0:00:30 > 0:00:34I'm going to tell you something about my life.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36My name is Grace Darling.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41I was born in the year 1815 in Northumberland.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44I would have had a very ordinary life
0:00:44 > 0:00:49were it for not for something that happened one stormy night.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54The story of that night is the story I shall tell.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03You should know that my father was a lighthouse keeper
0:01:03 > 0:01:07and when I was growing up, the lighthouse was my home.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09It was my father's job to light the lantern
0:01:09 > 0:01:12at the top of the lighthouse every night,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15so that sailors out to sea would see it
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and steer their ships clear of dangerous rocks.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Their lives depended on it.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Lighthouses were built round and tall so they could stand up
0:01:26 > 0:01:30against the storms which would whirl around us rather often.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35There was just one room on each floor,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39with a spiral staircase round the edge from one floor to the next.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50My bedroom had round walls without corners and I loved it.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53When we visited relatives on the mainland
0:01:53 > 0:01:56their square rooms never felt quite right.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I loved the sea.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08I spent a lot of time looking at it and thinking of the sailors
0:02:08 > 0:02:12out there, somewhere, looking back at the lighthouse.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33And that's how I grew up,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37in our little world of round rooms and routines.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55The sea was a constant companion. I learned to read it like a book.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02I spent so much time looking at it, I knew what weather was coming,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05whether there was a warm breeze on its way
0:03:05 > 0:03:10and with it birds from Africa, or whether a storm was brewing
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and I needed to lash our rowing boat down extra tight.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29One evening as we sat down to supper I knew a storm was on its way.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35What I didn't know was quite what a ferocious storm it would be.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46We sat round the table
0:03:46 > 0:03:50with the sound of the storm gathering strength all around us.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52THUNDER ROARS
0:03:59 > 0:04:02THUNDER ROARS
0:04:09 > 0:04:11THE SEA POUNDS
0:04:13 > 0:04:16WINDS HOWL
0:04:19 > 0:04:22THE STORM RAGES
0:04:32 > 0:04:36We took turns to keep a look-out for ships all through the night.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41At 5 o'clock, my watch was nearly over.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I was about to wake Father to take his turn,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47when something told me to take one more look.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51It was then that I saw it.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55It was a ship that must have struck the rocks.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59From what I could see in the flash from the lightning,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01it looked like it had split in two.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I looked hard for any sign of survivors.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10The waves were like mountains. It was hard to see anything at all.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12But then I saw something.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17I waited for the next wave to pass and then I was sure.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19There were people in the water!
0:05:22 > 0:05:24I ran to fetch Father.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30He could see them too.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36I knew if we didn't take our tiny boat and try and rescue them
0:05:36 > 0:05:39that they wouldn't survive in the icy sea.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42I knew we had to try.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47The sea was more vast and more wild than I'd ever seen it
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but still I was not afraid.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Mother said there was little hope for them in such a dreadful storm.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03She didn't want us to go
0:06:03 > 0:06:08but I couldn't just watch when we had a chance to save their lives.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11It must have been hard for her to watch us leave
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and even harder to wait and hope for our safe return.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Once we were in the boat, I knew we were doing the right thing.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34As I rowed I tried to think only of the people in the water
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and how we were their only hope,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40not of how cold my hands were, how the rain stung my cheeks,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44and how every wave seemed bigger than the last.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50We were a tiny boat in an enormous, raging sea.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57Father looked out for signs of the survivors.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04At last we spotted someone a short way from the boat.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09I pulled harder still to reach him.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Father had to haul the poor soul over the side into the boat
0:07:25 > 0:07:28while I tried my best to keep us steady.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33The waves were coming over the sides.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37At any moment one big wave could swamp us and we'd drown for sure.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45But still we kept on and still I was not afraid.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51There were more people in the water.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54I rowed harder still to reach them.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Father pulled as many as he could into the boat
0:08:06 > 0:08:09till our tiny boat could carry no more.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16I rowed us back towards the light of the lighthouse
0:08:16 > 0:08:20as hard as the strength left in my arms would allow.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30I don't know how many drowned in that terrible storm
0:08:30 > 0:08:35but we saved nine souls who would otherwise have surely perished.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39I suppose I had been brave.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Only when we returned did I feel the full weight of what I had done.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46I had not been afraid
0:08:46 > 0:08:51but the sea, so vast and wild, could so easily have taken us.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55I knew then that we were lucky to have made it back to shore.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10I was so glad of the breaking dawn
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and a lull in the storm as we crossed the rocks.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20The rocks felt so solid beneath my feet. They felt like home itself.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Mother was waiting for us with blankets.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53She said she knew we would return
0:09:53 > 0:09:56but I was so relieved to be back in that little round room.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Mother had made hot soup to warm us.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Then, exhausted, they slept where they could.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I looked at them lying there and I felt grateful,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18grateful that I had found bravery inside me to row out into that storm
0:10:18 > 0:10:23and grateful that the sea had chosen to deliver us safely back.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The next morning, the storm had passed
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and we could send them on their way.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Saying goodbye, I felt like my life in some way
0:10:49 > 0:10:52would always be connected to theirs.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58But my story doesn't end there.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02What happened next was the strangest thing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Somehow news of our rescue spread.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10People from newspapers came all the way out to the lighthouse to see me.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Painters came to paint my portrait.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Maybe because it was a girl that rowed out in that storm
0:11:17 > 0:11:19it made a good story.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Maybe I had been brave.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27But I had lived such an ordinary life or round rooms and routines
0:11:27 > 0:11:31that I didn't know what to make of all the fuss.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34People wrote me letters, some sent gifts.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41But of all the gifts the one I treasured,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45the one most precious of all, was this.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49This locket.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Inside it are nine hairs,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56one from each of the people whose lives I helped to save.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37I'm going to tell you something about my life.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41My name is Edward Jenner.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46I was born in 1749 in a small town in the countryside.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51When I grew up I became a doctor
0:12:51 > 0:12:56but to understand why, I must start my story long before then
0:12:56 > 0:12:59back to when I was just eight years of age.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05That's the year something terrible happened in our town.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Something terrible happened to me.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17That summer there was an outbreak of smallpox.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21You might not have heard of it but smallpox was a terrible disease.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23It was very infectious,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27which meant it was easily passed from one person to another.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33We were told to keep well away from anyone who had it
0:13:33 > 0:13:37but I couldn't keep away. I couldn't resist.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41I just had to see for myself what a person with smallpox looked like.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54It was a terrible sight.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57The worst thing I'd seen.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I ran.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04I didn't want to end up covered in nasty scabs and most probably dead.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Dead was definitely not something I wanted to be!
0:14:08 > 0:14:10There was no cure for it.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14You could call the doctor but there'd be nothing he could do.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Once you got it, that was that.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26Well, people were desperate so they tried different things.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30One of the things they tried was to actually give you smallpox.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35They thought if they gave you just a bit you might not get it too bad
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and if you did recover then you'd never catch it again.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41So I was just eight-years-old when I was told
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I was going to be given smallpox deliberately.
0:14:47 > 0:14:54Well, I had never been so scared, not in all my life.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03The worst part was... Well, not the worst part
0:15:03 > 0:15:07but the first worst part was that they starved us first.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14For three weeks we had very little food. I was so hungry
0:15:14 > 0:15:18and I was scared too. I didn't want smallpox.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24What I wanted was a big pie and some apple cake.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Then we were sent to see the doctor in the stables.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I wanted to run away but I didn't.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40I had to see for myself what he would do to us.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43I'd never been so scared, not in all my life.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51But the waiting wasn't the worst of it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57What was worse was that the doctor was grinding up something horrid.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01The stuff he was grinding up were scabs,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05scabs like I'd seen on the boy with smallpox.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11But the grinding wasn't the worst of it.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15One at a time we went in.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Then the doctor blew the powdered scabs right up our noses.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Imagine that, someone else's scabs going right up your nose.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46It felt like the worst moment of my life.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51But that wasn't the worst of it.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The worst of it was that we couldn't leave the stables.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58THEY COUGH
0:16:59 > 0:17:03We had to lie there in the straw with the smell of the horses,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06and wait for the smallpox to take hold.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13And when it did, I couldn't have moved if I wanted to.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16My body felt like it was made of lead.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Weeks it was. I lost track of when it was day and when it was night.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26THEY COUGH AND WHEEZE
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Eventually I started to feel better
0:17:32 > 0:17:38but one boy had got the smallpox badly and he died in the night.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43I swore then that there had to be a better way.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50I knew in that moment I would become a doctor.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08And when I grew up, that's exactly what I did.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17I became a family doctor.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23But I often thought of that lad I spied on through the window
0:18:23 > 0:18:27and the poor young boy who died next to me in the stables.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33I made a decision. I would try and find a way to beat smallpox.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42I read everything I could find about the disease.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48I spent weeks in my room scrutinising scabs.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I really couldn't think of anything but smallpox.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58Then one day a woman came to see me, said her name was Sarah.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02She was a milkmaid whose job it was to milk the farmer's cows.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05She showed me a sore on her hand,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10I knew at once it was a harmless disease called cowpox,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14something milkmaids often caught from cows they milked.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Then she said it was good she'd got cowpox
0:19:19 > 0:19:22because it meant she couldn't get smallpox.
0:19:31 > 0:19:37This idea that cowpox could stop you getting smallpox made me think.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39What if there was some truth in it?
0:19:41 > 0:19:45What I needed was to meet more milkmaids.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I needed to see for myself if it could be true.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51CATTLE MOOS
0:19:51 > 0:19:54COCK CROWS
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Now, I confess I did like milkmaids.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08They always had such lovely skin.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29It turned out they all said the same thing,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33that they didn't get smallpox and had such lovely skin,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37because they caught cowpox from the cows instead.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39I was excited.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I knew what to do next. I would experiment.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55I would test the idea that cowpox could stop you getting smallpox.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09The son of my gardener was a small boy called James.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12He was brave enough to let me try my theory out on him.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21I took some of the pus from Sarah's cowpox sore.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32I made a tiny cut on James's arm...
0:21:34 > 0:21:37..and put the cowpox pus in it.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Doing this meant I was giving him cowpox.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49After a few weeks had passed,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I gave him a small amount of smallpox in the same way.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59If the milkmaids were right, like them the boy wouldn't get smallpox
0:21:59 > 0:22:04because the cowpox would stop him from getting it.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09Get it wrong and the poor lad might get very sick indeed.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19I watched him like a hawk.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24I looked him over, checked him out. I followed him around.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28I waited for signs of smallpox but nothing happened.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34I watched and waited but still nothing happened.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40To my sheer delight, he was completely fine.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46I knew then that it was true,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51that it must have been the cowpox that stopped him getting smallpox.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55It was the most extraordinarily simple thing.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59I did a few more experiments to be doubly sure it worked.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02I called it a 'vaccine' after the Latin word for 'cow'.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Once smallpox was a killer disease.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Now there is no smallpox anywhere in the world.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14They say my vaccine saved more lives than the work of any other man.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19So it goes to show sometimes the worst things
0:23:19 > 0:23:21can lead to the best things.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23The weeks I spent in those stables
0:23:23 > 0:23:28spurred me on to find a cure for smallpox.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32So I guess you could say it's thanks to me you will never get it.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12I'm going to tell you something about my life.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15My name is Rosa Parks.
0:24:15 > 0:24:21I was born in the year 1913 in the United Sates of America.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25What happened to me, the story I'm going to tell,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29well, it was such a surprise to me really, but...
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Well, you'll see what I mean.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42I grew up on a farm in Montgomery, Alabama.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44I had to help out around the farm
0:24:44 > 0:24:48and every morning I picked up eggs laid by the chickens we kept
0:24:48 > 0:24:50that ran round our yard.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57My grandfather lived with us too.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01He liked to spend his afternoons sitting on the porch
0:25:01 > 0:25:03snoozing in the sun or telling me stories.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Everything seemed just right with the world.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12It was a simple life and I was happy.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I was just seven when I began to notice things,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23things that made me think maybe the world wasn't quite right after all.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27My grandfather would take me into town with him
0:25:27 > 0:25:31and what I started to see was that the fact that
0:25:31 > 0:25:35our skin was black and not white made a difference.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41I started to see that black people
0:25:41 > 0:25:45were kept apart from white people in all sorts of ways.
0:25:45 > 0:25:51At the town hall, black, or 'coloured people' as we were called,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54and white people had separate entrances.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03In the waiting room, we had to sit in separate seats.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Even when the black people's seats were full,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09we weren't allowed in the white section.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22At the bus stop we had to stand in line
0:26:22 > 0:26:25while the white people got to sit on a bench.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I found it all so confusing.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33I really didn't understand what possible difference
0:26:33 > 0:26:35the colour of your skin could make.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Everyone wore hats, went to work, ate lunch.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43I don't know, to me it seemed we were all the same.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47But everyone acted like there was a difference,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49like it was just the way things were.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53We had to drink from a separate water fountain,
0:26:53 > 0:26:57go to a different church, use a different public toilet.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05I grew up.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12Still I didn't understand why the world was unjust to black people.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15But the Government made the rules,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18so it seemed there was nothing we could do.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Like everyone else I went along with it. I followed the rules.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25I used the black people's entrance,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29drank from the black people's water fountain,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32went to the black people's church.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47I got a job working in a department store.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Every day I waited for the bus to go to work.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55When I boarded the bus,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I would sit like we always had to at the back end of the bus,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03while the white people had a reserved section at the very front.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16If the white seats were full we had to give up our seat
0:28:16 > 0:28:21when a white person got on, even if that meant standing up all the way.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29It wasn't fair but those were the rules
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and like most people I just did what I was told and didn't make a fuss.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51It was December 1st, 1955.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55I don't know why it happened on this day.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57It was a day like any other.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01It had been a long day at work and I was eager to get home,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05take off my shoes and rub my feet.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07It was a day like any other.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12I didn't know when I boarded the bus that afternoon
0:29:12 > 0:29:15that I was going to do what I did.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24I took my seat in the row behind the white people's seats.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29The white rows were full when another white lady boarded the bus.
0:29:29 > 0:29:36I stayed put. I felt myself rooted to the spot just like a tree.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42Somehow in that moment, I'd made up mind.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54The white people in front of me tutted and shook their heads.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59I felt the black people behind me sit up a little straighter,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02keen to see what would happen next.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09The bus driver left his seat.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17But still I didn't budge.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Somehow I'd made up my mind.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32The white people in front of me tutted and shook their heads.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36I felt the black people behind me lean forward to see who it was
0:30:36 > 0:30:39that had dared to disobey the rules.
0:30:42 > 0:30:48The police came, but still I didn't budge.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52I'd never made a fuss before.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56I'd never broken any rule, let alone been arrested.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00But somehow I'd made up my mind.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07People said afterwards that I refused to give up my seat
0:31:07 > 0:31:09because I was tired.
0:31:09 > 0:31:15True, it had been a long day and my body ached.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19But that's not why I refused to stand. No.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,
0:31:24 > 0:31:29tired of being treated differently like a second class citizen,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32on account of the colour of my skin.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Everyone else I knew was tired of it too,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39it was just we didn't know what to do about it.
0:31:41 > 0:31:47My little act of defiance, my refusal to give in,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50it was a small thing to do.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56I just wanted for once to be able to sit where I sat,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00and to not have to give up my seat to someone else
0:32:00 > 0:32:02just because she was white.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05It was a small thing to do.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10But it was what happened afterwards that really mattered.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13PHONES RING
0:32:13 > 0:32:17Without knowing it, I'd started something.
0:32:17 > 0:32:23That very evening, news of my tiny protest got around.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26People got together and called anyone they could think of.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29They wanted everyone to know what I had done.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34It was as if they'd all been waiting for a chance to do something
0:32:34 > 0:32:38and my simple refusal to stand up on a bus one afternoon
0:32:38 > 0:32:40had given them that chance.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Plans started to form for a bus boycott.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48The idea was that on the Monday when my case would go to court
0:32:48 > 0:32:51all the black people in Montgomery should walk to work
0:32:51 > 0:32:53and refuse to take the bus.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56That way the bus company would lose money
0:32:56 > 0:32:59and people would see that I wasn't the only one
0:32:59 > 0:33:03who was tired of giving in, tired of being treated badly.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11Monday 5th December was the day of my court case.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17I was found guilty of not following the rules and fined 14,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21which was a lot of money in those days to someone like me.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23But it didn't matter.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27What did matter was what was going on outside.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Most of Montgomery's 40,000 black workers
0:33:34 > 0:33:39and some white people too didn't take the bus to work or school.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43Some walked, some shared cars, some rode bicycles.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48They wanted to show the world that they had all had enough.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50They marched through the street
0:33:50 > 0:33:55and there were so many of them it was impossible to ignore.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02The buses were almost empty.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05The protest continued long after I'd paid my fine
0:34:05 > 0:34:08and gone back to my job.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Altogether people stayed off the buses
0:34:11 > 0:34:15and walked to work for 381 days.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20It became a powerful symbol that we were tired of giving in.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27The newspapers wrote about the protest.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31People all over America could see what was going on.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35Eventually the Government had to do something.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38They made a new rule.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Black people no longer had to sit in a separate section of the bus.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47We would never again have to give up our seats to someone
0:34:47 > 0:34:49just because they were white.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Black people and white people were still kept separate in other ways,
0:34:55 > 0:35:01but it was a start, a step towards equality and justice.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07I was just an ordinary person and I was amazed at what I'd started.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12I was so glad that on that day I made up my mind
0:35:12 > 0:35:14and I refused to budge.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54I'm going to tell you something about my life.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57My name is Thomas Barnardo.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01I was born in 1845 in Dublin in Ireland.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06I should start my story when I was a boy,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10that way you'll understand the things that happened in my life
0:36:10 > 0:36:14that changed the way I saw the world and my place in it.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23When I was a boy, I was grumpy and selfish and thought only of myself.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30If someone else had something, I felt it really should be mine.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40I was short and ordinary.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42I got angry at people for no reason
0:36:42 > 0:36:47and when they didn't get angry back it made me so confused.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Then something changed, although it's hard to say what happened
0:36:57 > 0:36:59to make me see the world differently.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06For starters I grew up.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11I changed from a boy who could think only of what he could do for himself
0:37:11 > 0:37:16into a man obsessed with how he could best do things for others.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25It was as if I needed to make up for all the things I had taken.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37That's why I decided to go to London to train to be a doctor.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42My plan was to go to China once I'd qualified to help poor people there
0:37:42 > 0:37:45but I soon realised there were plenty of poor people
0:37:45 > 0:37:49right under my nose in London, in desperate need of help.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54The East End of London
0:37:54 > 0:37:58was one of the poorest places a person could find themselves.
0:37:58 > 0:38:04A slum it was, cramped and dirty and stinking and just plain awful.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05Not fit for a dog.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19But thousands of people had no choice but to call it home.
0:38:19 > 0:38:25They lived all crammed in together, sometimes dozens to a single room.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28It was a maze of filthy streets,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31a place where disease and criminals ran riot,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35and a place that could drive a person to despair.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40BABIES CRY
0:38:53 > 0:38:56I wanted to help but at first I didn't know how.
0:38:59 > 0:39:00I walked the slums
0:39:00 > 0:39:04and tried to read the Bible to people to give them hope.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06But it wasn't enough.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08BABY SCREAMS
0:39:14 > 0:39:18I knew that because school was something you had to pay for,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23the children who lived in the slums had no chance of an education.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37So I decided to set up a school.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40It was called the Ragged School.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42CHILDREN CHATTER
0:39:42 > 0:39:46We would offer free learning to any child that wanted to attend.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55They were indeed a ragged lot.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59They'd never been to school before or sat at a desk.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03They couldn't concentrate and they couldn't sit still.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14But I was patient with them and eventually
0:40:14 > 0:40:18I managed to bring them round till they listened to every word I said.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21SILENCE FALLS
0:40:29 > 0:40:31I felt a real satisfaction then,
0:40:31 > 0:40:36watching them all write out their letters on a board.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41A little reading and writing might give them a chance to find work.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45SCHOOL BELL RINGS
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Then one day something happened to make me realise
0:40:52 > 0:40:54how little I had really done.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58It was the end of an ordinary day
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and the children had left and all gone home.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05I was going upstairs to lock the doors, thinking the place was empty,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09when I came across a small boy called Jim Jarvis.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15I told him it was time to go home
0:41:15 > 0:41:19and he asked if he could stay where he was till next morning.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24I said I had to lock up, that he should go home to his mother.
0:41:24 > 0:41:30He told me then that he had no mother nor any father neither.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34He told me then that he had no home to go to.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41It was a shock to me that a boy as small as he could have no home
0:41:41 > 0:41:45and no mother to kiss his head and give him supper.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49I asked him if there were other boys the same
0:41:49 > 0:41:52and if he could show me where they slept.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56He took me deep into the slums
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and we climbed up to the roof of some building.
0:42:20 > 0:42:26And sure enough, there on a rooftop, huddled together like baby mice,
0:42:26 > 0:42:32were a group of boys, some of them even smaller than small Jim Jarvis.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41It was a sight that would stay with me, a sight that would spur me on.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50I couldn't shake the thought that there were children
0:42:50 > 0:42:55with no home to go to, littering the rooftops on cold London nights.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03I had to do something and as soon as I could raise the funds
0:43:03 > 0:43:06I opened a home for homeless boys.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13We had spaces for 25 boys and in no time at all we were full up.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18We gave those boys a home, a hearty breakfast and a warm bed at night,
0:43:18 > 0:43:25and we gave them skills that could lead them to a better life.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33One night there was a knock at the door.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38A boy stood there looking cold and hungry.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43He asked to be let in, saying he had nowhere else to go,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47but all our beds were filled and I turned the poor lad away.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51As I closed the door I wondered what would become of him.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I hoped he had others to huddle with somewhere
0:43:54 > 0:43:56on such a cold winter's night.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07But I must admit I returned then to my work
0:44:07 > 0:44:11and didn't give the boy another thought.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32WINDS HOWL
0:44:41 > 0:44:45The next day I was walking in the lane beside the house
0:44:45 > 0:44:48when I passed two men carrying a body between them.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52To my great dismay, it was the very same lad
0:44:52 > 0:44:57I had seen just the night before, frozen to death.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04What I saw in that moment was that for every child I helped,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08there were still others out there in desperate need.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12I made a decision.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19Straightaway I had a sign made and put up on the front of the house.
0:45:19 > 0:45:25It read, No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29I vowed to never again turn a homeless child away.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33And I never did.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42In my lifetime I did all I could to help the children of London's slums.
0:45:43 > 0:45:49I opened 96 homes altogether, where we helped 8,500 children.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54The work I started continues to this day.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01Once I was a boy who could think only of what he could do for himself
0:46:01 > 0:46:06but I became a man obsessed with how I could best do things for others.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10And my life was all the better for that.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49I'm going to tell you something about my life.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52My name is Elizabeth Fry.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55I was born in 1780 in Norfolk.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03I will begin the story I will tell you when I was just a child,
0:47:03 > 0:47:09so you can see where I started from and what I became.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12CHILDREN GIGGLE
0:47:13 > 0:47:17We were a large family. I had six brothers and sisters
0:47:17 > 0:47:21but I always seemed to be the odd one out.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27While my siblings all played together
0:47:27 > 0:47:30and were loud and ran around the house,
0:47:30 > 0:47:35I always felt like I couldn't keep up and I couldn't fit in.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40We lived in a big, old house. I was afraid of the dark
0:47:40 > 0:47:45and sometimes my brothers and sisters would tease me
0:47:45 > 0:47:49and make me go into its dark corners, knowing I'd be scared.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56My fear of the dark was even worse at night.
0:47:58 > 0:48:04We only had candlelight then and I'd lie awake watching it burn down,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07dreading the moment it would go out.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Nearly every night I dreamt the sea was coming to wash me away.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15SHE GASPS
0:48:25 > 0:48:29I grew up, but still it was the same.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32Still I stared at the candle till it went out
0:48:32 > 0:48:36and woke from dreams that the sea was coming to wash me away.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38SHE GASPS
0:48:38 > 0:48:41I was a timid person, afraid to join in.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44I was never quite sure who I was
0:48:44 > 0:48:48or what I was supposed to do with my life.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53My family were Quakers,
0:48:53 > 0:48:58a religion that taught us we should do what we could to help the poor.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02We had plenty of money
0:49:02 > 0:49:06and I felt uneasy about the comfortable life we lived
0:49:06 > 0:49:09whilst others around us struggled to get by.
0:49:09 > 0:49:15I tried to help. I collected clothes for them or gave them money or food.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21But I knew that handing out apples or pennies wasn't nearly enough.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32One Sunday we went to the Meeting House like we always did.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39At Quaker meetings, there was no priest or vicar to lead the service,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43and mostly we would just sit together in silent prayer.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51Anyone was free to speak if they felt moved to do so.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58A man called William Savery, a Quaker from America,
0:49:58 > 0:50:04had come to sit with us. When he stood to speak, everyone listened.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06HE SPEAKS
0:50:16 > 0:50:20Suddenly something he said made me listen, really listen,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23like it had woken me up.
0:50:23 > 0:50:29I say again, take the life you have been given. Do good with it.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35I never knew that one man's words could change your life.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42I can't explain what happened.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46It was like a great weight was lifted from me.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50I felt light as a feather, light inside.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57It was like I'd spent all my life up to this point under water
0:50:57 > 0:51:01and finally I'd swum up to the surface and could breathe.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07In that moment, what you might call my epiphany,
0:51:07 > 0:51:09I saw what it was I had to do.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12I had always wanted to do good
0:51:12 > 0:51:17but for the first time I saw that it should be my sole purpose
0:51:17 > 0:51:20and rather than waiting for something to happen
0:51:20 > 0:51:25like I had done all these years, I had to act.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27It was up to me.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33I'd heard about Newgate Prison,
0:51:33 > 0:51:38that it was one of the darkest, most awful places you could imagine.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42I felt compelled to visit it and see the terrible conditions myself.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46It was the largest prison in London and full to the rafters
0:51:46 > 0:51:49with both the worst kind of criminals
0:51:49 > 0:51:52and people who were put there for the smallest crimes.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57It had a reputation for being a terrible place to end up.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Even the building itself had been designed to instil fear
0:52:08 > 0:52:11in all those who looked upon it.
0:52:11 > 0:52:16People tried to put me off, saying it was no place for a lady like me.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19But I needed to see it for myself.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24To think I had been afraid to lie down in my own bed at night,
0:52:24 > 0:52:30and here was I about to walk down the long, dark corridors of Newgate!
0:52:34 > 0:52:37But I was no longer afraid.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39I would never fear the dark again.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42All the fear had gone out of me
0:52:42 > 0:52:46and I was focussed only on the work that I would do.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53What a place it was,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57all heavy gates and thick walls without windows.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04It was a wonder any soul who dwelt in it could breathe at all.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07THEY COUGH AND TALK
0:53:10 > 0:53:13When I saw the conditions the prisoners were kept in
0:53:13 > 0:53:15I was appalled.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20Treated worse than animals, they were herded together in one room.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23They had no privacy, just a bucket,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26and nowhere to wash or clean their clothes.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34There were women too amongst the men,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37most of them there for petty crimes
0:53:37 > 0:53:40like stealing clothes or loaves of bread.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05But the worst sight of all was the sight of their poor children,
0:54:05 > 0:54:10innocent of any crime, forced to suffer just the same.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13BABIES CRY
0:54:15 > 0:54:18I hurried away, knowing that I had found my purpose.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25There was so much work to be done.
0:54:31 > 0:54:37The people I had seen at Newgate Prison, especially the children,
0:54:37 > 0:54:44were like forgotten souls, like little ships lost at sea.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50I would make it my job to light a way back to shore,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53to show them all was not lost.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58First I would see to it that they got the most basic things.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05I gathered friends together and we sewed clothes for the children.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19The very next day, I returned to Newgate Prison.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36INMATES CHATTER AND COUGH
0:55:36 > 0:55:38I'd brought the clothes we'd made
0:55:38 > 0:55:43and fresh bread, which they ate like they'd not seen bread before.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52What I really wanted was to do something for the children.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58I picked up a boy who could not have been more than four-years-old.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00I made them listen.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02I said, "Should we not do something
0:56:02 > 0:56:06"for these children who are innocent of any crime?
0:56:06 > 0:56:10"Should children not have a chance even if their mothers did not?"
0:56:10 > 0:56:13I said we could give them that chance,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16a chance of a future beyond Newgate's walls,
0:56:16 > 0:56:20and to give them that chance we should give them schooling.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23I said I would teach them myself and they agreed.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28SHE READS TO THEM
0:56:32 > 0:56:36I had benches brought in and books.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40Soon I had them all lined up and listening as I read aloud.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46But the children weren't the only ones listening.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53All the better, I thought, if the women too had the desire to learn.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56I suspect most had never had the chance before.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03I decided I would teach them too,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06that they might find work on leaving prison
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and not need to resort to petty crime again.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15The schooling was a great success. Word got around.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19Apparently the prisoners had never been so quiet, so orderly,
0:57:19 > 0:57:21so willing to get on.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23SHE READS TO THEM
0:57:24 > 0:57:29When the Mayor of London himself came to see what we were doing,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33I knew now that everyone was listening
0:57:33 > 0:57:35and that this was just the beginning.
0:57:35 > 0:57:41With his approval, there would be even more we could achieve.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47What had started with the words of the preacher William Savery
0:57:47 > 0:57:51had become my whole life, my entire purpose.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54All my fear had gone.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58I knew, at last, exactly who I was.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03I took the life I had been given and did good with it.
0:58:06 > 0:58:12The work I did went on to change every prison in the country.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18The poor who ended up there would no longer be forgotten.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22Instead they would be given the chance of a better life.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27And next time you have a £5 note in your hand,
0:58:27 > 0:58:30have a proper look at it.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33It's my face you'll see looking back at you!
0:58:38 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd