0:00:02 > 0:00:04Our great country houses.
0:00:04 > 0:00:09The most familiar and yet intriguing sights Britain has to offer...
0:00:09 > 0:00:13standing like sentinels in the landscape.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Hundreds of thousands of us visit them every year,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20but not all are open to the public.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24I've been granted the privileged opportunity to pass through
0:00:24 > 0:00:28the portals of six of our greatest country houses
0:00:28 > 0:00:30normally hidden from public view.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36They've seen five centuries of British history
0:00:36 > 0:00:38up close and personal.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42The families who built these houses played their part
0:00:42 > 0:00:44in great affairs of state.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Central to their dreams, the great house -
0:00:51 > 0:00:53the ultimate status symbol
0:00:53 > 0:00:57but all too often also the ultimate money drainer.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Few of these families went the distance,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03but their houses did with their secrets intact.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09This is their story, but it's also our story,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14for these houses offer a guided tour of our nation's hidden history.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I'm on my way to see a house that represents a dramatic break
0:01:37 > 0:01:42with 500 years of country house tradition.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45It was designed by one of Britain's greatest ever architects
0:01:45 > 0:01:48for a man who embodied the spirit
0:01:48 > 0:01:53of the new age, new money, the new elite.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Together they created a masterpiece as a summary of a golden age -
0:01:57 > 0:02:04the last hoorah for life in the English country house.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09It's an Edwardian gem,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12buried away in the depths of the Hampshire countryside.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17In fact, this twisting private driveway was specially created
0:02:17 > 0:02:19to build up the suspense of finding it.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26But at last, here it is, a gleaming apparition in white.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31This is Marsh Court...
0:02:34 > 0:02:38..a country house like no other before or since...
0:02:39 > 0:02:42..dreamed up by the visionary architect Edwin Lutyens.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Wow. Extraordinary.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Instantly magical.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Marsh Court seems the very embodiment of the optimism of Edwardian Britain.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02It's an early 20th Century masterpiece
0:03:02 > 0:03:06and its sleek white walls make it look so modern.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10It's a building for now looking to the future.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15When it was completed in 1904, it was just about the most
0:03:15 > 0:03:18up to the minute country house of the age,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20the very height of modernity.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24But Lutyens packed it with witty references to older
0:03:24 > 0:03:31architectural styles - Tudor brick chimneys, a Mediterranean pergola,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35a secret sunken garden with an Indian-style fishpond.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39There are surprises at every turn,
0:03:39 > 0:03:44for in keeping with the buoyant spirit of Edwardian Britain,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48this was a house designed first and foremost for fun.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52The man who commissioned this house was, like his architect,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55a wayward and playful character.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01And something of the flamboyance of his nature is enshrined in most
0:04:01 > 0:04:05explicit manner in the very fabric of the house in this splendid porch,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08because above the door, written in Latin,
0:04:08 > 0:04:14is a motto that proclaims happiness on all who enter.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Let's see.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Straightaway it feels joyful and uplifting, a temple to indulgence.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42My word, these are rich and lavish spaces.
0:04:42 > 0:04:49Look at these granite columns, the carved frieze, the wonderful joinery.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54But this is no ordinary or conventional country house.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01'Traditionally, Britain's country homes were also businesses.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03'Their upkeep was financed by profits made
0:05:03 > 0:05:07'from the land they stood on, from rent or farming.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10'This place turned that idea on its head.'
0:05:13 > 0:05:18The money used to build Marsh Court was amassed in a very modern manner,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22in the City of London through the stock market.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27So, it was a house that was built and sustained from money made offsite.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30It wasn't a working house, wasn't part of the local economy,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34it wasn't a generator of money - it was an escape from work,
0:05:34 > 0:05:40a place where you could come to kick back, relax, a place of pleasure.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The man who commissioned this decadent weekend getaway
0:05:46 > 0:05:51was a wildly successful high-flying bachelor named Herbert Johnson,
0:05:51 > 0:05:52Johnnie to his chums.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Johnnie's life was emblematic of the social mobility of the age,
0:06:02 > 0:06:09for like many Edwardian gentlemen he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14His wealth was self-made through determination and risk-taking.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18In 1873, aged 17, he arrived in London,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21hell-bent on making a fortune.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24As luck would have it,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28he possessed an almost superhuman facility with numbers.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31The Stock Exchanged beckoned.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39He started low, filling broker's ink stands for £50 a year.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41But he quickly rose to become a stock jobber.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46It was a case of right place, right time.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49The City was a gateway to prestige and prosperity,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52as historian Ranald Michie knows.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It was the world's most important stock exchange,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00bigger than Paris, bigger than New York.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04It had about five times more members than the New York Stock Exchange.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06It grew from about 800 members
0:07:06 > 0:07:11in about the mid-1850s, to about 5,500 by the First World War.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Your man Herbert Johnson was the type of person who really came
0:07:15 > 0:07:17to the fore in the City.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19There was no establishment in the City.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21If you could make money you rose to the top,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24because people respected you.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29The City operated with its own moral code and that moral code was money.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31And, of course, Johnnie was a stock jobber.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Can you tell me what a stock jobber did
0:07:34 > 0:07:36and what status did they enjoy?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38They were men on the make.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41A stock broker was a slightly more respectable person
0:07:41 > 0:07:43than a stock jobber.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44A stock jobber was referred to,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48say at the time of the South Sea Bubble, as vermin.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49- Vermin.- Vermin.
0:07:49 > 0:07:50Poor old Johnnie.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53They were dealers. They were intermediaries.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57They dealt between one broker and another and they just stood there.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00At the end of the day, they'd either made money or they'd lost money.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09But Johnnie was no ordinary stock jobber.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12He had a secret weapon up his sleeve that made him rich,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14not just quick but super-quick.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21By the age of 21, Johnnie was already a City high-flyer.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25It was partly because he'd invented investment tables,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29a sort of ready reckoner, that helped him calculate losses
0:08:29 > 0:08:33and gains in the value of shares by volume on stock.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37This gave him an edge in a marketplace where speed of
0:08:37 > 0:08:42decision-making, knowing when to buy and sell shares, was of the essence.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50In a way he's the human version of the people that programme
0:08:50 > 0:08:53computers today and do algorithmic trading.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56The Foreign Exchange Market in London
0:08:56 > 0:09:00turns over four trillion dollars a day doing this today.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02He was doing that equivalent a hundred years ago,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05using his ready reckoner in his hand.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Johnnie was on a roll.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Year after year the money piled up.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18By 1900, his relentless wheeling and dealing had earned him
0:09:18 > 0:09:23an unbelievable fortune - the equivalent in today's value
0:09:23 > 0:09:26of £29 million.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41His escape from the mayhem of City trading was fishing.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47When a large estate close to Britain's finest trout river,
0:09:47 > 0:09:52the Test, came up for auction, Johnnie hooked it straightaway.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Now in his 40s, like so many nouveau riche Edwardians
0:09:57 > 0:10:02he needed that ultimate status symbol, a brand new country house.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08And where better for a city slicker to find the hottest architect
0:10:08 > 0:10:13in town than in the pages of the new Edwardian style bible, Country Life?
0:10:15 > 0:10:18It was founded by a man called Hudson, Edward Hudson,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and he was not a countryman, he was really a townie.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23He had a magazine called Racing Illustrated,
0:10:23 > 0:10:24which was a bit of a flop,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and he rolled that into his new idea which was Country Life Illustrated.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30The Illustrated part was quite important
0:10:30 > 0:10:33because there was this new technology for printing photographs
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and that's really what it was all about.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38In a sense it was always about showing people who aspire
0:10:38 > 0:10:41to country living what country living was about.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43If you took Country Life then you would know everything
0:10:43 > 0:10:46about the country and you could adopt this way of life
0:10:46 > 0:10:49which everybody thought was desirable.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51In Country Life there was, of course, one architect
0:10:51 > 0:10:55promoted above all other architects of the era and that was Lutyens.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57His houses appear regularly in the magazine
0:10:57 > 0:10:58and also, of course, Hudson used him as his own architect
0:10:58 > 0:11:00three times, three houses?
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Yes, he did. He did. He had three houses.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05And the offices of Country Life.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07And he thought... well he was right, of course...
0:11:07 > 0:11:10he thought he was a genius and so he would boom
0:11:10 > 0:11:12in the language of the day. Boom Lutyens in the magazine.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Booming.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15Boom was the word he used.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18So, that was the PR of the day.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And certainly one or two clients came directly from the pages
0:11:21 > 0:11:22of Country Life.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25They'd say, "I want one like that."
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Do you reckon that Herbert Johnson could have been flicking through
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Country Life about 1900 and seen the Lutyens house?
0:11:32 > 0:11:36I think it's entirely possible that he encountered Lutyens
0:11:36 > 0:11:39through Country Life.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Herbert Johnson was a fisherman.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44He would have loved the world of Country Life.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47That would have been his world or certainly the world
0:11:47 > 0:11:49that he wanted to be part of.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52But also, of course, Marsh Court was something different.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Marsh Court has this strong flavour of romance -
0:11:55 > 0:11:59this white house shimmering on a hill above the Test.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Genius.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08But the romantic nature of Marsh Court is no happy accident.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The inspiration for Lutyens' greatest creation so far
0:12:11 > 0:12:13was indeed love.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17For Johnnie's ideal home was commissioned
0:12:17 > 0:12:23hot on the tails of Lutyens' marriage in 1897 to Emily Lytton.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28To find out how their complicated relationship influenced
0:12:28 > 0:12:33this building, I'm meeting Lutyens' great-granddaughter, Jane Ridley.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37His father was a painter.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Ned was the 11th of 14 and he was terribly ashamed
0:12:40 > 0:12:43of his background and embarrassed by all his relations.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47On the other hand, Emily was the daughter of the Viceroy of India
0:12:47 > 0:12:52and all that, so her family at first were unhappy about the idea
0:12:52 > 0:12:56that she was marrying, you know, a young architect.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01And this drove him to really work and to get as much money
0:13:01 > 0:13:03as he could to prove himself.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08When she agreed to marry him, he gave her this casket which he'd designed.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And then on, it says it here, EL, Edwin Lutyens and...
0:13:11 > 0:13:12And Emily Lytton.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15so they shared initials. And can I open it, this...
0:13:15 > 0:13:16- Yes. Yes, of course.- Oh.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Now it's full of things.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23This is, this is a mini cabinet of curiosity, isn't it? So...
0:13:23 > 0:13:25There are all these objects that he designed
0:13:25 > 0:13:28to put in these little compartments to symbolise various things
0:13:28 > 0:13:30about their life together.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33So we've got there an anchor, which is a symbol of hope.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36And then there's this tiny little book.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38He wrote a poem that nobody can read.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Oh, Lord! How fantastic!
0:13:40 > 0:13:42It's sort of handwritten in a scrawl and tiny!
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Isn't that charming?
0:13:46 > 0:13:50And then right at the bottom of these drawers, these compartments,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54there was rolled up two scrolls of plans.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57And this was the plan for what he called the Little White House,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00the house that they were going to build together
0:14:00 > 0:14:03and that they were going to live in and be happily ever after.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06When he had the money and all that. Yes, yes, yes.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08When he had the money.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11But of course, the sort of tragedy is that they never built this house
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and that they never lived in a house that he built in fact.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18It's amazing, of course, because it looks instantly like Marsh Court.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- I mean... - It's extraordinary, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25And so, in 1901,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28just a few years into a marriage already under strain,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Lutyens started to build the house of his dreams,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36not for Emily but for Johnnie!
0:14:37 > 0:14:41The fairytale white house with the red roof became Marsh Court.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Emily was a very unconventional person,
0:14:45 > 0:14:51but the trouble was that Ned wanted a conventional marriage.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55She had quite a strong Bohemian streak and Ned couldn't bear this.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57In a way it's rather sad.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I mean, you know the dream house for Emily is in the box,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03doesn't come out of the box, in the casket,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and yet he's able to project this dream
0:15:05 > 0:15:09into a completely different relationship for a very different character,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12you know, very red-blooded, alpha male, sort of outdoors person
0:15:12 > 0:15:16who's quite different from the intellectual,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19slightly difficult Emily and to make this amazing house.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Right from the start, Lutyens and Johnnie clicked.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31They were kindred spirits - two restless,
0:15:31 > 0:15:37high-achieving men's men, full of ambition, egging each other on.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42And in Johnson, Lutyens met the perfect client, a modern man,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46bold, a risk-taker with money.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49And Johnson's choice of site also played a key role
0:15:49 > 0:15:52in the creation of Marsh Court,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56because the house is built on what is essentially a mound of chalk.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02And Lutyens' determination to use material from the ground
0:16:02 > 0:16:06in the construction of the house means that the famous white walls
0:16:06 > 0:16:09of Marsh Court are, in fact, blocks of chalk.
0:16:09 > 0:16:16If I rub my fingers along them I get covered in chalk dust.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17Incredible.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20This makes visiting Marsh Court...
0:16:20 > 0:16:21Oh, dear!
0:16:21 > 0:16:24..a rather dirty business.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Chalk is quite literally the bedrock of Marsh Court,
0:16:36 > 0:16:43as its current estate manager Neil Simpson is hopefully going to prove.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Now we're getting... That's a nice bit of chalk coming up, isn't it?
0:16:47 > 0:16:49And it's pure white.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54There's eight inches of topsoil and flint, and then you hit...
0:16:54 > 0:16:56A chalk layer.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58A chalk layer and how far are we, from your experience
0:16:58 > 0:17:01working around here, how deep is that chalk strata?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03- I've never got to the end of it. - Right.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05I've done many holes and moving of soil
0:17:05 > 0:17:07and I've never got beyond the chalk layer.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09- Could we dig a little bit more? - I can do.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Just, just interested to see what... If that's not too hard work.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16So, what do you think of chalk as a building material?
0:17:16 > 0:17:19As a building material? I wouldn't build my house out of it.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21- Soft.- Yes.- Prone to damp.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- And corrosive. - There you go, yeah.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28And that's the chalk from which the house is built.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Break it. Startlingly white.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33I mean, I'd have thought when this was being discussed, you know,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Lutyens comes up with this kind of outlandish idea of building
0:17:36 > 0:17:39a house of chalk, you'd say... you'd think the client would say,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41"Great idea, but come on, it won't last!"
0:17:41 > 0:17:44That's everyone's reaction. How has it lasted?
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Why has it lasted? But it's still there.
0:17:48 > 0:17:49It's still standing.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Lutyens' unique sea of chalk announced, at first sight,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57this was a house like no other.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01And that's exactly what Johnnie wanted.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Marsh court needed to be the talk of the town.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09For, like so many new moneyed Edwardians,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12his house wasn't just about flashing his cash,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17it was an arena for social climbing and gaining stature,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21as historian Juliet Gardiner explains.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27Herbert Johnson absolutely typifies a new Edwardian breed, a new elite.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29There's this phrase, isn't it,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33"They made their millions in town and they spent them in the country."
0:18:33 > 0:18:36If you were new money and you were really breaking in to society,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39the plutocrats, those who got power through having money,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43through having wealth, they wanted to be country gentlemen.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45And that's where the money was being spent,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47it was being spent on houses.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Edward VII really set the pattern, set the model,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54for this plutocracy, because, of course, up to then,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57on the whole, the Royal Family had mixed among their own.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Now, Edward VII, who was always in need of money, of course,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04made friends among new money!
0:19:04 > 0:19:10Somehow money would be able to buy you position, status, respectability.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12And if you had a house, a beautiful house,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17then that was the container for all that, for that social status.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Marsh Court became a magnet for lords, ladies
0:19:29 > 0:19:31and, indeed, even royalty.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Johnnie wanted their visits to be unforgettable experiences
0:19:39 > 0:19:42from the very moment they arrived.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47So, the ever-inventive Lutyens teamed up with his favourite
0:19:47 > 0:19:51garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll, to make his friend's wish come true.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll created a theatrical architectural
0:19:58 > 0:20:01promenade around the house.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04They used the fall of the land to form terraces
0:20:04 > 0:20:09and sunken courtyards that offer unexpected views of the house
0:20:09 > 0:20:13and dramatic vistas over the landscape.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16And in a most wonderful way they created different textures
0:20:16 > 0:20:19on the path, like here.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22There's brick, there's stone, there's grass,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25adding an extra sensation to the journey around the house.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And what a sensation,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34taking Johnnie's guests on a magical mystery tour
0:20:34 > 0:20:39into the unknown, twisting and turning through walls and hedges.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43And so, of course,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46the perfect place for a party with revellers spilling from the house.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50I can imagine the Prince of Wales nestling down somewhere here
0:20:50 > 0:20:52with a cocktail.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Finally, they would arrive at the visitors' entrance.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05A sunlit paradise.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12One of the most arresting sights in the English landscape.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18In keeping with the inventive originality of Marsh Court,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20indeed as a monument to Lutyens' endless quest
0:21:20 > 0:21:25for architectural surprise, the rear, or garden elevation,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28is more dramatic and arresting
0:21:28 > 0:21:31than the apparently main entrance elevation.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35I love this composition, with the great bay windows on my left
0:21:35 > 0:21:39tottering as if on the edge of a precipice.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41It is really a wonderful design.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Certainly no king or prince could fail to be impressed.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48'Indeed be overwhelmed...
0:21:53 > 0:21:56'..by a series of rooms that are the absolute height
0:21:56 > 0:21:58'of turn of the century flamboyance.'
0:22:00 > 0:22:01Here's the dining room.
0:22:03 > 0:22:04Strange!
0:22:04 > 0:22:09It feels like I'm in a grand cabin of a ship.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Which I suppose is not that surprising, since the early 1900s
0:22:13 > 0:22:19was the golden age of Britain's ocean liners as opulent travel palaces
0:22:19 > 0:22:25for the super-rich and Lutyens picked up on that nautical style.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29I must say this room would have been an ornament to even
0:22:29 > 0:22:31the grandest of the great liners.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35The walls are fully panelled and the ceiling is partly too -
0:22:35 > 0:22:38the dome in the centre. Huh!
0:22:38 > 0:22:43But then there's another quality not, I suppose, intended,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46although, knowing Lutyens, perhaps...
0:22:46 > 0:22:49I feel like I'm in a giant cigar box!
0:22:49 > 0:22:54'And the architecture just gets better and bigger.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58'Straight into a room almost double the height of its neighbour.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02'A feast for the eye from floor to ceiling.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'Again, extraordinarily lavish, but also mischievous.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13'It's symptomatic of Lutyens' delight in juxtaposing styles.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19'This truly modern house is adorned with classical carving in wood
0:23:19 > 0:23:23'and chalk - nods to Christopher Wren in a fashion that was
0:23:23 > 0:23:26'called at the time, Renaissance.'
0:23:28 > 0:23:32The pick and mix approach to detailing in this room
0:23:32 > 0:23:35is typical of the playful spirit of the Edwardian age.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39This is Marsh Court's Great Hall, but, in its wit and irony,
0:23:39 > 0:23:45like no great hall from the Middle Ages or the Tudor age.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47And that really is just the point.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Here, Lutyens mixed historical styles.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53In front of me is a wonderful Tudor style bay window
0:23:53 > 0:23:55and then Jacobean panelling.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58But he mixed these not to fool anybody into thinking this was
0:23:58 > 0:24:03a genuine ancient house, but really in the spirit of, I suppose,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08a sort of tailor, you know, taking brilliant fabric, old fabric,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and making something entirely new.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24And at Marsh Court, the old and the new were very happy bedfellows.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Lutyens went to town not just with classical detailing,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34but also packed the house with most modern conveniences.
0:24:35 > 0:24:41Ingenious air vent central heating, luxury tiled bathrooms
0:24:41 > 0:24:45and his own specially designed electric lighting throughout.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51It all added up to a domestic paradise, where Johnnie could
0:24:51 > 0:24:56offer the most lavish hospitality to the most beautiful people.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04It was a very, very glamorous life!
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Herbert Johnson liked to have weekend parties, only of course
0:25:08 > 0:25:12they weren't called weekend parties cos that was rather vulgar.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15That suggested you had to go to work on a Monday.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17He invited guests. The smarter the guest the better.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Obviously, there would have been financiers, people from the City.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23I think there would have been an impetus to import
0:25:23 > 0:25:26some sort of social butterflies, as it were,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29you know some rather beautiful women, and some people with some
0:25:29 > 0:25:34artistic pretensions or literary pretensions to keep things amusing.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39And, of course, you know, see how high up the ladder you could go.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41You know, you rather were on display.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43You were expected to do a wide range of things.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45To entertain. Absolutely.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47You were expected to be amusing at dinner,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51extremely well dressed, you were expected to be a sportsman.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And we mustn't ever forget the bed-hopping, which...
0:25:54 > 0:25:57- The bed-hopping.- ..which I think probably also went on.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Whether bed-hopping went on at Marsh Court or not I don't know.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Johnnie was now firmly established as the lord of his manor,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09entertaining on a royal scale.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15But at heart, he was still a man's man through and through,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18with a special den to prove it.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22I sense I'm entering a male preserve.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26The main, if not only,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31masculine playroom in any Edwardian country house was the billiard room.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Johnnie would have spent hours here. Indeed,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37In many ways, this would have been the centre of his life
0:26:37 > 0:26:39while at Marsh Court.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Would have been a lot of heavy drinking.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Indeed, there is a story that the Prince of Wales, the future
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Edward VIII, got so drunk he passed out on this billiard table.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Oh, dear. What was to be done?
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Well, servants were summoned and the unconscious Prince was carried
0:26:58 > 0:27:01up the stairs over there into the nearest bedroom,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05which of course has ever since been called The Prince of Wales Room.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Being Marsh Court, this is no ordinary billiard table.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22The plinth is made out of chalk, emblematic material of the house.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27Which is very convenient, because if I need to chalk the end of my cue
0:27:27 > 0:27:31all I do is run it along here.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Naughty, but it does the job.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Like all of Marsh Court's great rooms,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43this space is fantastically theatrical.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49And perhaps it's no mere coincidence that in 1904,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51as Johnnie's playground was taking shape,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Lutyens was also designing the stage sets for his friend
0:27:55 > 0:27:59JM Barrie's new play, Peter Pan!
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Johnnie and Ned, as they affectionately called each other,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12had a close relationship.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17As in Peter Pan, they were, I suppose, rather like the Lost Boys,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22who simply didn't want to grow-up, two chaps of like mind.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27And, indeed, I have here a poem written by Lutyens, Ned,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30to his good friend Johnnie.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36It's a lovely little poem inspired by drink, no doubt.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Lutyens writes, "I friend, drink to thee friend,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41"and my friend drink to me!'
0:28:41 > 0:28:44At which point I am sure they would have charged
0:28:44 > 0:28:49each other's glasses and drunk. Mmm!
0:28:49 > 0:28:51And then Lutyens says,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56"And the more we drink together, the merrier we shall be."
0:28:56 > 0:28:58That's the sort of friend you need to have.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04And so, for Johnnie and Ned,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08this house was a boys' own fantasy made real!
0:29:09 > 0:29:15Despite a bevy of staff, a butler, housekeeper, cook, two footmen
0:29:15 > 0:29:20and seven maids, Marsh Court was essentially Johnnie's bachelor pad.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23Until, that is, he fell in love!
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Now retired from the stock market, in December 1912, aged 56,
0:29:29 > 0:29:35the confirmed bachelor finally married!
0:29:35 > 0:29:39The woman of his choice was named Violet Charlotte Meeking.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46And she, with her two teenage daughters, Viola and Finola,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48moved in to Marsh Court.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55Violet was a society lady with ancestry right back to Edward III.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00But she knew how to live it up like the best of them.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05And so she was Johnnie's dream catch, sporty and exuberant.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10They both believed in having a good time all the time.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13But, only 18 months into their marriage,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16the party came to a dramatic halt.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25As the countryside at play gave way to a nation at war.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31All over Britain, casualties were returning from the front.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Many country homes became places of refuge and recuperation.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40But Johnnie didn't just have a big house,
0:30:40 > 0:30:45he had a big heart, as did Violet.
0:30:45 > 0:30:51Together, they transformed the Marsh Court estate into a troop hospital.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55To find out just how much the Johnsons contributed
0:30:55 > 0:30:59to the war effort, I'm meeting local historian Mary Pollock.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03I think they had caring natures.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Both Herbert and Violet are what I would have called in the old term,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10God, King and country people.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15And Violet, of course, her first husband had been a soldier,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19he died in service, and so I think perhaps she had a special
0:31:19 > 0:31:23relationship with soldiers, she could understand them.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Johnnie met all the expenses and Violet, of course,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31became involved in the running of the hospital.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33She had no medical training as such.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35As far as I know she hadn't.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40But she was a very competent woman and a brilliant organiser
0:31:40 > 0:31:45and I think the Red Cross felt very lucky to have her.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Violet believed that part of the recovery programme
0:31:48 > 0:31:52was to be active, take part in sports and games.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55That's right, sport and, of course, loving care!
0:31:55 > 0:31:58These men had been through terrible experiences, hadn't they?
0:31:58 > 0:32:01I mean, the soldiers thought she was wonderful.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05She must have had a great gift for talking and listening to people.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09They called her the War Mother.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13And Violet, did you know, received the MBE from the King.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17I have always been rather surprised that Johnnie didn't receive
0:32:17 > 0:32:20anything, but maybe he didn't want anything.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22You know, maybe he...
0:32:22 > 0:32:24just wanted to do it quietly.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25Interesting that, isn't it?
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Maybe he was offered it and said, "Give it to my wife."
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Yes.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34The Great War was shattering.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37By the time the last soldier left Marsh Court,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41close to 900,000 Britons had lost their lives.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48It had cost the country over £9 billion!
0:32:48 > 0:32:54The economy was in dire straits and Johnnie was one of its many victims.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57His investments tumbled.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Financing a hospital had seriously depleted his coffers.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Dark days at Marsh Court.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11But there was even worse to come.
0:33:13 > 0:33:19In October 1921, after only nine years of marriage,
0:33:19 > 0:33:26his beloved Violet died suddenly of encephalitis lethargica
0:33:26 > 0:33:27- sleepy sickness -
0:33:27 > 0:33:32a devastating illness that swept through the world in the '20s.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37An obituary in the Hampshire Chronicle.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39It's very long, two full columns.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"The announcement of the death of Mrs Herbert Johnson
0:33:42 > 0:33:47"of Marsh Court, Stockbridge, awakened the most profound sympathy
0:33:47 > 0:33:50"throughout the county for Mr Herbert Johnson."
0:33:52 > 0:33:56It talks here of her "ceaseless activity in many good causes
0:33:56 > 0:34:01"and above all her cheerful and lovable disposition."
0:34:01 > 0:34:04There's a great list of people offering condolences.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06And they include the King,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11the Queen and her Royal Highness the Princess Royal!
0:34:16 > 0:34:19In his darkest hour, who else would Johnnie turn to
0:34:19 > 0:34:21but his great friend Ned?
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Lutyens designed a memorial cross for Violet,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31rising proud in this humble village cemetery.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38There was a bitter twist to this sorry tale.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40When, two years earlier,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Johnson gave his land to the town for use as a cemetery,
0:34:43 > 0:34:50little did he realise his wife's body would be the first to be buried here.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03Marriage to Violet and the war had changed Johnnie.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09The former party animal had become a philanthropist and respected
0:35:09 > 0:35:15member of Britain's new moneyed ruling class, a county councillor,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17the Sheriff of Hampshire,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20and High Sheriff of the county of Southampton.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Like so many of the newly wealthy who wanted to root themselves
0:35:24 > 0:35:28firmly in society, become part of the firmament of the British
0:35:28 > 0:35:33establishment, Johnson, in 1920, acquired a coat of arms!
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Here it is, a rather wonderful thing.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40It shows a cockerel covered in what looks like golden guineas.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Most appropriate.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46And the shield is a image of the sun. And below there is a motto,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49"Come on."
0:35:49 > 0:35:51The sentiment may be more appropriate to a football pitch
0:35:51 > 0:35:55than the Hampshire countryside, yet it does capture, of course,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Johnson's energy and enthusiasm.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02"Come on" became a rallying cry for Johnnie,
0:36:02 > 0:36:08who was determined to show that you couldn't keep a good chap down.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14Now in his 60s, a widower with little more to lose, he set out to rebuild
0:36:14 > 0:36:20his fortune by taking high-risk gambles on the global shares market.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22And it worked!
0:36:22 > 0:36:23He was back in the game.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28The generous big-spender had oodles more cash
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and he lavished it on his greatest passion - sport.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Countless thousands went on cricket tournaments, shooting trips
0:36:38 > 0:36:42to Scotland and that ultimate upper-class sport, foxhunting.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Indeed, Johnnie had risen so high in Hampshire society
0:36:49 > 0:36:54He'd become master of the Hursley hunt.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59To get a sense of those bygone days,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02I'm joining in an actual Hursley hunt.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06It's still very much active, if somewhat less bloodthirsty today.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15- The Hursley was founded in 1836. - Yes.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19And it really relied very much on very generous landowners
0:37:19 > 0:37:22or owners of big houses, for instance Marsh Court
0:37:22 > 0:37:24where you're dealing with Mr Johnson.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27In fact, Herbert Johnson was unbelievably generous.
0:37:27 > 0:37:33He did three short masterships between, I think, 1916 and 1930.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37He often picked up the cost of the hunt.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40All he took back was the subscriptions that were
0:37:40 > 0:37:43- paid by the members. - That's fascinating.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47Maybe in those days, of course, it perhaps was almost expected of you.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Probably if you did own a fairly large establishment or a fairly
0:37:51 > 0:37:55large piece of country, it was looked upon that you might take on the hunt.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01And off they go!
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Since foxhunting was banned, what now happens is that the hounds
0:38:08 > 0:38:12chase a specially laid trail that mimics the animal's scent.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17I'm waiting at a designated spot where the hunt will pass
0:38:17 > 0:38:19with all the thrill of the chase!
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Except it doesn't quite work out that way.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Walk on!
0:38:39 > 0:38:42With an irony that japester Johnnie would have found hilarious,
0:38:42 > 0:38:46an actual fox manages to have the last laugh.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51The Hursley hunt has to be diverted!
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Thwarted!
0:38:56 > 0:38:59But I've got my sight on a bigger catch.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07In the '20s, the romance of big game hunting in far-flung corners of
0:39:07 > 0:39:12the empire prompted the super-rich to set off on adventures of a lifetime.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Going on safari was the ultimate badge of aristocratic privilege.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Naturally, Johnnie was in there, if you'll pardon the pun, like a shot.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30The British colonial government profited from big game hunting
0:39:30 > 0:39:34by selling intrepid adventurers a licence to kill.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38For example, a £50 licence in British East Africa allowed
0:39:38 > 0:39:43the huntsman to kill a whole variety of animals, including two hippos,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45two buffalos, 22 zebra
0:39:45 > 0:39:49and an unlimited number of lions and leopards.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55I've come to Eastnor Castle in Worcestershire to see evidence
0:39:55 > 0:39:59of Johnnie's enormous hunting prowess, part of a treasure trove
0:39:59 > 0:40:04of Marsh Court-memorabilia kept by his step-daughter Finola
0:40:04 > 0:40:08and now preserved by her grandson James Hervey-Bathurst.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10What do we have?
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Obviously I can see photograph albums, individual photographs.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18But first, though, is this album of kills, obviously Africa.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21That is an African elephant.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24- Presumably in the '20s I'm guessing. - I think so, yeah.- Gosh!
0:40:24 > 0:40:29Nowadays these things, a lot of people don't like to do it.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33- But this was...- No. - I'm afraid in those days, of course, that's what people did.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Those days are so recent. The world has changed so much.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39- And this is, of course, there he is.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42- And here he is on the lookout. - Yeah. Yeah.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44What's very nice is that they've
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- actually got all the names of the people.- Yes, he has.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48And we have got a few spares,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51but I'm not sure if it's from that expedition or not.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Lion shot by H Johnson lying in the road.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59And here it says it's, "a charging rhino shot by H Johnson."
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Oh, look, here's something which is wonderful,
0:41:02 > 0:41:07these terrific drawings of Marsh Court by Lutyens.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11They are wonderful things and this is when he's contemplating
0:41:11 > 0:41:14adding the Ball Room in the mid-1920s.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19That's a couple of views looking up. This is an interesting one, isn't it?
0:41:19 > 0:41:23'Play Hall', as Lutyens playfully called the Ball Room. Very sketchy.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27I suppose just little things he would have produced for Johnnie.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30They'd be talking over a drink I suppose and kind of imagining it.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33The fantastic one is this, isn't it? This is wonderful!
0:41:33 > 0:41:36- There are the animals for decoration. - There they are.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39You see they've been shot over there, and it says,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42"Interior proposed Play Hall. E Lutyens."
0:41:42 > 0:41:45And here is the interior of the Ball Room
0:41:45 > 0:41:47with a couple here in evening dress.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51He makes these animals look quite cheerful. They seem to be smiling, enjoying the fun.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54They are happy to be shot by Johnnie Johnson and they're
0:41:54 > 0:41:57even happier to be hanging on the wall of his play room!
0:41:57 > 0:42:05The play room - it just gives you such a little insight into his relationship with Johnnie,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08you know they should perceive all of life as play really, you know?
0:42:10 > 0:42:15The ball room at Marsh Court was built in the mid-1920s as a huge
0:42:15 > 0:42:16extension to the main house.
0:42:16 > 0:42:23It was the ultimate expression of Johnnie's hard-won second fortune.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28And a final extravagant flourish of his spend, spend, spend years.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32What a magnificent space!
0:42:32 > 0:42:36Seems almost too big to be part of a private house.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Most surprising. More like a public building!
0:42:40 > 0:42:43A town hall, perhaps.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47I must say, I'm feeling rather dwarfed by it.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59This room is completely steeped in grandeur,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02dominated by a monumental fireplace carved from,
0:43:02 > 0:43:04what else, chalk!
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Along the walls, Johnnie mounted the heads of rhino
0:43:15 > 0:43:17and buffalo brought back from Africa.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19And to crown it all,
0:43:19 > 0:43:24Lutyens designed these exquisite electric light chandeliers!
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Johnnie held a lavish party to celebrate
0:43:33 > 0:43:36the completion of this room.
0:43:36 > 0:43:42It was, perhaps, one of the last great parties of the roaring '20s.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46He erected a vast marquee in the entrance court
0:43:46 > 0:43:52and all down one side was an oyster bar, and waiters served champagne
0:43:52 > 0:43:58to the 200 guests who, in this very room, danced until dawn.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10Marsh Court became, once more, the house of fun.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16This was the hotspot for swinging hunt balls and lavish feasts,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19with Johnnie's lust for life undimmed,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23even though he'd recently lost an eye in a hunting accident.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30To get a sense of those sun-kissed years,
0:44:30 > 0:44:35I'm meeting a man who actually knew Johnnie, Frank James.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39I was brought up with all the stories about Johnnie's life,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41so I felt I knew him before I even met him!
0:44:41 > 0:44:46The stories from my mother about the terrors of coming to lunch up here,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49going into the dining room and having a flunky,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52a uniformed flunky, behind every chair.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54Spaghetti was served,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57which she'd never seen before and didn't know how to eat.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01So, every guest had their personal sort of servant behind every chair?
0:45:01 > 0:45:04There was somebody behind every chair.
0:45:04 > 0:45:05You were young, of course,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08but what personal memories do you have of him?
0:45:08 > 0:45:13He had a very strong presence, as you would expect.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17He gave off the idea that he didn't suffer fools gladly.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21He didn't say a great deal but what he did say was worth listening to.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Apart from that, he was kind.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27His glass eye was a bit off-putting to a young boy,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30because it didn't look at you while the other eye did.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Obviously a man with a big heart, and philanthropy was part
0:45:34 > 0:45:37of his life, certainly in the First World War,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40but then also juxtaposed with that is the gambling nature of his job.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Yes, I suppose to that extent he's more of a Bill Gates than he is
0:45:44 > 0:45:51- a perhaps traditional speculator, because whatever he made he put back. - Yeah.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56I suppose that's perhaps part of his outlook - that he had been very,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00very fortunate and he wished to share it in as fair a way as possible,
0:46:00 > 0:46:02hence the philanthropy.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07All through the '20s, Johnnie had been high on life,
0:46:07 > 0:46:12spending money like there was no tomorrow.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14Sadly, there was.
0:46:17 > 0:46:24In October 1929, the Wall Street Crash shattered the global economy.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28Stock prices plummeted at an unprecedented rate
0:46:28 > 0:46:33and once again Johnnie fell victim to uncontrollable world events.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37Huge chunks of his wealth were wiped out in minutes.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42He never really recovered.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56In August 1931, the now enormously successful Lutyens
0:46:56 > 0:47:02dropped by to catch up with his old friend over dinner at Marsh Court.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05The whole rather sorry sounding evening
0:47:05 > 0:47:09is commemorated in one of Lutyens' most poignant letters.
0:47:09 > 0:47:16He writes, here we are,
0:47:16 > 0:47:20"Johnnie very cordial with a glass eye.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23"Not an improvement.
0:47:23 > 0:47:28"Persuaded to stay the night, so I had a good go around the house.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33"Johnson is in bad economic luck.
0:47:33 > 0:47:34"Spends no money.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38"We dined in the Ball Room.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41"The banker Johnnie was discovered telling a footman
0:47:41 > 0:47:44"to lay dinner without light to save electricity."
0:47:46 > 0:47:49'The cost of maintaining Marsh Court had become
0:47:49 > 0:47:51'impossible for Johnnie to bear.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55'In one last desperate high-risk gamble,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00'he borrowed money from his bank and invested it overseas in Greek bonds.'
0:48:02 > 0:48:06My father advised him, before the Second World War,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09not to try and remake his fortunate in Greek bonds.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11That was his downfall was it?
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Yes, that was his second or third downfall.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17In the end he did get it wrong in a rather terminal way.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21The Greeks, I think, had already defaulted two or three times
0:48:21 > 0:48:25by the beginning of the Second World War. But it was high-interest
0:48:25 > 0:48:28and he needed good return on what little capital he had,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31so seemed a good bet. But it wasn't.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39Johnnie's lucky touch was gone.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43His scheme backfired disastrously!
0:48:43 > 0:48:47The bonds were worthless, yet he owed the bank big time!
0:48:47 > 0:48:52There was no way his ready reckoner could get him out of this one!
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Bankruptcy was looming when, in 1933,
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Lutyens visited his chum for the last time.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04"The house here is shut up.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06"No-one but Johnnie.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09"This place will have to be sold.'
0:49:12 > 0:49:15"Johnnie said last night at dinner, 'It doesn't matter what
0:49:15 > 0:49:20" 'happens to a man, but what does matter is how he takes it.' "
0:49:20 > 0:49:24That's the true spirit of an Edwardian gentleman.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32But in the worst financial slump of the century,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35no-one was buying country houses.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40The footmen and servants were long gone.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Johnnie had no choice but to move out.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47His elegant chalk palace lay empty, neglected.
0:49:50 > 0:49:55By World War II, he was so broke that virtually the entire contents
0:49:55 > 0:50:00of Marsh Court were sold off, right down to the curtains.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06There was no bitterness about him at all ever.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08He wasn't that sort of a person.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12He took misfortunate and fortune with equal resolve really.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Well, he was old, he was ill, wasn't he?
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Yes, he was and blind and increasingly deaf.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28But my mother could still remember him taking her down
0:50:28 > 0:50:31into the water meadows even when he was completely blind, you know,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34and finding his way across a single plank bridge over the Test,
0:50:34 > 0:50:39terrified her! But he walked across it with complete confidence.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Johnnie died on April 2nd 1949.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51His stature as a pillar of the establishment sealed forever
0:50:51 > 0:50:54with a touching obituary in the Times.
0:50:55 > 0:51:01"Hampshire society of the last 50 years will feel a void
0:51:01 > 0:51:05"by the death of Herbert Johnson, Johnnie to his intimates.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12"The great flint and chalk mansion designed by Lutyens
0:51:12 > 0:51:18"was the very symbol of himself and every stone of which he loved."
0:51:18 > 0:51:19Amazing.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24"Johnnie's charm was not in what he did but in what he was.
0:51:24 > 0:51:32"He possessed a hatred of all that was mean, base, or ill-natured.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37"In short, as one of his servants said,
0:51:37 > 0:51:41" 'We shall never see a Mr Johnson again.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44" 'But we are glad we have seen him.' "
0:51:56 > 0:51:59For much of his life, Johnnie had been a survivor.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03So too was Marsh Court, but only just.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Through the course of the 20th century,
0:52:07 > 0:52:12a staggering 1,200 country houses were demolished in England,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15many of them victims of crippling taxation
0:52:15 > 0:52:18designed to pay for two world wars.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22Marsh Court was very nearly one of them.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30In 1946, only a last-minute bid stopped it falling
0:52:30 > 0:52:34into the hands of a demolition contractor.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Its saviour was typical of the new breed of country house buyer.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45They weren't looking for luxurious homes but to turn them into schools!
0:52:47 > 0:52:51In many ways, becoming a school kept the house alive, maintained it,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53kept it lived in, essentially saved it!
0:52:53 > 0:52:55And also it's odd, isn't it,
0:52:55 > 0:53:02the arrival of a battalion of young boys into Johnnie's Playboy mansion
0:53:02 > 0:53:07ensured that it finally became a genuine boys' own Never-Never Land.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15Marsh Court ran as a bustling boys prep school for over 40 years.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20Angus Broadbent and his younger brother Graham are coming back
0:53:20 > 0:53:24to relive those heady days of sherbet and short trousers.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34So, you lived here as a family, but also were pupils here
0:53:34 > 0:53:36because your father was the headmaster?
0:53:36 > 0:53:38That's right.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40So, you had an interesting two existences.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43But the atmosphere of the school in relationship to the Lutyens'
0:53:43 > 0:53:47- building, what was it like? - I think it was, it was joyful!
0:53:47 > 0:53:50It was the most, and it is the most, remarkable building.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54And when you have 120 or 150 children running around the place
0:53:54 > 0:53:58it's the most amazing atmosphere! It was a very special place.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01What happened here, for example, where we're standing now?
0:54:01 > 0:54:04Well, this place, this was very much the nexus point,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06- because this was the tuck shop. - The tuck shop!
0:54:06 > 0:54:09This was where we kept all the sweets and twice a week,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12- on Sundays and Wednesdays... - Yes.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14..dormitory by dormitory we'd be invited to come
0:54:14 > 0:54:16and spend our sixpence a week or whatever it was
0:54:16 > 0:54:19on the sweets that we kept behind this door.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21Well, hang on, let's...
0:54:21 > 0:54:23What is in there? Come on.
0:54:23 > 0:54:24What, what is it now?
0:54:24 > 0:54:27- And the cupboard is bare.- The cupboard is bare.- It's very bare!
0:54:27 > 0:54:30What we had was we had like a trough arrangement.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33And you'd lift it up over this lintel here, you'd lift it up
0:54:33 > 0:54:35- and pull it out.- Right.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38So it would be like a sort of market stall kind of thing.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42So, as you cross over that divide it's...
0:54:42 > 0:54:45I can still smell the sherbet in this.
0:54:50 > 0:54:51It's amazingly quiet.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55- That's the one thing you really notice now, it's totally silent. - Yes. Right.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58- This would have been Piccadilly Circus of an evening.- Yes.
0:54:58 > 0:54:59You could do a great thing.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03You'd run down the stairs, jump onto your dressing gown and slide as far
0:55:03 > 0:55:06as you could down this corridor. It was happening many times over.
0:55:07 > 0:55:13One of the joyful things about being here in the holidays
0:55:13 > 0:55:16was the freedom that you had to break all the school rules.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19So you could go roller-skating around the entire house.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21You were confined during term time to the Ball Room,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24to the Play Room as we called it.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26What about football and games like that?
0:55:26 > 0:55:29we used to play football, roller-skate and play cricket.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32All of that stuff happened in that room except in the holidays,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36when we could actually sneak out and roller-skate around the whole building.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45This building's unique magic was presented to children fresh.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49I think in a funny kind of way the children got the full benefit
0:55:49 > 0:55:54of Lutyens' ambition and scope and language and light and freshness.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56Coming back today is extraordinary,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59because we're halfway through looking around what is now...
0:55:59 > 0:56:02- looks like a very comfortable, a very happy private home.- Mmm.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04I'd be very happy to live here.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18It's a testament to the remarkable bond between Ned and Johnnie
0:56:18 > 0:56:21that somehow the house they created together
0:56:21 > 0:56:26has touched everyone who crossed its threshold, be they schoolboys,
0:56:26 > 0:56:31socialites, soldiers or the people who have lived here
0:56:31 > 0:56:35since it once again became a private family home.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41Moving from one room to another, it just lifts you!
0:56:44 > 0:56:46And the whole building, to me, leads you upwards.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51And one thinks of it as being some kind of magical building,
0:56:51 > 0:56:53magical in its atmosphere.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56Certainly, personally, from the first moment I walked through the front
0:56:56 > 0:57:02door in 1949, Marsh Court always uplifted me every time I visited it.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06It was so far removed from the ordinary world.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Marsh Court was something else again and it always will be.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Although it's little more than 100-years-old,
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Marsh Court is an important part of Britain's history,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30largely because it's such an evocative emblem
0:57:30 > 0:57:31of the Edwardian age.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37Also, it's a vivid reminder that the riches of the Edwardian
0:57:37 > 0:57:40economy made it possible for the wealthy to do in England
0:57:40 > 0:57:46what the wealthy had done here for over 500 years, make their mark
0:57:46 > 0:57:48in the landscape through the creation
0:57:48 > 0:57:53of memorable country house architecture.
0:57:55 > 0:58:01The last golden age of country house building came to an end with World War I.
0:58:02 > 0:58:08Marsh court was one of the final masterpieces of a dying breed.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12And, like many of the five centuries' worth of country houses
0:58:12 > 0:58:15that survive in Britain, it remains stately,
0:58:15 > 0:58:21historically important and is still someone's much loved country home.
0:58:24 > 0:58:30Country houses are memorials to the way we've all lived in the past.
0:58:30 > 0:58:35They're a fundamentally important part of our culture.
0:58:35 > 0:58:37I hope that Marsh Court
0:58:37 > 0:58:42and houses like this continue to endure through the ages.
0:58:49 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:51 > 0:58:53Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk