I'll try and capture that spirit of the Chelsea pensioners,

'just as Frith did over 100 years ago.'

This is what we've got to look out for.

-Anyone who says they're on it is wrong.

-I'm already there!

LAUGHTER

Half of you on this side, half on the other side.

-I think Dorothy should be in the middle.

-Come on, Dorothy.

-Dorothy and Paddy in the middle. Is that all right?

-Paddy!

All right, you do look smart. Are you ready, troop?

Atten'shun!

Stand at ease!

Perfect. There are no other people in the world

that could do it as well as you.

-Knickers!

-Who said "knickers"? That's wrong.

I've got a suspect. Did you say "knickers"?

-Get 'em up!

-You did!

-You know that's wrong, don't you?

-I know. Lock me up. Lock me up.

-We'll carry on as if it did not happen.

-OK, sir.

-All right...

-It's not. It's "get them off".

LAUGHTER

Who said, "Get them off"?

Dorothy, you said, "Get them off." That really is bad.

-But we'll let you off too.

-Thanks.

-LAUGHTER

Don't move. This is a big moment.

Now, then...

OK, all there, stay where you are. That's great.

Yes, big smile now.

Happiness.

'What a fantastic group they make in their smart scarlet uniforms!

'Comradeship is always a great part of service life

'and having a laugh.'

What I liked about that group is they were disciplined, of course,

but they had that tremendous capacity to,

I don't know, fool around.

It's very British and I think we've captured that in our picture

because we've got the splendid pensioners,

the marvellous Dorothy in the middle

and it compares very favourably with the old pensioners.

And you can just see that they love being here.

The atmosphere of the place comes through.

It comes through in our pictures,

but it very much comes through when we're talking to them.

Give them half a chance and they behave, yeah, like Dad's Army!

'My next Frith photo is of Victorian Drury Lane

'in the heart of the West End.

'I've just got to find out exactly where the picture was taken.'

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Are you for hire?

-I am indeed, sir.

I'll tell you what I've got to do.

I've got to find my way to this place.

Let's have a look.

That's St Mary le Strand, so that's got to be Drury Lane.

OK, look. Somehow we've got to get as near as we can

-to where this photograph was. Can we do that?

-Yeah.

-So we're going through Theatreland, aren't we?

-We are.

-Okey-doke.

-This area that we're going into, Theatreland...

-Yeah.

That was very run down in the 18th century.

Yeah, very much so. It was a slum area called The Rookeries.

If you look down Drury Lane,

-the whole scene is completely different, isn't it?

-Very much so.

If it wasn't for the fact I could see the spire of St Mary le Strand,

I wouldn't have had such a good idea where you needed to go.

We're approaching St Mary le Strand now

and this is where the very first cab rank was established in 1636.

Right, so we've now got to try and get into Drury Lane.

This is the bottom end.

Here we go.

Right... You're going to show me, aren't you?

Hopefully, we're in the right spot.

Bush House there, the other side of it is the spire of St Clement Danes,

unfortunately obscured, as you can see.

And I'm assuming that these shops are no longer...

They've all been wiped away.

-Wiped away with the redevelopment of the area.

-Yeah, all that's gone.

-But this is Drury Lane.

-Definitely Drury Lane.

-Thanks very much. You've done us proud.

-It's been a privilege.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-OK.

-Take care.

'By Frith's day,

'Drury Lane had become one of the worst slums in London.

'It's not surprising that these buildings were demolished.

'You can already see the boarded-up shop fronts.

'But there's one major building that survived the clearance -

'the Theatre Royal.

'An expert on the theatre, Mark Fox,

'delights in talking about its rich history.'

This was the fourth theatre on this site?

It was. The first building was built in 1663

under a royal patent from Charles II.

-The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane?

-That is why it's called the Theatre Royal.

When you see this big auditorium,

is it much the same as it was when our picture was taken in 1870?

The auditorium is completely different.

The Victorian auditorium was a horse-shoe auditorium.

There was one more tier. We've got three tiers above us.

There were four and a little galleried bit even above that,

so the Victorian auditorium was higher.

This auditorium was modelled in 1922.

But in the Victorian period, it would still be an enormous theatre?

And the stage was one of the biggest in London.

And that suited the productions

because Drury Lane was famous for its big pantomimes

and its spectacular melodramas.

It must have been difficult to fill this great big auditorium.

Yeah, it's a barn of a place,

so they did whatever they could to attract people in,

to make them spend their hard-earned money to come and see the show.

'Here at the Theatre Royal,

'they went to great lengths to entice visitors,

'using elaborate stage machinery to create hills and startling effects.

'It was a first for Victorian London.

'The stagehands who worked the machinery

'had a surprising way of communicating.'

A lot of the stage crew were actually ex-dockhands or ex-sailors,

so most of their cueing system was done with whistles,

so that's why there is the superstition

that it's bad luck to whistle on the stage.

If you had whistled in those days,

you could have caused a disaster on stage or killed somebody

if something had flown in at the wrong time,

-if you whistled and gave the wrong signal.

-Gosh!

'I've a bit of a yen for the stage

'and I can't resist having a go at a version of Aladdin,

'first performed here in Frith's time.'

"What means this strange sensation?

"It is thrilling - a thousand music halls at once and filling!

"And when I am ten times at each hall encored...

"And now I'm playing whist.

"Turn up a club and lose a single, double and the rub.

"The lamp is mine again, you money-grubber.

"I've trumped your trick and fairly won the rubber."

Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Now then, we get applause, don't we?

-It doesn't seem like it.

-Come on, applause!

That was terrible.

'I've now got to take my picture.

'It's another Drury Lane street scene,

'but quite different from Frith's.

'The grand stage door to the Theatre Royal.

'Without being obvious,

'it's a reminder of the age-old glamour of the theatre,

'an entrance to the world of make believe.'

Well, this is my picture.

And I think it has the same sort of atmosphere as the old one.

The Frith one is Victorian,

but so is this, and this was here when that photograph was taken.

And there is a perfect Victorian stage door.

You can imagine the Victorian stage Johnnies,

waiting here, hoping they might get a glance of their favourite actress.

'My tour of Britain is now really under way.

'I'm following in the footsteps of pioneer photographer Francis Frith.

'My next port of call is one of the most popular parts of London -

'Covent Garden.

'Nowadays the 17th-century piazza is a magnet for tourists

'with its shops and restaurants.

'Its original purpose was as a market

selling fruit, veg and, in particular, flowers.

'The Frith photograph that has brought me here is this one,

'showing flower sellers who frequented the area for centuries.

'a reminder of the real Eliza Doolittles

'from My Fair Lady, or Shaw's original Pygmalion.

'In 1877, when the Frith picture was taken,

'Covent Garden piazza would have been filled with market traders.

'They arrived well before dawn to work at London's largest market.

'The Victorian flower sellers, as in the Frith picture,

'were most likely poor women

'who scraped together a few pennies selling sweet-smelling posies.'

That could be that door.

'Now I've got to find out exactly where the photo was taken.'

We need a lamppost here.

We'll have to rearrange things so it looks like the photograph!

'I think it's St Paul's Church in the background.'

The pavement looks the same. That's the only thing that does.

But it's not much to go on, is it?

'Simon Grigg is the vicar of St Paul's,

'and he may know where the Frith picture was taken.'

Now the mystery I've got to solve is this - where is it?

I've looked all the way round and I can't see where it is.

Well, this is the flower market,

-which is at the east end of the church.

-So we've got to go round.

If we come outside the church into Covent Garden,

we find the famous portico of St Paul's Church,

the actors' church. This is where George Bernard Shaw

set the opening scene of Pygmalion.

And where Lerner and Loewe set the opening of My Fair Lady.

OK, look, our picture there,

you think, is about from here? Is that right?

If you look at the side of it,

-I'm pretty sure that's the corner of that pillar there.

-Right.

And those railings would, at one point, have closed off the portico.

And if you look straight through there,

that is where those ladies were sat.

-It's a lovely picture, isn't it?

-Great. And so full of character.

Sadly, that wonderful lamppost must have disappeared somewhere

along the line, but otherwise there it is!

-Much the same.

-Yeah.

-That's wonderful.

Covent Garden's famous flower market eventually closed,

but a new version was opened just a few miles away

on the other side of the Thames.

This is the new Covent Garden market. It's not that new.

It moved here, just south of the river, in the 1970s.

The change has been dramatic.

The old boisterous, noisy bustle has all gone,

but it's much more efficient.

Where else could you ask for 10,000 red roses and be told, "Yes, sir.

"Would tomorrow be all right?"?

'The purpose-built, cobble-free market

'is now the largest wholesale flower market of its kind in the UK

'and home to around 200 companies.

'John Hardcastle's family has been in the flower-selling business

'for very many years.

'He has fond memories of the old market.'

Tell me about when you started as a young man in the old market.

-What was that like?

-Fantastic.

I was born and bred

in the old market.

There was always lots of noise.

It was noisy the whole time.

The streets were usually congested with lots of fog, believe it or not.

You walked through the fog to get to school. And it was fantastic.

Now in our business, the world is so small, 24 hours,

we've got flowers from all over the world.

-In the past, we'd rely on local markets.

-Sad, isn't it?

Yeah, it's the change. The market's changed, the world's changed.

-But that's how it used to be.

-Yeah.

Do you look back and think, "Those were the days"?

I do. It was a privilege to be there.

'New Covent Garden Market might not have the atmosphere of the old one,

'but it's still a thriving

'and prosperous place to sell flowers.

'So I want to create an up-to-date version of the Frith picture

'with the help of the men and women who work here.'

Everyone gets a bunch of flowers.

-Roses, that's nice.

-Thank you.

Now you've got to look like that. OK?

Not that hard, is it?

You can manage that. Look a bit fed up and look that way.

And you look over there.

-OK.

-And you...

-Look at the flowers.

..look at the flowers. OK? I think we're ready.

OK, now then, look solemn. Look Victorian.

OK.

And very British it is.

Flower sellers and Union flags.

That's our photograph.

These girls here bring out

the spirit of Covent Garden and Eliza Doolittle,

the flower selling girls.

And these, in their own way, tell us about modern Britain.

There they all are in New Covent Garden Market. I rather like it.

My final destination today is one of the tourist industry's

biggest sellers - Tower Bridge.

A combination of Victorian engineering and architecture

at its best.

The Victorian era had a dramatic effect on London's skyline.

Many of the capital's greatest buildings, including Parliament,

were built during that time.

London's population was increasing at a rapid rate,

and many new bridges were required

to handle all the extra traffic.

The most striking addition was Tower Bridge,

seen here in 1890.

The Frith photo shows it

four years before its completion.

Who could have imagined then it would become

an instantly-recognised symbol of London throughout the world?

The opening of Tower Bridge is a magnificent sight.

Charlie Harrison, the bridge operator, is there to make sure

it all runs like clockwork.

-This is the control room.

-It is. One of two.

And how often do you do this?

Roughly 950 times a year, but mainly April to October.

It's mainly a summer thing.

But when this was built,

at the time of our Frith photograph,

how many movements would there be?

It would raise about 6,000 times a year then, in its early years.

-So this would be an extremely busy waterway.

-That was the prize part.

The endeavour was to get into the upper pool, nearer central London.

They could offload goods quicker and distribute them quicker.

-We're living in different times now.

-Yes, it's all gone now, the trade.

It's all commercial, corporate hospitality now.

'It all looks quite simple above ground.

'Below, it gets a lot more complicated.'

And this is where... Well, this is where all the guts are.

Oh, goodness me.

I know it's complicated, but how does it work? Basically?

The machinery drives that axle.

It pushes the back end of the bridge down, raising the front end up

to allow the ships to go through.

-So like a great big seesaw?

-A giant seesaw, yes.

'And further down it gets better.'

So what have we got here?

Another part of the old equipment - the accumulator.

-It's no longer used?

-No longer used.

That would have weighed about 100 tonnes in its working life,

bouncing up and down to help balance the whole system.

-It's an amazingly impressive...

-It is.

-..structure.

-When you're up above, you don't see any of this.

-No, none of this.

It's amazing, isn't it?

-Well, this is amazing.

-Amazing. An impressive space.

Now this is the most important part of the whole building?

Without this chamber, nothing can happen.

-This all comes down.

-Yes, it does. This is the seesaw principle.

This is the back end, the counterbalance,

which comes down when the machinery drives it down,

-which raises the middle section, the road, up.

-So if we're here...

and it was to come down while we were here, what would we do?

-We'd panic!

-I certainly would!

We'd go for a safe area, on that plinth, with our backs to the wall.

-It would stop just here.

-Just here?

-But that would be frightening.

-Very.

-Yeah. Isn't that amazing?

I've got one last favour. Would you let me open the bridge?

Well, I've shown you all the parts.

It would be my honour to let you raise the Tower Bridge.

Honour? MY honour. Thank you!

'It's time to fulfil a schoolboy's dream.

'This should go down on my list of unforgettable moments.'

First, you warn the bridge crew.

So the first message is, "Stand by. About to stop road traffic."

So I'm going to press that and start speaking.

Stand by, bridge crew. About to stop road traffic.

Now if you'd press the traffic light button,

-that will initiate the closure.

-Traffic lights, red.

-Those two buttons now will shut the entrance gates.

-Here we go.

Now we can also start to unlock the bridge. Press the pause button.

OK, pause. Here we go. Ready?

And we can watch it on the screen actually happening.

-So these are just the locks...

-The massive hydraulic jacks.

-You now pull that lever back.

-And that's it?

-That's all there is.

Right. This is an important moment.

-All right? No ceremony. We just pull it back.

-And hold it back.

Here we go. Up with Tower Bridge! Open!

Look at it! It IS opening! Isn't that wonderful? Look at that!

And she's going up. How graceful.

-It goes about one degree per second.

-How lovely.

That's terrific, isn't it? You must feel very powerful.

-You've got 2,200 tonnes of structure there on the move.

-Yeah.

That's wonderful. I've done some extraordinary things in my life,

but never anything like this.

I've very grateful. Thank you.

This is normally as far as it goes. Just give a little bit of clearance.

And then let go and it'll stop?

-Yes, release it back to the middle.

-OK, here we go.

-We hope it stops. And it does.

-Right!

-You can rest and relax now.

Now there is... Oh, that's wonderful. Gladys, the Thames barge.

What a lovely boat. Look at that.

'An old Thames barge

'sailing under one of the greatest bridges in the world.

'And what's my photographic record going to be? Well, it's obvious.'

Right, I'm going to take my picture of my bridge, which I opened.

'And there it is.

'Sunset at Tower Bridge.

'No wonder she's become one of the great symbols of London.

'Next time on Britain's First Photo Album,

'I'll be following the Thames eastward to Gravesend,

'where I'll be hitching a ride on a glorious sailing barge.'

Ahh! The power of sail.

'Finding out what the Victorians did in their leisure time.'

If I do do it, I want a bit of a cheer.

If I don't get it right, I don't want a boo, OK?

'And meeting the new owners of Charles Dickens' favourite holiday home.'

You look absolutely great.

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