:00:02. > :00:06.Marks & Spencer in the firing line. A �1 million fine for asbestos
:00:06. > :00:14.breaches. We reveal the company was warned of problems eight years
:00:14. > :00:20.earlier. I recommended that all areas where it was reasonable to
:00:20. > :00:23.assume that you would find it, that it be handed over to a licensed
:00:23. > :00:29.asbestos removal. The battle of the battlefield of
:00:29. > :00:33.Hastings. No commander would leave a commanding height like this for a
:00:33. > :00:37.low of one that was just one mile away. I believe that this is the
:00:37. > :00:44.hill and this is where the barricade was
:00:44. > :00:47.And could Kent manage in another great storm like 1953? There will
:00:47. > :00:52.be inevitably that time when the conditions are such that we have
:00:52. > :00:55.the perfect storm, if you like. I'm Natalie Graham with untold
:00:55. > :01:05.stories, closer to home. From all round the South East, this is
:01:05. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:20.Hello, I'm at Battle Abbey in Sussex, famous of course for its
:01:20. > :01:24.place in British history in 1066 and all that. I'm back here later,
:01:24. > :01:28.but first up: Managers turned a blind eye to
:01:28. > :01:31.complaints about asbestos. That was the view of a judge as he imposed a
:01:31. > :01:37.�1 million fine on one of Britain's best known retailers after health
:01:37. > :01:40.and safety breaches. Now an Inside Out investigation has
:01:40. > :01:50.been asking if the problems with asbestos were confined to just one
:01:50. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :01:56.Marks and Spencer outlet. Chris Jackson reports.
:01:56. > :02:00.Freda Hughes worked at Marks & Spencer in Folkestone in Kent from
:02:00. > :02:06.1971 to 1986. During that time there was renovation work involving
:02:07. > :02:09.asbestos next to the canteen and stock rooms. Her route to go to the
:02:09. > :02:16.canteen or the toilet was fire where the work was being carried
:02:16. > :02:21.out on the floor above. In 2007 she developed mesothelioma accounts are
:02:21. > :02:29.forms -- caused by asbestos. She found out the exposure may have
:02:29. > :02:33.been at Marks and Spencers. He it was only because she met the local
:02:33. > :02:37.chemist reading a local newspaper who said the local Marks & Spencer
:02:37. > :02:45.had a asbestos with it. They paid her an substantial amount of
:02:45. > :02:49.compensation and she died from the disease in 2007. If you look back
:02:49. > :02:52.to the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s, it is possible staff were exposed
:02:52. > :02:55.to asbestos in our stores. Society did not understand the risk as we
:02:55. > :02:59.do today. Is tragic that our staff and colleagues were affected in
:02:59. > :03:04.this way. Any illness relating to asbestos is terrible and we did pay
:03:04. > :03:09.compensation and that is absolutely right. I am clear that society has
:03:09. > :03:13.learnt and we have learnt and our policies have become industry
:03:13. > :03:19.leading. Freida is one of a number of people who it is claimed
:03:19. > :03:24.developed asbestos related disease from working at Marks & Spencer.
:03:24. > :03:29.Pietter Pipping from Milton Keynes was a warehouse manager from the
:03:29. > :03:35.1960s to the 1990s. My dad was totally dedicated to my sister and
:03:35. > :03:40.my mum and me. His working life was Marks & Spencer. Pietter Pipping
:03:40. > :03:44.suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. In 2010 he was diagnosed with the
:03:44. > :03:49.asbestos related the diffuse to pleural thickening. He believes he
:03:49. > :03:56.could have been exposed to asbestos at five stores including Maidenhead,
:03:56. > :04:05.and Kilburn. He described people working and smashing down ceilings
:04:05. > :04:08.and taking cladding off walls and columns and all of that was made of
:04:08. > :04:14.asbestos. Pietter Pipping died of a heart attack in May last year,
:04:14. > :04:21.before he could pursue his claim for compensation. Marks & Spencer
:04:21. > :04:25.says it was not responsible in any way for his asbestos exposure. Most
:04:25. > :04:29.of our major retailers have stores that contain asbestos. Some have
:04:29. > :04:37.even been fined for breaching the regulations, they include House of
:04:37. > :04:40.Fraser, the Co-op, Top Shop and John Lu with. Evidence we have of
:04:40. > :04:43.how M and -- Marks & Spencer and some of its contractors have
:04:43. > :04:49.handled asbestos in its stores is worrying. It suggests the risks to
:04:49. > :04:54.customers, staff and contractors may not have been fully
:04:54. > :04:59.acknowledged. One case in particular is concerning. In 1998
:05:00. > :05:02.Marks & Spencer refurbishes its flagship store in Marble Arch in
:05:02. > :05:07.London. William Wallace, health and safety officer is horrified by what
:05:07. > :05:11.he sees. There were minefields, asbestos mine fields, for the want
:05:11. > :05:15.of a better expression. You could not guarantee the safety of any
:05:15. > :05:20.body. He said he flag of the safety problems with little effect so he
:05:20. > :05:24.began copying pages by reports left by the day and night shifts for the
:05:24. > :05:30.construction manager. This report from 1998 says that the day shift
:05:30. > :05:36.has done it again. Cladding has been stripped with a sledge hammer,
:05:36. > :05:40.asbestos is everywhere. It is the third occasion in a week where they
:05:40. > :05:46.have had to clear up after a dangerous occurrence. Somebody has
:05:46. > :05:52.to control the day shift if they don't want the store close to and
:05:52. > :05:55.the HSE crawling all over you. was shocking. It was scandalous. I
:05:55. > :06:00.recommended that all the areas where it is reasonable to assume
:06:00. > :06:05.you would find it that it be handed over to the licence asbestos
:06:05. > :06:09.removal as. William Wallace rights to the chairman and chief executive
:06:09. > :06:13.Sir Richard Greenbury and meets senior managers. Marks & Spencer
:06:13. > :06:17.says in a letter that it takes the matter seriously and is taking
:06:17. > :06:23.appropriate action so what action did it take? On the face of those
:06:23. > :06:26.allegations, they sound worrying. Our team at the time, 15 years ago,
:06:26. > :06:29.thoroughly investigated on the days and thoroughly investigated in
:06:29. > :06:33.three months afterwards and I have spoken to the individuals and can
:06:33. > :06:37.find no case to say that any member of staff for any member of the
:06:37. > :06:42.public was put at risk. Marks & Spencer also says that William
:06:42. > :06:46.Wallace was mistaken about which materials may have contained
:06:46. > :06:50.asbestos. We understand that there was not asbestos in the war. We
:06:50. > :06:56.invited William Wallace in and we met him in a third party location.
:06:56. > :07:00.His claims were discussed. He went away, we think, happy. At the same
:07:00. > :07:05.time he was invited to take those to the Health and Safety Executive
:07:05. > :07:10.and he did not do that so we believe there was no case to answer.
:07:10. > :07:14.In 2006 William Wallace begins working as a safety contractor for
:07:14. > :07:18.a contractor up working for Marks & Spencer in Reading. He is horrified
:07:18. > :07:22.by what he sees. There was so little control by the various
:07:22. > :07:28.contractors who are being asked to work in the ceiling void so. I
:07:28. > :07:33.found other reports of incidents that had occurred. It was very
:07:33. > :07:37.frightening. It was scary really. Following a tip-off the Health and
:07:37. > :07:41.Safety Executive swooped on the Reading store. Marks & Spencer and
:07:41. > :07:46.two contractors are prosecuted. Among the witnesses in 2011 were
:07:46. > :07:50.this worker. He fears being blacklisted by the industry so we
:07:50. > :07:53.have disguised his identity. He described to the court a girl
:07:53. > :07:58.stacking the sandwich packs. could see the dust falling down in
:07:58. > :08:02.the down lighters above the skill. We approached her and asked her to
:08:02. > :08:06.move somewhere else. The Night Manager responsible for the
:08:06. > :08:12.refilling of the shelves came and went ballistic at us. She told us
:08:12. > :08:16.that we should not say whether staff go and sent her back.
:08:16. > :08:20.gaps in the ceiling were initially filled with hardboard. He it fell
:08:20. > :08:23.out of the ceiling and narrowly missed a child a buggy by a few
:08:23. > :08:29.feet. That child would definitely have had asbestos fibres and dust,
:08:29. > :08:34.as with the mother and anybody else in their area. In court Marks &
:08:34. > :08:37.Spencer tried to blame the contractors fall of the problems.
:08:37. > :08:41.We are clear that the implementation of our policy at
:08:41. > :08:44.Reading was not correct. We will make sure that never happens again.
:08:44. > :08:48.We checked thoroughly that the policy is being implemented and we
:08:48. > :08:54.are clear that our policy today is leading standards in the industry
:08:54. > :08:59.throughout the world. There were fans switched on in the roof void
:08:59. > :09:01.which meant asbestos could have gone throughout the store. This was
:09:01. > :09:04.regrettable. The implementation of the policy was not good at Reading
:09:04. > :09:09.and we are sorry about it and we have taken steps to ensure it never
:09:09. > :09:16.happens again. Marks & Spencer was found guilty of asbestos breeches
:09:16. > :09:21.at Reading. It was fined �1 million and ordered to pay �600,000 in
:09:21. > :09:24.costs. His on a surface dip -- Sir Christopher Harvey Clark said there
:09:24. > :09:28.was systemic failure by a mob of suspense as management. Their
:09:28. > :09:32.response had been to turn a blind eye to what was happening because
:09:32. > :09:37.the asbestos work was already costing the company too much --
:09:37. > :09:40.Marks & Spencer management. To keep profits as high as possible in
:09:40. > :09:44.sufficient time and space were allocated to asbestos removal.
:09:44. > :09:48.Marks & Spencer has never put profit before safety. There was not
:09:48. > :09:52.a blind eye, our investigations were full and thorough and we had a
:09:52. > :09:55.good policy which was described as sensible and practical.
:09:55. > :09:58.Implementation of the policy was not good at Reading and we are
:09:58. > :10:02.sorry about that and we regret it so we are disappointed by the
:10:02. > :10:05.judge's comments. The judge said that contractors, staff and
:10:05. > :10:10.shoppers have a right to be anxious about whether they have breached
:10:10. > :10:15.asbestos fibres and what effect it might have on their well-being and
:10:15. > :10:19.future. But Marks & Spencer disagrees. I think, in expert
:10:19. > :10:24.testimony at Reading, we would say there was no risk to our customers
:10:24. > :10:29.all our staff. If two of Marks & Spencer's contract is were also
:10:29. > :10:34.fined. The company was found not guilty of breaches in Plymouth and
:10:34. > :10:39.Bournemouth. Every year more than 4,000 people died of mesothelioma
:10:39. > :10:42.and asbestos related lung cancer. It can take decades to develop. The
:10:43. > :10:48.pace of the disease means that many people never know when or where
:10:48. > :10:51.they were exposed to asbestos. For Marks & Spencer and the whole of
:10:51. > :10:55.the retail industry what happened 10 or 20 or 30 years ago may still
:10:55. > :11:04.have an impact today. Any suggestion that contractors, shop
:11:05. > :11:14.workers or customers were put at risk deserves to be re-examined.
:11:15. > :11:15.
:11:15. > :11:21.Chris Jackson reporting. Coming up on Inside Out: It was just as
:11:21. > :11:26.though a giant had swept everything to one side. Blocks of masonry,
:11:26. > :11:30.timber bolts from the jetty and parts of the pier. It was absolute
:11:30. > :11:33.mayhem. I have never seen anything like it.
:11:33. > :11:38.Now, the recent road protests in East Sussex have re-ignited a local
:11:38. > :11:41.debate. We all know when the Battle of Hastings took place. 1066 is
:11:41. > :11:51.probably the most famous date in English history, but the big
:11:51. > :12:07.
:12:07. > :12:11.question for 2013 is, do we really To the north, King Harold the
:12:11. > :12:13.Second and his army of English infantrymen. To the south. William,
:12:13. > :12:23.Duke of Normandy, and his combined army of Norman infantrymen, archers
:12:23. > :12:27.
:12:27. > :12:29.and cavalry. Whoever wins gets the throne and controls the country.
:12:29. > :12:35.And as even the most half-hearted history student knows, the result
:12:35. > :12:45.was a victory to the away team. William was the conqueror and
:12:45. > :12:47.
:12:47. > :12:49.Harold was killed by an arrow. The invading Normans defeated the
:12:49. > :12:52.Saxons and the battle is still famous today because it was the
:12:52. > :12:54.last successful foreign invasion of the British Isles.
:12:54. > :12:56.And today Battle Abbey stands on the battlefield where the Normans
:12:56. > :13:02.achieved their famous victory. And a plaque marks the spot where
:13:02. > :13:07.Harold fell. Or does it? Nearly 950 years after the Norman invasion,
:13:07. > :13:09.there is a new Battle of Hastings. The battle of the battlefield. With
:13:09. > :13:19.some people attacking the traditional battle site and saying
:13:19. > :13:19.
:13:19. > :13:21.that actually the battle was further north at Caldbec Hill.
:13:21. > :13:31.While further south, others are fighting hard for the Crowhurst
:13:31. > :13:32.
:13:32. > :13:34.valley to be recognised as the 1066 battleground. While in Battle
:13:34. > :13:36.itself, the Abbey has staunch supporters who say they can mount a
:13:36. > :13:45.rock solid defence of the traditional battlefield at Senlac
:13:45. > :13:48.Hill. So who's right? There's only one way to find out! Actually we're
:13:48. > :13:51.not going to let them fight about it. Instead, we're going to listen
:13:51. > :13:56.to all the arguments and then see how Battle Abbey stands up to the
:13:56. > :14:02.attacks. So, let the intellectual battle commence! First up, John
:14:02. > :14:07.Grehan and Martin Mace. They believe the battle took place a
:14:07. > :14:09.mile or so north of Battle Abbey, here on Caldbec Hill. And they've
:14:09. > :14:19.written a book about it, The Battle Of Hastings 1066 - The
:14:19. > :14:21.
:14:21. > :14:23.Uncomfortable Truth. No evidence of the battle, such as
:14:23. > :14:25.bones or arrowheads, has ever been found at the traditional battle
:14:25. > :14:29.site. But one thing you probably can find in these grounds is
:14:29. > :14:32.evidence of battle re-enactments. And when John and Martin came to
:14:32. > :14:38.watch one of these, they felt that what they were seeing didn't tally
:14:38. > :14:40.too well with what they'd read about the battle.
:14:40. > :14:42.The principle Norman chronicler of the battle, William of Poitiers,
:14:42. > :14:44.said the Normans, despite the difficulty they faced and the
:14:44. > :14:50.steepness and severity of the slope, they still managed to overcome the
:14:50. > :14:56.English. And when we went to the re-enactment we didn't find such a
:14:56. > :14:58.steep slope. We found that the re- enactment cavalry could gallop
:14:58. > :15:02.around quite happily. And we looked at each other and said, something's
:15:02. > :15:05.wrong here. Caldbec Hill is one of steepest
:15:05. > :15:10.hills in the area. An excellent vantage point and meeting place, so
:15:10. > :15:12.a logical spot for Harold to gather his troops. And since the onus was
:15:12. > :15:21.on the Normans to attack, the argument goes that Harold would
:15:21. > :15:24.have stayed here and let the invaders come to him.
:15:24. > :15:27.It is the best position around defensively. And no commander would
:15:27. > :15:30.leave a commanding height like this for a far inferior one just a mile
:15:30. > :15:34.away. The argument does seem to make
:15:34. > :15:39.sense. But Nick Austin doesn't agree with it. Nick is author of
:15:39. > :15:42.Secrets of the Norman Invasion. And he says if you're looking for the
:15:42. > :15:47.site of the Battle of Hastings, you need to leave Battle and head south
:15:47. > :15:51.to the Crowhurst valley. So Nick, the sea's behind us and you believe
:15:51. > :15:54.that William the Conqueror and his troops came up to this spot here?
:15:54. > :16:01.Yeah, this is the field I believe William camped in. It's a fantastic
:16:01. > :16:03.defence. It drops off 50 metres on each side of the field, has been
:16:03. > :16:05.levelled on the top and I believe there was a fort here originally
:16:05. > :16:15.because we've got documentary evidence that says William camped
:16:15. > :16:17.
:16:17. > :16:20.where forts previously existed. In 1066, Hastings was a peninsula,
:16:20. > :16:24.and Nick believes that the Normans could have landed here with ease.
:16:25. > :16:27.And that they camped on this hill for two weeks before the battle.
:16:27. > :16:32.While Harold mustered his forces here, on the hill to the north of
:16:32. > :16:34.the valley, facing south, towards Hastings.
:16:34. > :16:42.All of my evidence is based upon all of the documents written within
:16:42. > :16:44.180 years of the battle of Hastings. Evidence that includes the original
:16:44. > :16:47.Abbey foundations which the Chronicle of Battle Abbey says was
:16:47. > :16:56.built low down on the west side of the ridge exactly in the middle of
:16:56. > :17:01.this valley at a place called Hurst. Now the Normans called it Hurst,
:17:01. > :17:05.but we know the Saxons called it Crurst. And the fact they wrote it
:17:05. > :17:07.down incorrectly does not mean they didn't get the description right.
:17:07. > :17:11.And in the middle of this valley are the foundations of that very
:17:11. > :17:14.abbey. And that is the proof that the Battle of Hastings took place
:17:14. > :17:19.there. Nick showed me some of the, as yet,
:17:19. > :17:29.unidentified items that have been found in the valley. And he gave me
:17:29. > :17:32.
:17:32. > :17:35.a guided tour of the ruin he believes is the original abbey.
:17:35. > :17:37.This section here is almost certainly the basis of a Norman
:17:37. > :17:39.arch. So we could have been effectively in the undercroft of
:17:40. > :17:43.the Battle Abbey. And next to it you've got a two storey buttress.
:17:43. > :17:45.And we've got other buttresses round here. Now two storey stone
:17:45. > :17:50.buildings, buttresses, what does it all say? It says ecclesiastical
:17:50. > :17:53.building. And it couldn't be anything else in your view? I don't
:17:53. > :17:57.think it could possibly be anything else, no. But historian Dr Marc
:17:57. > :18:02.Morris is having none of it. He says William the Conqueror did
:18:02. > :18:05.build an abbey on the battle site, but the ruin in Crowhurst isn't it.
:18:05. > :18:07.Marc says that the earliest sources of information about the battle are
:18:07. > :18:15.the ones to trust, and that they provide more than adequate proof
:18:15. > :18:17.that the huge abbey at Battle is the place where the battle happened.
:18:17. > :18:21.I've got a chronicle written by a historian called William of
:18:21. > :18:24.Marmsbury. And he says, writing in the 1120s, remember, the other
:18:24. > :18:27.monestry he built at Hastings in honour of St Martin, and it is
:18:27. > :18:29.called Battle Abbey. Because the principle church is to be seen on
:18:29. > :18:36.the very spot where, according to tradition, among the piled heaps of
:18:36. > :18:39.corpses Harold was found. But we don't have to settle for that. We
:18:39. > :18:47.can push it back to the time of William the Conqueror himself, if
:18:47. > :18:50.we look at the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. If we look up William's
:18:50. > :18:54.obituary in the year 1087. It says, on the very spot where God granted
:18:54. > :18:56.him the conquest of England he caused a great abbey to be built.
:18:56. > :19:00.And do you know what, I even checked the old English original,
:19:00. > :19:02.On tham ilken stiodur, on the self- same spot, it says. Now this is a
:19:02. > :19:09.voice, a credible English voice from the time of William the
:19:09. > :19:11.Conqueror himself. So forget it, if anyone says to you this is a made
:19:11. > :19:14.up tradition that only originates a hundred years after the event, it's
:19:14. > :19:17.there in the time of William the Conqueror himself. And it's as good
:19:17. > :19:20.as evidence as you can get. This is what annoys me about this. There
:19:20. > :19:23.isn't a debate here. There is an academic consensus, it's about as
:19:23. > :19:27.certain as we can be. Often with battlefields we can't say where
:19:27. > :19:29.they are, its very difficult to locate them. Here we have
:19:29. > :19:36.contemporary voices telling us that Harold died on that spot and that
:19:37. > :19:39.was where the abbey was built. But what about the fact that not a
:19:39. > :19:43.single arrow or Norman helmet has ever been found at the abbey site
:19:43. > :19:48.of Senlac Hill? Julian Humphrys is from The Battlefields Trust, a
:19:48. > :19:50.charity that works to preserve and interpret our historic battlefields.
:19:50. > :19:55.Does he think it's odd that no artefacts have been recovered from
:19:55. > :19:57.the most important battle site in our history?
:19:57. > :20:02.I don't think we should actually expect to find too much
:20:02. > :20:08.archaeological evidence. This is a long time ago, there's a clearing
:20:08. > :20:10.up after the battle, things will decay. And if we do find things,
:20:10. > :20:13.how do we know they relate specifically to the fighting, they
:20:13. > :20:14.might have been dropped on the retreat or it might have been
:20:14. > :20:23.something completely different connected with people who lived in
:20:23. > :20:33.the area over the next 500 years. Does it really matter exactly where
:20:33. > :20:35.Harold lost his life? What is certain, in my opinion anyway is
:20:35. > :20:38.that to go and stand on the spot where you know something happened
:20:38. > :20:40.in the past is a very inspiring thing to do. It's a tangible link
:20:41. > :20:43.with something that happened many years ago and I think we shouldn't
:20:43. > :20:46.underestimate that. Until someone comes up with watertight evidence
:20:46. > :20:48.to the contrary, this is the spot where Harold fell. And it's where I
:20:49. > :20:58.caught up with Roy Porter, Battle Abbey curator for English Heritage
:20:59. > :20:59.
:20:59. > :21:01.for his take on the battle for the battlefield of Hastings. We
:21:01. > :21:04.encourage people exploring the history around them. But so far we
:21:04. > :21:07.have yet to see any evidence which persuades us that we need to revise
:21:07. > :21:17.our view of what happened on this site in October 1066.
:21:17. > :21:20.
:21:20. > :21:22.So there's no rebuilding of the Now, 60 years ago, the North Sea
:21:22. > :21:31.erupted in one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history,
:21:31. > :21:34.claiming more than 2,000 lives. Miraculously, no lives were lost
:21:34. > :21:43.here. Though businesses and homes were devastated right round the
:21:43. > :21:53.Kent coast. Robin Gibson talked to the people affected at the time and
:21:53. > :21:55.
:21:55. > :21:59.examines whether such a flood could It was the time before anyone had
:22:00. > :22:07.talked about climate change or global warming. In fact they were
:22:07. > :22:11.still talking about the war and rationing when this happened.
:22:11. > :22:21.People were going up to their bedroom window. Can you believe
:22:21. > :22:22.
:22:22. > :22:30.that. It was 1953. What did it all mean to people in Whitstable today?
:22:30. > :22:37.It would be frightening. It is a horrible. Do people still remember
:22:37. > :22:42.which houses were flooded? We still have got major damp because of it.
:22:42. > :22:48.Black and white images consigned to history, years of advances in
:22:48. > :22:53.forecasting and flood defences have placed this as a once in 200 year
:22:53. > :22:59.event. But as everyone who lives in a flood risk area knows from their
:22:59. > :23:04.insurance premiums, experts can be brutally frank. It will happen
:23:04. > :23:09.again, I am afraid it is inevitable. But we can do our best to protect
:23:10. > :23:14.as many people as we can in an event of a reoccurrence. Inevitably
:23:14. > :23:22.there will be a time when conditions are such that we have
:23:22. > :23:28.the Perfect Storm. That day was January 31st, when nature brewed up
:23:28. > :23:35.a freakish cocktail. High spring tides fuelled by an extreme low
:23:35. > :23:41.pressure front. Because it is low pressure it allows the sea to lift.
:23:41. > :23:46.It creates about three metres of lift. So as it hit the coast the
:23:46. > :23:51.sea was three metres higher than normal. On top of that there was an
:23:51. > :24:00.extremely strong north wind. Something like a force eight or
:24:00. > :24:04.even forced 10. That created these huge waves. It looks like the
:24:05. > :24:10.biggest sandcastle in the world and in a way these are battlements in a
:24:10. > :24:14.centuries old war between the land and the sea. Here in Margate to
:24:14. > :24:19.this day they are preparing for the worst that the sea can offer. You
:24:19. > :24:24.have to put the 1953 flood in perspective. Kent miraculously did
:24:24. > :24:32.not share in the loss of life. 1800 died in Holland, hundreds in
:24:32. > :24:39.Britain, notably on Connor the island. But memories of what did
:24:39. > :24:45.happen here have not been forgotten. Imagine the power of waves which
:24:45. > :24:49.felled a lighthouse built to withstand them. As a boy, Nick
:24:49. > :24:54.Tomlinson have watched it happen. He expected something to happen
:24:54. > :25:03.because it was loose and over it went. They just crumbled. It slowly
:25:03. > :25:07.came down. These pictures filmed by a North Kent farmer captured the
:25:07. > :25:12.feeling of the sea surge which came in the light. In those days some
:25:12. > :25:18.places had no sea wall at all. Elsewhere the water demolished
:25:18. > :25:25.ancient defences. Its Arup was 10 years old then. She's still living
:25:25. > :25:30.in the same house next to Whitstable beach. We opened the
:25:30. > :25:36.windows so that the tide would not break the glass. And we just sat
:25:36. > :25:42.and waited. It was silent, just waiting. People did not get too
:25:42. > :25:46.close but these photographs are on show at Daniel Whyte used him
:25:46. > :25:52.capture the energy and the ferocity of the waves. There were taken by
:25:52. > :26:01.keen amateur photographer. I stood as close as I could without falling
:26:01. > :26:08.over. There were pebbles and the beach on the road. And I got that
:26:08. > :26:14.shot of the sea coming over the lamp-post. It was as though a giant
:26:14. > :26:21.had just swept everything to one side. Blocks of masonry, timber
:26:21. > :26:27.from the jetty. It was mayhem. I have never seen anything like it.
:26:27. > :26:32.It is an uncomfortable thought that the scenes filmed during and after
:26:32. > :26:40.the flood with streets deluged and animals dead in the fields could be
:26:40. > :26:48.repeated. But there is good news. Decades of investment in protecting
:26:48. > :26:54.the coast began as soon as the floods receded. This is the 3.5
:26:54. > :27:00.miles sea wall protecting farm land. We do regular maintenance
:27:00. > :27:08.throughout the year on the wall. On average we move 30,000 tons of
:27:08. > :27:14.shingle. That absorbs the energy of the waves and by the time it hits
:27:14. > :27:19.the wall the energy has been dissipated. And one abiding lesson
:27:19. > :27:24.from the 1950s is that no one should again have to wait and hope
:27:24. > :27:31.like Sarah's family 60 years ago. Now we have really accurate
:27:31. > :27:34.modelling of the coastline and sea surges and tidal conditions. So 48
:27:34. > :27:39.hours out we can start thinking about what the events are going to
:27:39. > :27:44.be. Government-funded research and investment in flood defences has
:27:44. > :27:47.made us more ready and better protected. But in the post climate
:27:47. > :27:52.change world it has only confirmed what seaside communities have
:27:52. > :28:02.always known - in a showdown between man and the sea there is
:28:02. > :28:06.
:28:06. > :28:08.only one winner. Now, if you want any more
:28:08. > :28:11.information on tonight's show, you can visit our local Kent or Sussex
:28:11. > :28:18.websites. And you can even watch the whole show again by clicking on
:28:18. > :28:22.our iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/insideout. Coming up next week the Medway
:28:22. > :28:27.family who ended up over �400,000 in debt.
:28:27. > :28:32.He must have been under immense pressure. It is horrible. I have
:28:32. > :28:40.lost six years of my life through worried and I cannot see any end in
:28:40. > :28:45.sight. The big freeze of 1963 and Kent in Sussex. By the end of
:28:45. > :28:53.January the frozen water stretched to 0.5 miles out to sea and Margate