0:00:04 > 0:00:07Just over a century ago, the motion camera was invented,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12and changed forever the way we recall our history.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16For the first time, we could see life through the eyes of ordinary people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Across this series, we will bring these rare archive films back
0:00:23 > 0:00:27to life with the help of our vintage mobile cinema.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33We will be inviting people with a story to tell to step on board
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and relive moments they thought were gone for ever.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43They will see their relatives on screen for the first time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46come face-to-face with their younger selves
0:00:46 > 0:00:49and celebrate our amazing 20th century past.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54This is the people's story, our story.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Our vintage mobile cinema was originally commissioned in 1967
0:01:23 > 0:01:26to show training films to workers.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Today it has been lovingly restored
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and loaded up with remarkable film footage preserved for us by
0:01:32 > 0:01:38the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41In this series, we will be travelling to towns
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and cities across the country
0:01:43 > 0:01:48and showing films from the 20th century that give us the Reel History of Britain.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Today we are heading into the 1970s,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59when package holidays really took off,
0:01:59 > 0:02:04and millions of British holidaymakers decided to swap Morecambe for the Med.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11# Espana, por favor. #
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Today we are at Bristol Airport,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19which in the 1970s witnessed one of the great democratic booms
0:02:19 > 0:02:23in British leisure life, the package holiday.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Coming up, the essential holiday wardrobe.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34I mean, guys had never worn shorts in their life.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37SCREAMING AND LAUGHTER
0:02:37 > 0:02:38Brits abroad.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Of course they took Blackpool to Benidorm, but they had to.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47- They wanted Watneys Red Barrel. - And the secret of a golden tan.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50You would go to the local supermarket,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55buy a bottle of lemon and olive oil, and you would slap it all over.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Sometimes it was vinegar. So you smelt like a chip cooking!
0:03:11 > 0:03:15We have come to Bristol Airport in the West Country,
0:03:15 > 0:03:21because this was one of the first airports in the country to embrace the foreign holiday boom.
0:03:21 > 0:03:27When it opened in 1957, this airport handled 33,000 passengers.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33By 1973, almost 300,000 people were checking in.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39And today, it is one of Britain's top ten biggest airports outside London,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43along with the likes of Dublin, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56Until the 1970s, most British people holidayed at home in places like Blackpool.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Dads were more likely to be seen sporting a knotted hanky than a sombrero.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07And although package holidays can be traced back as far as 1841,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11they were almost exclusively the preserve of the rich and the well-heeled.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Then at the end of the '60s, a combination of cheap fuel prices
0:04:15 > 0:04:21and the invention of the first jumbo jet made mass foreign travel accessible to all.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27By 1970, more than 5 million people in Britain could boast
0:04:27 > 0:04:30a foreign holiday.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33For tour operators, it was boom time.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35The largest one was Clarksons,
0:04:35 > 0:04:40credited for turning Benidorm into "Blackpool with sun".
0:04:40 > 0:04:43And the package holiday revolution was upon us.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54Good morning.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57My guests today have come from around the country
0:04:57 > 0:05:00with special stories to tell about package holidays.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Some will be seeing the films we are about to screen for the first time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- Showing us their holiday photos. - My first romance.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09And revealing what it was like
0:05:09 > 0:05:13to be part of that '70s package holiday revolution.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Oh, brilliant.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Lesley Meredith and her brother Martin Hancock from Cheshire have come today,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21because when they were growing up,
0:05:21 > 0:05:26their family was one of the first to take advantage of the new package holiday boom.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Just looking back, things weren't always as you expected.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Like changing the hotel on you at the last minute, all those little things.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37It didn't seem to get in the way, though.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41No, you forgot about those things once you got the sun on your back.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45- Once you are there, it doesn't matter.- Were you the first in your family to go?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49We were, weren't we? Not many people in the street went away.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Now, what have you brought?
0:05:52 > 0:05:55That's walking around Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Me in my Kylie shorts, not a good look. Not in Tunis!
0:06:00 > 0:06:04And they were coming out of the bars to watch me.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I didn't know any better, because I had been to Spain,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10you walk around in a bikini and shorts in Spain.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13But you don't do it in Tunis, and no-one told me.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17- But you weren't arrested? - I was nearly arrested.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19It caused a stir, to say the least.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Martin and Lesley have dragged out some long forgotten
0:06:25 > 0:06:28home movies from the attic, movies they haven't watched in years.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31They have brought them along today.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Here is Lesley aged 19, and Martin aged six.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44What memories will these family holidays to Tunisia and Spain bring back for them?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51We had always gone to the south of England,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and it was something new, an adventure.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Nobody else I knew went abroad.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It was just something that people didn't do.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07I was so excited. I used to count down the hours.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12I used to make a little chart for all the hours and count them down, ready to go away.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17It smelt different. You experienced something new.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Here are Lesley and Martin in their own home movie,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22shot on a super eight camera.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26From the '70s onwards, cameras like this meant that holidaymakers
0:07:26 > 0:07:29could preserve their trips abroad for ever.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32It was just wonderful, all those memories.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35My mum making everyone laugh, because she used to do.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39You have got so many memories, but they are tucked away,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43and you need something like that to let them surface again. It is lovely.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Watching their home movie of a holiday abroad
0:07:47 > 0:07:53reminds Lesley and Martin of the days when sunbathing was a serious matter.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55You would just go and you'd sizzle.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59You would go to the local supermarket and buy a bottle of lemon
0:07:59 > 0:08:05and olive oil, and you would slap it all over and lie there baking.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Sometimes it was vinegar. You smelt like a chip cooking!
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I always used to try and get a bit of a suntan, even as a kid, thinking,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19I need to get brown so that when I get to school, everybody will say, "Wow, where have you been?"
0:08:19 > 0:08:23I had no sun cream on. I thought, I will be all right.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27I had massive blisters across both shoulders. It was really painful.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32My mother had to smother calamine lotion all over my shoulders
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and stay out of the sun for the next few days.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38A holiday romance was a perk of the package holiday,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42and Lesley remembers her first encounter with a Latin Lothario in Spain.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46The Spanish boys, they loved the English girls.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And there was a guy in a bar, a local,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and he asked if he could take me out to a disco.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00I said, OK, I'll come. But he stunk of garlic! Everybody stunk of garlic!
0:09:00 > 0:09:05We weren't used to that, you see. But I only went out with him once.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06My first romance abroad.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Package holidays abroad were relatively cheap in the '70s.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Lesley and her family were quick to take full advantage.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25The first holiday was 1973 abroad, and it was to Calella in Spain.
0:09:25 > 0:09:32It cost my dad £63, full board. £63! Can you imagine that?
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Lesley's mum, Gwen, died 16 years ago,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40so seeing her family all together on holiday in the '70s reminds Lesley
0:09:40 > 0:09:44how precious their time together really was.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49My dad did three jobs at a time just so that we could go away.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51And actually, my mum had got a heart defect,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55so my dad was sort of a "live for today" type of person.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00So he would save like crazy so we could all go away as a family,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02because we never knew if there would be another,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07so very important for us, family holidays. It is lovely to look back on.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Today we're at Bristol Airport, which witnessed the mass surge
0:10:23 > 0:10:26in the package holiday business of the 1970s.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34In the 1970s, millions of British people turned their back on the traditional British seaside holiday
0:10:34 > 0:10:37and sought sun, usually in Spain.
0:10:39 > 0:10:45I am meeting the travel journalist Simon Calder to find out more.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Why did package holidays take off when they did?
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Year Zero in modern travel is 1970.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54It was in January of that year that the very first
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Boeing 747 took off in scheduled service, and that was really
0:10:58 > 0:11:03the point at which the economics of air travel were transformed.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Suddenly the airlines needed to fill lots of empty seats,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and they found that simply by cutting their prices, there was
0:11:11 > 0:11:14a whole new market of ordinary people who previously had been excluded.
0:11:16 > 0:11:23Within six months of its launch, the new Boeing 747 had carried a million passengers.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27A year later, there were 100 jumbos in operation around the world.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Mass air travel had taken off.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34People used to go to the British holiday resorts.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36In the north-west, it was Blackpool and Morecambe.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38So there was a huge change there?
0:11:38 > 0:11:45You can also pretty much measure the decline of the British seaside resort from 1970.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49As soon as we realised that actually the Mediterranean wasn't out of reach,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53of course you would go for guaranteed sun.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55You would go for much lower prices,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59and remember that Spain in the 1970s was somewhere unbelievably
0:11:59 > 0:12:02cheap compared with inflation-racked Britain.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07One of the charming things is that they took Blackpool to Benidorm.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Of course they took Blackpool to Benidorm, but they had to,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15because we would only cope with resorts which were in our own image.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Abroad was very scary, of course it was.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Do you think so? Or people just liked what they knew
0:12:22 > 0:12:24because it was fun?
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Do you think people were scared of a beach in Benidorm?
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I think they were very nervous about everything like foreign food.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34They had never tried garlic or olive oil,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36quite frankly it could play havoc with your stomach.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40So they wanted familiarity. They wanted Watneys Red Barrel.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43And of course, being a very service-focused industry,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47the Spanish delivered exactly what we wanted.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58It wasn't just the Spanish who delivered what we Brits wanted.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03Our own home-grown holiday camps quickly realised if you can't beat them, join them,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07so Pontins headed to Spain and set themselves up as Pontinental.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Paul James from Kent worked for the company as a cabaret performer,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and remembers how nice the holidaymakers were.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19But I was impressed by how cheerful people seemed, and how tolerant,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23lots of the crowds, getting on with it and having a great time.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28Because it was cheap. The guests then were so easy to please.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32We were all in the same boat. No-one had ever been abroad before.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Basically, it was Pontins and Butlins, but with sun and sangria. Fantastic.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41- It's one of the themes, the way the British take the British with them.- Exactly that.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45We are going to transport Paul back 40 years now to a time
0:13:45 > 0:13:49when he was a 20-year-old aspiring entertainer in Torremolinos.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57What memories will these films bring back to him?
0:14:00 > 0:14:02It was new to everybody, this is the thing.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06So you got off that plane, and you thought, wow, it's hot.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09They had been going to their holiday camps in England,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13and probably taking a coat with them for the summer.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17And you see people turn up with amazing things like shorts.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Guys had never worn shorts in their life.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24SCREAMING AND LAUGHTER
0:14:24 > 0:14:27The old shorts, the lot!
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Of course, topless was the thing, as well.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37They had never seen girls go topless.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40They would go on the beach, and off would come the tops. Amazing.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45It was all brand-new, and of course everything was so cheap.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52The first Pontinental holiday dates back to 1963,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56and the boom just grew and grew.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Good exchange rates meant that prices were low,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02and people flocked to rip off their clothes and roast in the sun.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04I think it was £55 to go out for the holiday.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09They were getting great value for money, which we don't get any more.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13They were paying nothing for the holiday, paying nothing for their drinks.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15The kids were having a ball on the beach.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17It was guaranteed sunshine every day.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Life was so simple, for nothing.
0:15:21 > 0:15:28Pontins holiday brochures boasted "food sympathetically inclined to British tastes".
0:15:28 > 0:15:34The aim was to create the UK with sun, as this 1966 BBC travel programme,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37made by a young Michael Parkinson, explains.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41But the other reason that the British come here is that they know what holiday camps are like.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45When they venture abroad, they like to know what they are getting.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48The food reflects the national desire
0:15:48 > 0:15:51to stop once and for all the flow of cards to Britain which said,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54"the weather is lovely, but the food is very greasy."
0:15:54 > 0:15:57It is simple, British, and there is plenty of it.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05The thing is, they were Brits.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08If we had gone in there and did what they do now,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11which is completely continental, they would have hated it.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14You had to do bingo. That was very important.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18All the things that you would have done on the English site,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20you had to do there.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22If you hadn't done bingo, there would have been riots.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Seeing these holiday films has taken Paul back to the happiest
0:16:27 > 0:16:32years of his life, when he was the man responsible for ensuring a good old-fashioned knees up.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36When I saw that film today,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39I realised how lucky I was to be around at that time.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44That was the best ten years of my life,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and I would never be able to better it.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51THEY SING "HOKEY-COKEY"
0:17:00 > 0:17:05On Reel History, we are screening rarely-seen archive films
0:17:05 > 0:17:08about package holidays in the '70s to some pioneering
0:17:08 > 0:17:12holidaymakers and those who worked in the industry.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Doreen McKenzie has flown here today from Belfast.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21She took advantage of the job opportunities in the booming new
0:17:21 > 0:17:26holiday business and became a travel rep, like thousands of others.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28She ended up making a career of it.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33I am celebrating 40 years in travel, and I started off when I was 19,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and I always wanted to travel and see the world.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It does seem that people were happy, cheerful, glad to be there.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44- There was some kind of liberation. - It was, it was an adventure. They had lower expectations,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46but it was a bit of an adventure.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50It is the opposite now, they have higher expectations.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54One thing that sticks in my mind is when we had long flight delays.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56They always sent the girl reps out to tell the public.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01The boys didn't do it so well, or maybe got a little more trouble.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08We are taking Doreen back to when she was a fresh-faced holiday rep in Majorca,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11before automated systems kicked in.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Some of the things that stood out was the lack of technology we had.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29We had to handwrite tickets and we had to do that on paper
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and take them to the airport, check people in on flights.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36And then you went to the aircraft and seeing everybody off,
0:18:36 > 0:18:41actually did the head count, closed the doors and waved everybody off. So there wasn't the restriction.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45We didn't have security threats that you have nowadays.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49In fact, the average time from check-in
0:18:49 > 0:18:53to boarding in the 1970s was just 20 minutes.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58It was a speedy turnaround, but there were often drawbacks.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04Frequent delays meant spending the night in the airport terminal was not uncommon.
0:19:04 > 0:19:11Seeing those people on the film lying around the airport brought back some horrendous delays.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15We used to have to tell them, "You've a two-hour delay." We just did not know.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20You didn't have your hand on instant technology to know the answers.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23So it was having to just keep them penned in, waiting and waiting.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34In the 1950s,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38only one in 100 people travelled by air for their annual holiday.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41By the '70s, it was one in ten.
0:19:41 > 0:19:42What do you think of it?
0:19:42 > 0:19:45- It's fantastic. - You like the aeroplane?- It's lovely.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Once holidaymakers finally touched down, it was up to reps like Doreen
0:19:53 > 0:19:57to make their holiday an unforgettable Spanish experience.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59You would give them a glass of cava.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03You sold them as many excursions as possible, because you made commission on that,
0:20:03 > 0:20:08so, once a week, I had to take a busload of people to Tito's Nightclub.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Another night I had to take them to a barbecue.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14That was the difficult one, because they got a lot of sangria at that,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17so, as long as you brought 50 people back in the coach,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20you knew somebody else would bring the other 50 or whatever!
0:20:22 > 0:20:26What lasting impression have these films left on Doreen?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29What it makes me want to do is clear my loft out
0:20:29 > 0:20:31and find the memorabilia and look at it,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36because those were great days and they are lost, unless you get an opportunity like this.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47It was the development of modern aeroplanes
0:20:47 > 0:20:52that made the package-holiday boom possible, and in the '70s,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56working as a cabin crew was about as glamorous a job as you could get.
0:20:56 > 0:21:0048-year-old Stephen Manley-Clarke, from Wiltshire, has come along today
0:21:00 > 0:21:04to tell us about his childhood ambition to be a flight attendant.
0:21:05 > 0:21:12- What have you brought along? - Um, what I've brought here is some of my scrapbook memories.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17This was in the mid-'70s when I was a determined 12-year-old,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20wanting to fly for British Airways.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25And they are very influential in my determination to fly.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Um, I was able to write to them quite frequently
0:21:29 > 0:21:34and obtain trips around airports, even flights, and helping them on board.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37I got presented, as you can see, with this wing.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Now I have a genuine one here.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44- So that is really the start of my career.- Yeah.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Stephen's career aspiration wasn't just a flight of fancy.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56Today, he's about to remember the first holiday that inspired him to become a high-flyer.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08I was in awe of everything at the airport,
0:22:08 > 0:22:13the experience of checking in, going on the flight and the holiday itself.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19If I look back, the flight was probably my best part of the experience of a package holiday.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24I was very determined to become cabin crew.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27In the 1970s, cabin crew fashion was it.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32Celebrity designers from Mary Quant to Valentino dressed flight attendants.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37And when Air Europe needed a new image, who did they turn to, but 12-year-old Stephen?
0:22:38 > 0:22:41There was a competition in a travel paper
0:22:41 > 0:22:45and I was tasked with designing a cabin crew uniform
0:22:45 > 0:22:48for Britain's newest airline at that time.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Sure enough, I won this competition, I was awarded a flight to Alicante
0:22:52 > 0:22:57for designing some ideas for their new cabin-crew uniform,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00which, I think, they used some of them.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05It wasn't just the crew who liked to dress up.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11Even at 30,000 ft, style and sophistication were never compromised.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17It was a big event. People did dress up.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22I can remember when I first started flying, people would put on a suit, tie,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25have nice dresses on. It was a special occasion.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Travel has been my life
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and I think it really does stem back from the mid-'70s
0:23:34 > 0:23:38and I think it was a bug that I caught and it's still with me.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Former Bristol ground staff Jean Pitt and Jane Hosegood
0:23:51 > 0:23:55ran the Clarksons holiday desk here at Bristol Airport in the 1970s.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00Clarksons was one of the biggest package-tour operators in the country.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07- So you were at Clarksons?- Yes.- Can you tell us about the early years?
0:24:07 > 0:24:09It was just a most exciting time.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13It was a lovely company to work for, very friendly,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15and we did look after the passengers.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Did you feel that something new was going on?
0:24:18 > 0:24:22- Do you feel you were part of an exciting new...- It was exciting. - Yes.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23- Very exciting.- Absolutely.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27You could tell when they came back, they were over the moon.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33All of them...with sangria! Many of them had never flown before. I hadn't.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39What did you think of this package-holiday movement? What are your views and reflections on it?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Well, I had never been on one when I took the job.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48But I could see that it opened up a whole new world.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51I think a lot of families had a marvellous opportunity
0:24:51 > 0:24:56to go at a very reasonable cost and have a lovely time together.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Jean and Jane are about to relive the days
0:25:00 > 0:25:03when they were the face of Clarksons Bristol.
0:25:06 > 0:25:12The whole job was... It was very taxing at times.
0:25:12 > 0:25:13And dealing with people.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I think I matured during the time I worked for Clarksons.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21There was one funny incident I remember,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25where we had a long delay, overnight.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29I rang London office and said, "What do you suppose I should do with them?"
0:25:29 > 0:25:34They instantly said, "Take them on a mystery tour."
0:25:34 > 0:25:36And I thought...
0:25:36 > 0:25:38So I had to get the coaches and I got those
0:25:38 > 0:25:42and the only thing I could think of was Cheddar, Wales and Weston.
0:25:42 > 0:25:43That's right.
0:25:43 > 0:25:50We went to these places and, going past somebody's house, one woman screamed out
0:25:50 > 0:25:57as we were driving along, "Oh, such a mystery tour, that's my front door(!)"
0:25:57 > 0:25:59So, you can't please everyone.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04By 1974, Clarksons had grown, in the space of only nine years,
0:26:04 > 0:26:09from handling 4,000 annual holidays to over 1 million.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12But they simply couldn't build hotels fast enough.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17Benidorm's Hotel El Toro has been the series of a host of rows
0:26:17 > 0:26:21between British holidaymakers, who arrived to find the building still being finished.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Yet, the El Toro, according to Clarksons brochure,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26should have opened on 3rd April.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32They were bought out by the giant firm Court Line in the rush to stay ahead,
0:26:32 > 0:26:38but this extraordinary growth, coupled with a steep rise in fuel prices, burst the bubble.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Along with many other tour operators, Court Line went bust,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46taking Clarksons and a number of other companies down with it.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50In August 1974, they went into administration,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52leaving 40,000 holidaymakers stranded.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Jane Hosegood remembers the day well.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Well, that was very sad, I was in Yugoslavia on holiday.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04The rep, Tony, came down to breakfast and said,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07"I may as well tell you, the Big C has crashed."
0:27:07 > 0:27:12We all had to get ourselves back to England by any means.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17There were no aircraft organised at that time.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20Both Court Line and Clarksons are bankrupt,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22so, when passengers came to check in,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25if they were booked through Clarksons, they were turned away.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30- How do you feel about going on another package holiday? - Oh, no, thanks! No, thanks.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The collapse of Court Line led to increased regulation of the industry
0:27:46 > 0:27:50to give holidaymakers better protection in the future.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56What happened in the '70s with the package holidays, I think,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00was what had been the privileges of the few became the opportunities for the many.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05We're one of the most travelled nations in the world and, in a big sense,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09it began here with package holidays in the '70s.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17Next time on Reel History, we are at the Medical School in Birmingham,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21recalling the birth of the National Health Service in 1948
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and meeting some of its early patients.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28I was the first baby born into the National Health Service in Great Britain.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:38 > 0:28:41E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk.