0:00:02 > 0:00:05In the Victorian era, Britain changed as never before.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08It was the time of great inventors, great engineers,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11but above all, great businessmen, entrepreneurs.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16One of the best examples was the pioneer photographer Francis Frith.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19It was in the 1860s that Francis Frith
0:00:19 > 0:00:22embarked upon a monumental mission
0:00:22 > 0:00:25using the newly-invented photographic camera.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30He wanted to document every city, every town and village in the land.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35I'm tracing the footsteps of this remarkable man
0:00:35 > 0:00:36and his team of photographers.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Using their pictures as my guide,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I'll travel the length and breadth of the country
0:00:42 > 0:00:45finding out what has altered and what has stayed the same
0:00:45 > 0:00:48and along the way I'll be taking my own photos
0:00:48 > 0:00:52to try and capture the mood of the place as it is now.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54That's great.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Welcome to Britain's First Photo Album.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Between 1860 and his death in 1898,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Francis Frith's company produced and sold photos of a Britain
0:01:21 > 0:01:25that was undergoing a rapid industrial and social upheaval.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27His customers were people
0:01:27 > 0:01:31who couldn't afford the expensive camera equipment,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35but were keen to have brilliant new images of these advancing times.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37In the northwest of England,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41these momentous changes particularly affected the port of Liverpool.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Frith came to Liverpool in the middle of the 19th century
0:01:45 > 0:01:48at the start of his career
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and I feel a bit of fellow feeling,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56because I came here about, well, more than 100 years later,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59at the start of my journalistic career.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02So today, using Frith's photos as my guide,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05my travels will take me first to Liverpool,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08then east to the cotton-milling town of Bolton
0:02:08 > 0:02:13and finally to the home of the seaside resort, Blackpool.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18I'll visit one of the very first shopping centres in the country.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21It's a forerunner of the modern shopping mall in many ways.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25It set the foundations where people could shop in pleasant surroundings.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I'll find out what the Victorians got up to at the seaside.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Are you certain that this is not frightening?
0:02:34 > 0:02:39And I'll be judging a competition with a group of photographers
0:02:39 > 0:02:41who trace their routes back to Frith himself.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47But it's Liverpool One, the very centre of the city,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51where I've come to find out more about today's first photograph.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It was taken in 1887 and tells us a lot about the trade
0:02:55 > 0:02:57which made Liverpool rich.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The River Mersey, with its easy access to the sea,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04gave Liverpool a chance to become a great city.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Ships would come in here and leave to ports all over the world.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13One of the most important goods traded here was cotton.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15The raw cotton would be unloaded here
0:03:15 > 0:03:19and then shipped off to the thousands and thousands of mills
0:03:19 > 0:03:21across the north of England.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24The people in the Frith photo were a vital element,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27but why did they matter so much?
0:03:27 > 0:03:29These are the middle men,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34responsible for working out the price of the cotton when it lands
0:03:34 > 0:03:39and making sure the people who buy the cotton get the price they want.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43This is Liverpool Cotton Exchange at the height of its powers.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47The photo was taken in Exchange Flags Square,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50which at the time was the Liverpool equivalent
0:03:50 > 0:03:54of the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57I'm meeting Liverpool University history professors
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Robert Lee and John Belchem at the very place
0:03:59 > 0:04:02'where the Frith photo was taken.'
0:04:02 > 0:04:05It's hardly the thriving centre it used to be.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08- So who are we seeing here? - Well, we're looking at a collection
0:04:08 > 0:04:11ranging from some merchant princes
0:04:11 > 0:04:13down to humble clerks, with brokers
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and traders all mixed in, everybody who was engaged
0:04:16 > 0:04:20in Liverpool's heyday as being the great maritime mercantile city.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24- But most we think are cotton traders?- Cotton is predominant,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27but the great thing about Liverpool and why Liverpool was so prosperous
0:04:27 > 0:04:30was that it was a general cargo port. It handled everything.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Whether it was raw materials, foodstuffs,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34people, manufactured commodities -
0:04:34 > 0:04:37all these things are traded through Liverpool.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40They would be trading outside, wouldn't they?
0:04:40 > 0:04:45It seems that the merchants here, despite being so far north,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48did conduct most of their business in the open air, on the flags,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52rather than in the newsrooms and the counting houses in the exchange.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Why are they assembled in this way?
0:04:54 > 0:04:55They've come because they were told
0:04:55 > 0:04:58this event was taking place.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59It's an opportunity, collectively,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01to demonstrate the importance
0:05:01 > 0:05:02of the merchant community
0:05:02 > 0:05:05before the camera and the wider public.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08That's tells you what it's like, Liverpool in its heyday.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Indeed. It really emphasises the centrality of Liverpool
0:05:11 > 0:05:14as one of the world's leading commercial centres.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17But for Frith and the photographer who took this,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20there's a business element. He wants to sell the picture.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Absolutely. It's an opportunity, really,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27to make sure everyone who attends orders a photograph.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31So all these people in the picture, even at the back, would want a copy.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- Oh, absolutely.- So it's clever.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38We've got to remember that Frith made his money, originally, in Liverpool.
0:05:39 > 0:05:40It was in Liverpool
0:05:40 > 0:05:45that the two sides of Francis Frith's character came together.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49His skill as a businessman, his genius as a photographer.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54Here in Liverpool, he founded the Liverpool Photographic Society.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58I'm going to meet some of the direct descendants of that society.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02The members of the South Liverpool Photographic Society
0:06:02 > 0:06:07enjoy all sorts of technical wizardry that Frith didn't have.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11But what do they think of his work?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14When you see these Frith photographs
0:06:14 > 0:06:17do they give you a sense of fellow feeling?
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Great admiration for these men.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24The cameras they carried were huge, the size of the finished print.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28So in a way Frith is still your hero, isn't he?
0:06:28 > 0:06:33What I get from Frith's work is the fact that it's a social document.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37And it's a means of looking at the past today.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40I think we have to appreciate that today
0:06:40 > 0:06:43we have infinitely more possibilities than he had.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46We can catch anything - a vehicle going past.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50He had to wait for the scene to be empty of everything
0:06:50 > 0:06:55other than what he wanted in it. So he had to take a lot more time.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Well, time is a luxury the Society doesn't have this morning,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and I'm setting them a challenge.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06120 years after Frith snapped the cotton traders,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09I want to see how modern Liverpool photographers
0:07:09 > 0:07:11choose to record their city.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13It's time to beat the clock.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20All of you go outside in this very small area
0:07:20 > 0:07:22and take a picture, right?
0:07:22 > 0:07:25That shouldn't be too difficult, but there is one problem -
0:07:25 > 0:07:27you've got to do it within 15 minutes
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and I will then judge who wins the competition.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34- Now?- 15 minutes, yeah. Off we go.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Now, to be honest, I'm not really qualified
0:07:38 > 0:07:41to judge other photographers' work,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44but with such a wealth of inspiration here in Liverpool,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46I think I can wing it.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50After all, I have Frith as my reference.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52The Railway Hotel, Frith took that.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56St George's Hall. Yes, Frith was there first.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The famous dock. All caught the Victorian photographer's eye.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03But are they attractive to our photographers
0:08:03 > 0:08:06who, let's face it, are in a bit of a hurry?
0:08:08 > 0:08:12'Well, the results of the competition are quite revealing.'
0:08:12 > 0:08:14There's architecture old and new,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18and there's a good dollop of Liverpool culture -
0:08:18 > 0:08:23shops and shoppers. Time for me to pick a winner.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28Right, this is the special moment when I announce the winner.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31And the winner is...
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- Irene!- Oh!- Yeah.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35I think it's a terrific picture.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39It's in the rain, and we have been in the rain this morning.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44- And that will always remind me of Liverpool. Well done.- Thank you.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Well done.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50'Now there's a chance to turn the tables on my Liverpool friends.'
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I want to get them to pose for my photograph
0:08:54 > 0:08:56and to do so in the same square
0:08:56 > 0:09:01in which their venerable predecessor made his mark.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Right, here we go. Right.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09- Hip, hip-hip...- ALL: Hooray!
0:09:09 > 0:09:13What I've enjoyed is seeing a vivid demonstration
0:09:13 > 0:09:16of the way that photography still has its place
0:09:16 > 0:09:20in what was recently the European City of Culture.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27Remember, Frith founded the first Liverpool Photographic Society,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29so that's relevant. And they're happy.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Behind them is the balcony that Frith took his photograph,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38so we're sort of, I don't know, we're in the spirit of Frith.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Now I'm heading inland in search of my second Frith photo.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53From Liverpool I'm following the same route as the cotton did,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57heading to one of the great spinning towns of the 19th century.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00The mills have long since closed,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04but when you visit Bolton it still has the feel of its heyday
0:10:04 > 0:10:07as a 19th-century cotton town.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11And one of the buildings which the Victorians were so proud of
0:10:11 > 0:10:14still stands today - the Market Hall.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22When this market opened in 1855,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26it was a brand-new sort of structure in glass and iron.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30The best example was the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition
0:10:30 > 0:10:33which opened just a few years before this did.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38But you can imagine when this came to Bolton, that was quite something.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44The Frith photograph captures the scene in 1895,
0:10:44 > 0:10:4840 years after the Market Hall opened.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50It's easy to see why the people of Bolton were so proud.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54At the point where the photo was taken,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56I'm meeting historian Bob Snape.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01It's about this spot. This is the vantage point of it. As we can see,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05we can see the vantage point that Frith had.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09When this opened in 1855, what would the lighting have been?
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Gas-lit. There were 900 gas jets
0:11:13 > 0:11:15in the hall.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18That would have been very exciting as well.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21It meant the Market Hall could be open in the dark,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23in later afternoons in winter.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It would be quite an exciting and innovative place to come.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30So to come here when it opened,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33for lots of people, would have been a terrific sensation.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36- Quite something.- Absolutely, yeah.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Market halls were one of the big innovations of 19th-century Britain.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44No longer would people accept the filthy market squares
0:11:44 > 0:11:46of the Middle Ages.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Most customers were city dwellers
0:11:49 > 0:11:51and they wanted clean, well-stocked centres
0:11:51 > 0:11:55where you could shop out of the rain.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59When we're looking at these shops and what would have been here,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03we'd have had produce - these are sort of market stalls -
0:12:03 > 0:12:05but what else would we have had?
0:12:05 > 0:12:09A lot of butcher stalls, fishmongers, fruit stalls.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And on the gallery was livestock,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16so up here you could buy pigeons, rabbits and pets.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19It's a forerunner of the modern shopping mall in many ways.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22It set the foundations for this idea of an enclosed space
0:12:22 > 0:12:25where people could shop at a leisurely pace
0:12:25 > 0:12:27in nice, pleasant surroundings.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32In the booming northwest, Bolton was not alone.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Blackburn, Accrington, Halifax and Bury
0:12:36 > 0:12:39were all keen on the new style of market halls.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44The Bolton Museum has preserved an extraordinarily detailed plan
0:12:44 > 0:12:46of their splendid Victorian market.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It does look terrific, doesn't it?
0:12:49 > 0:12:53What's exciting about the building? What makes it different?
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I think if you consider what Bolton
0:12:56 > 0:12:59was like at the time, the 1850s,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01there weren't many large buildings
0:13:01 > 0:13:02apart from the cotton mills.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Civic buildings were quite small.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07The town hall hadn't been built. It dominated the town centre.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09The famous town hall.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11That's not until 20 years later.
0:13:11 > 0:13:12So this is the largest thing,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14this is a piece of civic pride,
0:13:14 > 0:13:19this is about, "Bolton is on the map, we are rich, up and coming.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21"And here is a place where you can shop."
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Newspaper reports compare it favourably
0:13:23 > 0:13:26with the one in Liverpool that had been built recently.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28- Ah, yes.- Ours is bigger and better and posher.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Yes, of course, because you're from Bolton.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Be proud of it.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Places like Bolton were the first.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38They had to find a new way to live in crowded conditions.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40How do you feed yourself, organise yourself?
0:13:40 > 0:13:43A building like this represents that story.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47It's a really powerful thing and well worth remembering today.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49I think Bolton's Market Hall,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51functional as well as good to look at,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55is a great example contemporary architects could follow.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57It beats most modern shopping malls
0:13:57 > 0:14:02and I'm going to show my appreciation by taking its photo.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08This is my attempt at an architectural shot. Tricky.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10We've got to try to get the modern bit of it
0:14:10 > 0:14:12with the old bits and the glass.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14This is my attempt.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Here it is - the old fusing with the new.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24And the skill of the restoration
0:14:24 > 0:14:26is that you can't spot the join.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30I thought the lines, those straight lines,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34these modern lines and the glass with the people behind
0:14:34 > 0:14:35gives you the modern idea,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37but the older idea on the top
0:14:37 > 0:14:40with those arches. That's Victorian ironwork
0:14:40 > 0:14:43with the old Victorian glass behind.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46So I think that's the mixture that I wanted
0:14:46 > 0:14:48and it's come out rather well.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57I'm telling the story of Britain's First Photo Album,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01tracing the footsteps of Francis Frith and his team,
0:15:01 > 0:15:02using the photographs they took
0:15:02 > 0:15:06and revealing just how our country has changed.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Having moved inland from the port of Liverpool
0:15:10 > 0:15:13to see how the Victorians transformed Bolton,
0:15:13 > 0:15:19I'm heading back to the coast to look at two more Frith photos.
0:15:19 > 0:15:2330 miles north of Liverpool is one of the most famous
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and lively seaside resorts in the world - Blackpool.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Ah, Blackpool!
0:15:30 > 0:15:34I used to come here every autumn for a week for more than 20 years,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36but it wasn't for holiday.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40It was for me one of the hardest working weeks of the year.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43I was here for the party conferences.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Today, though, I'm thinking about holidays.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Frith and his team were lucky to come to Blackpool
0:15:48 > 0:15:51as the town was booming.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54It was the very end of the 19th century
0:15:54 > 0:15:58and the most famous landmark on the coastline had just been built.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01It is, of course, the Blackpool Tower,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and there it is, standing tall in my next Frith photo.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07I'm meeting archivist Tony Sharkey
0:16:07 > 0:16:08to find the spot
0:16:08 > 0:16:12where the Frith cameraman took one of the first of millions of pictures
0:16:12 > 0:16:14people have taken of this tower.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18This looks as if the position is right, isn't it?
0:16:18 > 0:16:20The position is more or less right, I would say.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23They were very skilful photographers
0:16:23 > 0:16:27and they do make it look like a very grand building on this 1890s image.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31This photograph was taken only a couple of years after the tower
0:16:31 > 0:16:33was opened to the public.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35And the cost of the tower
0:16:35 > 0:16:36was upwards of £250,000,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39which seems very little in today's money,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43but was a considerable investment and a considerable risk at the time.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46So how much in today's money would that have been?
0:16:46 > 0:16:50In today's money, that would be upwards of £40 million.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53So it was an extraordinarily ambitious project.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57The tower was late-Victorian Britain's attempt
0:16:57 > 0:17:00to emulate the brand-new Eiffel Tower in Paris.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04It was largely the vision of one man, John Bickerstaffe,
0:17:04 > 0:17:09Blackpool Mayor, local hotelier and all-round entrepreneur.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14He believed a striking new landmark would give Blackpool a boost.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16So where did the money come from?
0:17:16 > 0:17:22Well, the money effectively is generated from the cotton wealth
0:17:22 > 0:17:25of the area of northwest Lancashire
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And as the mass market started to visit Blackpool
0:17:28 > 0:17:30in the latter decades of the 19th century,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32entrepreneurs like Sir John Bickerstaffe
0:17:32 > 0:17:36were providing Blackpool with the emblems
0:17:36 > 0:17:40that would make Blackpool unmissable and unforgettable.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43So it's based upon the cotton industry?
0:17:43 > 0:17:46It's often been said in the past that Blackpool Tower
0:17:46 > 0:17:48was built on bales of cotton
0:17:48 > 0:17:52and of course, figuratively, that is actually true.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55We're talking of tens of thousands of factory workers
0:17:55 > 0:17:58who want to take a break, they want to have fun.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01You're talking MILLIONS of factory workers.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05There were other resorts in the market, and Blackpool was trying
0:18:05 > 0:18:08to do things bigger and better than anybody else.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Blackpool did those attractions at a level
0:18:10 > 0:18:13that neighbouring resorts didn't reach.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Where Blackpool led, other resorts soon followed
0:18:16 > 0:18:20and Frith and his team were there with their cameras.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25The seaside tower was coming into its own, and within eight years,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29both Norfolk and Yorkshire had erected their own versions.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31The greatest rival to Blackpool's tower
0:18:31 > 0:18:34came from just down the coast near Liverpool
0:18:34 > 0:18:38where the Merseyside resort of New Brighton
0:18:38 > 0:18:39was determined to top it.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45At 570 feet, it was just slightly taller,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48but Blackpool has enjoyed the last laugh
0:18:48 > 0:18:53because all the rival towers have long since disappeared.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Now there's a new programme
0:19:02 > 0:19:05of restoration and improvement under way.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09The grand Victorian structure is being given a makeover.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13I'm keen to see how much has been preserved of the past
0:19:13 > 0:19:16and how the new owners have brought it up to date.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- How often do you come up here? - We come once a month.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25- Really?- Yeah, once a month.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Because what people don't realise is that we are standing on
0:19:28 > 0:19:32the most iconic seaside building in the world.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36In the world, this building is iconic seaside.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40- Have you been up here before? - I have, in 1967. A long time ago.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44- What do you think?- Really nice. I'm not a fan of the whole
0:19:44 > 0:19:46- standing over the glass thing. - Don't do that, no.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50I'd never been on the glass platform before, and I braved it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54- And I was fine.- You braved it? - I did. It was good.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57What is it that interests you? What do you like about the tower?
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Well, I've never been up.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04I'm 78. It's the first time I've ever been up the tower.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06I think it's very good.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09So all these years, should you have come before,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12- now that you've been here?- Probably.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Can you imagine Blackpool without the tower?
0:20:15 > 0:20:17No. It wouldn't be Blackpool.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21In the 120 years since Frith took his photo,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25the tower has woven itself into the fabric of Blackpool life.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29It represents everything the town stands for.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I'm tempted to take a picture like the Frith picture,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36but that picture, the old picture,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39is so much better than what I could do.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42I'm going to go off further down and choose another subject.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Blackpool is full of contradictions.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51It's an efficient marketing operation.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53It's also just irrepressible fun
0:20:53 > 0:20:58and that mood runs through it like Blackpool rock.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02I think you can get that in this picture of the North Pier.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05It's got "amusements" written on it, so it's going to be amusing.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09It's got, "Georgia's Diner - you've tried the rest, now try the best."
0:21:09 > 0:21:11It's got, I don't know,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14just the sense of you'll enjoy yourself here.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17The North Pier at Blackpool, my version.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23So that's my picture postcard.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Wish you were here!
0:21:27 > 0:21:29I've got these two characters slightly blurred,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32I hope in the Frith manner.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36I'm not sure it's very convincing, but the word that matters here,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38the key word in any picture involving Blackpool, I think,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41is "amusements".
0:21:41 > 0:21:44People have been amused here for more than 100 years
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and I'm sure in more than 100 years' time,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49they'll still be amused in Blackpool,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51so that's my attempt at capturing
0:21:51 > 0:21:55the colour and the likeness and the daftness, I suppose, of Blackpool.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Now to my last Frith photo of the day and for this,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08I don't have to travel very far.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It was taken in 1896
0:22:10 > 0:22:14when another new Blackpool attraction had just arrived.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It was simply called the Big Wheel,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21one of the earliest Ferris wheel attractions in Britain.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26On board, visitors could soar to a height of more than 200 feet.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31But unlike the Blackpool Tower, it wasn't a great success.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35By 1930, it had been removed and was so quickly forgotten
0:22:35 > 0:22:40that I'm having the devil of a job trying to find out where it stood.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Some passers-by do their best to help.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46- Where is this?- It's round the back. It's not there now.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50- Do you remember this? - We don't. We're not that old.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53- Our mother would have done. - Your mother?- Yes.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57- What can we see?- You can't see anything.- Can we see the wall?
0:22:57 > 0:22:58'Blackpool's Big Wheel'
0:22:58 > 0:23:01'was overshadowed by the big tower.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04'Attempts were made to attract punters
0:23:04 > 0:23:06'by serving tea inside the carriages.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10'For a while, you could even book a carriage for a game of ping-pong,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'but despite all these efforts,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18'those same carriages were finally sold off as garden sheds.'
0:23:18 > 0:23:20- That's confusing, isn't it? - It is confusing.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25It was somewhere in the middle, the Big Wheel.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29- We can't get the exact location. So much has changed.- Exactly, yeah.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I think we'll have to settle for this. What do you think?
0:23:33 > 0:23:36We're roughly in the area, aren't we?
0:23:36 > 0:23:39This is definitely the area round here, but like I say...
0:23:39 > 0:23:44Oh, well, historical research can't always be pursued right to the end.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Let's face it, the Big Wheel's biggest mistake
0:23:47 > 0:23:49was to be built in the wrong place.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Thrill-seeking tourists were soon heading
0:23:52 > 0:23:54to the southern end of Blackpool
0:23:54 > 0:23:57where a new site was flourishing.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59It still does today.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I'm going with mixed feelings to the Pleasure Beach
0:24:02 > 0:24:07which boasts one of the world's best collections of roller-coasters.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11It's not exactly one of my natural habitats.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Luckily, park director David Cam has promised to look after me.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20So what was the original... the first ride?
0:24:20 > 0:24:23This is the oldest surviving ride.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27It was built in 1904. It was designed by Hiram Maxim.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31- Yeah.- It was called the Original Captive Flying Machines.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33It was built as part of
0:24:33 > 0:24:35his fund-raising effort
0:24:35 > 0:24:37to be one of the first to fly an aeroplane.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39The idea, really, is to say,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41"You will never have been on an aeroplane,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43"but you can go on one here."
0:24:43 > 0:24:47- Exactly.- What was the important thing about the Pleasure Beach?
0:24:47 > 0:24:49What were they trying to sell in the old days?
0:24:49 > 0:24:51The mission statement, which we had from 1896,
0:24:51 > 0:24:55was to create an American-style amusement park,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59designed to make adults feel like children again
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and involve gaiety of an innocent nature,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05so it was to be a family attraction through and through,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07and that's what we still do.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10- But some of these rides are meant to frighten?- Oh, yes.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Families can be frightened together.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15It's not just for teenagers.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19There are thrill rides, gentle rides kiddie rides and train rides.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23- What's this?- This is the Big One. This is the Big One.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27It was built as the tallest, fastest roller-coaster in the world.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32It goes at 85 miles an hour. It's the steepest drop.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35I want to choose something that isn't like that,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39something nice and gentle, maybe something historic.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41SCREAMING
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Right, OK, so we're going to get in.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47Yeah.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50- Now...- Make yourself comfortable.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Are you certain, David, that this is not frightening?
0:25:53 > 0:25:55I don't want any messing around
0:25:55 > 0:25:59or going through water or me suddenly upside down.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01It's thrilling if you don't like heights.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03It's not a roller-coaster.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07When you look back to the Victorian era,
0:26:07 > 0:26:12do you feel a fellow feeling with the people who started this place?
0:26:12 > 0:26:14- Absolutely.- Yeah.- Absolutely.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17That's why the rides which were built so many years ago,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20like the Flying Machines, the Grand National, the Big Dipper,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22are still so popular these days.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25People wanted to let their hair down then.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27They loved to be thrilled, excited,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30to leave their lives behind on hold for a day.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34- Their ordinary lives?- Forget their mortgages, forget the car payments,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38forget their worries and come and let your hair down. It's great fun.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40We relate to it in the same way,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42even though our lives are a bit faster now.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44- Kids are still kids.- Exactly.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50When Frith's company came to Blackpool
0:26:50 > 0:26:53to photograph the Big Wheel,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55the Pleasure Beach was just about to open
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and I've chosen to take my last photo here.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02The attraction covers Blackpool's history
0:27:02 > 0:27:06from the time of the Frith photograph to the present day.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10I'm going to place David in front of the original Big Dipper,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13the first roller-coaster to be given that name.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Stay there. I will instruct you from here.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It's pride in what you've got and a big smile, OK?
0:27:19 > 0:27:20That's great.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30David represents the essence of Blackpool business.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33He's worked here for almost all his adult life
0:27:33 > 0:27:38and he combines a shrewd business sense with a sense of fun.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40That's pure Blackpool.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44He looks proud, he looks pleased. He is.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54If you want to find out more about Britain's First Photo Album,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57go to -
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Join me next time as I travel to Scotland
0:28:04 > 0:28:08where it's full steam ahead across Loch Katrine.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10I'll be at Stirling Castle,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14wrestling with the camera technology of Frith's day
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and I'll make a meal of classic Scottish oatcakes.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Well done. You've done that before, haven't you?
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Ta-da!
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd