Episode 20 Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman

'Childhood holidays - ho-ho, the anticipation seemed endless.

'The holiday itself? Well, it was over too quickly.

'So, in this series, I'm going to be reliving those wonderful times

'with some much-loved famous faces.'

This is a memory I will treasure.

'Every day, I'll be arranging a few surprises to transport them

'back in time.'

I feel as though we're about to go over the edge.

Don't say that.

'We'll relive the fun...'

THEY LAUGH Oh!

Ah! No! No!

'..the games... HE GROANS

'..and the food of years gone by...'

-Oh, I'm so excited!

-Oh, the taste...

the taste of your childhood. THEY LAUGH

'..to find out how those holidays around the UK helped shape

'the people we know so well today.'

LEN YELLS

'So buckle up for Holiday Of My Lifetime.'

Oh, yes!

Can you come on all my holidays?

I'll come on them. Yeah, of course I will.

Today, I'm on my way to meet a certain lady

who we've all got to know and love over the years.

She was born in Chatham, Kent,

in 1955.

She really is in the swinging '60s in this photo.

Now, us older viewers might remember her getting her big break

on Dr Who with Tom Baker...

or presenting on Jigsaw.

And children of the ages will definitely remember her

sailing onto our screens in the BBC's flagship children's show.

Now, there's a clue.

Fortunately, her daughter got a ten from Len last time I saw her.

And her mum's been known to try her hand at a new skill as well.

She's never far from our screens.

You must know who I'm talking about.

It's that icon of broadcasting.

Yes, it's Janet Ellis!

Ho-ho!

And I'm on my way to pick her up in this fabulous Ford Anglia,

just like the car that was her dad's pride and joy all those years ago.

Len and Janet, off on an adventure.

Janet Ellis was born in Kent in 1955.

Her dad served in the Army and was stationed in Britain

and Germany, which meant young Janet and her little sister, Sharon,

spent much of their childhood moving between the two countries

with Mum at their side.

With an interest in acting since the age of just five,

Janet eventually attended

the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Her first TV break came in 1978

when she appeared in Jackanory Playhouse

and then children's puzzle show Jigsaw,

where she stayed for four years.

But it was in 1983 when she joined the presenting team of the TV

institution of Blue Peter that shot her into the limelight.

She stands out for her daredevil stunts, like RAF freefall jumps,

especially when she returned to training after injuring her pelvis.

Oh, what a trouper!

After four years, she departed Blue Peter and has become an author

but is still a regular face on our TV screens.

Today, I'm taking her back to a memorable summer holiday

of her youth.

But first, to surprise her with the car of her childhood.

-Janet.

-Oh, my!

-Do you recognise the car?

-Oh, I do.

-Oh, it's lovely to see you.

-It's lovely to see you. And my chariot.

It makes me feel a bit...

My father had a Ford Anglia

as his first new car.

And he was an engineer, he was in the Royal Engineers then.

And he didn't think it was a car

unless you could take up the bonnet, take it all apart, put it

back together again, and that's what he spent most weekends doing.

And, oh, look, it's so beautiful! Was it nice to drive?

-It's lovely to drive.

-Was it?

-So, where are we off to?

-The New Forest.

-Oh, I love the New Forest.

-Do you?

-And what's the year?

-1963.

'63 was the year The Beatles number one.

-Number one.

-For 30 weeks.

-Was it?

-Yeah.

Well, yeah, it was the swinging '60s,

but obviously, I was only eight.

That was happening somewhere else.

Well, the album was Please Please Me, so...

Please please me,

-jump in the car...

-Thank you.

-..and we'll take off.

Look at this.

-Why don't they make cars like this any more?

-I don't...

Here you go.

Less than ten miles southeast of Salisbury and just outside

of Southampton, the New Forest was originally a royal hunting preserve.

Today, it is a thriving, working forest with fascinating wildlife.

Covering 145 square miles, it's survived almost 1,000 years.

'We're going back a fraction of that to 1963

'to see some fabulous foals...'

Oh, look, talking of New Forest ponies...

Look!

'..fumble over fromage...'

Yeah, almost.

'..and enjoy all the fun of the fair.'

Farewell! Farewell, everyone!

-Oh, Len, you are a knight in shining armour.

-Exactly.

LEN LAUGHS

But before a holiday begins, you must set out on a journey.

And for Janet, that meant spending hours in the Anglia.

And it's not long before the memories come flooding back.

So what is it like to be back in the old car?

Well, I'm feeling a bit special, obviously,

cos I'm in the front seat.

This is where my mother would've sat.

And I don't think,

even when it was just me and my dad, him giving me a lift somewhere,

I don't think I ever sat in the front with him.

So who would've been in the car on your journey?

It's my dad. My mum here.

Me there and my sister, Sharon, who's two years younger than me.

-Oh, she's younger?

-She's younger.

And were you a well-behaved couple of little girls?

-BOTH:

-No.

-No. In fact...

Well, there were bits were lovely where we all used to sing.

And that is a very happy memory, of us singing in the car

and doing harmonies. Quite the Von Trapps.

Lots and lots of that.

Where had you come from? Was it a long journey?

We came from Kent.

And...

I remember that thing of thinking,

"Whatever happens on this holiday, the journey is great." And actually,

I kind of think about that when I am going on holiday now.

I always try and make the journey, as much as possible,

part of the holiday.

But this was a kind of real sense of freedom.

Look at it now, I mean, we are out in this open ground...

-And it's wonderful.

-..and I'm talking about freedom.

That is what it feels like.

It feels like I've never been anywhere like this before.

-You know, it's not fenced... It is exactly the same.

-Yeah.

It is exactly the same.

-And you never know what you're going to come across.

-No.

-There could be a deer.

-Yeah.

-Or ponies.

-Oh, the ponies, yeah!

-Talking of New Forest ponies...

-Look!

See, my fantasy was, when I first saw them roaming

around like that, I thought you could kind of just take one home.

-Take it home.

-Yeah.

Back in 1963, when Janet was thinking of making off with

a New Forest pony, Britain had just dealt with its coldest winter

since 1740, with snow still on the ground until March.

'Our rescue team has now reached one of the loneliest pubs in Dartmoor.

'It is on the road from Moretonhampstead to Princetown

'and snowploughs had a hard job cutting their way through.

'After battling against enormous snowdrifts for half a mile,

'the rescuers were glad of a warming drink.'

But as the sun came out,

dark clouds gathered for the conservative government

as War Minister John Profumo's

scandalous affair with Christine Keeler

hit the headlines, leading to his resignation.

Oh, naughty-naughty, Johnny.

It was another scandal for Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's

government. And some months later, he too resigned. Oh, politicians!

But they all may have found solace

in a brand-new TV series called Dr Who.

Quick, get behind the sofa! Woohoo!

And racing up the charts that year was Gerry and the Pacemakers

with their summer hit...

# I like it

# I like it

# I like the way you run

# Your fingers through my hair

# And I like the way you tickle my chin

# And I like the way you let me come in

# When your mother's not there... #

Oh, yes.

'But for eight-year-old Janet,

'that summer was all about the family holiday to the New Forest.

'And after the long journey, they'd finally arrived.'

-Len, I was authentically stuck to the seat then.

-Ah.

That's brought a lot of it back.

There's something to be said for air-conditioning.

-But never mind.

-SHE SIGHS

Well...

-Isn't this lovely?

-It hasn't changed, because it can't, can it?

-No, of course not.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-There's all this open space and then suddenly a clump of trees.

-Yeah.

And I think it was designed, wasn't it? As a sort of hunting forest.

-So they obviously cleared a lot and left these dense thickets.

-Yeah.

So it has such a distinctive look.

-It's wonderful, isn't it?

-Yeah.

When you arrived, what was the first thing you wanted to do?

-Was it...?

-Get on a pony.

-Get on a pony, of course.

Even though I couldn't ride, I just thought,

they're wandering around and they look really tame.

-Because they are so sort of just...

-Yeah.

You think you can just walk up and jump on.

-And my favourite book then was Black Beauty.

-Right.

I loved Black Beauty. And those ponies under the tree there just

look like an illustration from Black Beauty to me.

-Yeah.

-So, yeah, it is like the pages of a book come to life.

-Yeah.

I wonder how many ponies there are wandering around. I've no idea.

Well, I can't furnish you with an answer.

-However, I know someone who can.

-You do?

-I do.

Take my arm.

-And we'll walk this way.

-OK. How nice.

-Right, now, I want you to meet someone...

-Mm-hm.

This is Jonathan.

-Jonathan, Janet.

-Hi, Jonathan.

Janet just asked me

how many ponies there were.

And I said, "I know the chap." And it's you.

-So...

-Right.

-How many are there?

-At the moment, we have round about 5,000 ponies on the forest.

-And why?

We are very often asked that question. They all belong to people.

They all belong to individual owners.

We have around about 700 different owners.

Some people own one or two,

some people own quite large herds of them.

And they keep them for all number of different reasons,

mainly tradition, because people always kept

ponies in the forest, going back hundreds and hundreds of years.

-And what is your job?

-My job, I am a New Forest agister.

-Agister?

-Agister.

The word agist means to take in animals for payment.

Because of the people that own them,

they pay a fee to put them out here, which I collect on behalf

of the people I work for - the New Forest Verderers.

They were created, if you like, to help

manage the forest right back in medieval times.

They appointed a number of local knights.

These knights were also known as marksmen

because they would mark the animals that were turned out to graze

in the forest. Also known as agisters.

So the whole thing goes right back to those early Norman times

-when William the Conqueror created the New Forest.

-Wow.

-So you should be knighted, really.

-Oh, I should be, really, yes.

-From now on, Sir Jonathan.

-Sir Jonathan of the New Forest.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Fantastic.

Every individual animal carries its owner's brand.

Each owner has a brand mark, and that signifies who owns that pony.

That's very important for my job cos I need to know,

from a welfare point of view, who owns what pony.

I'm on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week,

with my other four colleagues, to help look after the animals

while they are out grazing on the forest.

As a little girl in '63,

Janet always wanted to pet them

and feed them....

-And take one home.

-Take one home!

-Right.

-So do you get much of that sort of malarkey going on?

Unfortunately, we do.

And that is one of the big problems we have with all the number

of visitors we get coming to the forest.

I mean, it's lovely to come here,

see the animals grazing in their natural sort of...

Living their natural lives. But, please,

we ask people not to feed them, not to pet them,

not to get too close. They are semi-feral.

There are basically wild.

Although they belong to people, they live a wild existence.

So if people feed them,

it attracts them to the roads, which is dangerous.

It sort of instils in them behaviour where they might get

quite demanding for that food, might bite or kick people.

So we please ask people to admire them from a distance.

-It's been good, hasn't it?

-Oh, it's great.

-Interesting.

On a day like this, have you got the best job in the world?

-Absolutely, yeah. It's fantastic.

-Course you have.

Well, thanks very much. It was lovely to talk to you.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you so much, Sir Jonathan.

-Enjoy the rest of your day.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

I think the way people will pay for ponies to roam free here is

fascinating. But it's not just ponies. Oh, no.

You can release other animals into the forest,

and it is known as commoning.

Suzie Moore knows more.

Commoning in the New Forest, it's like farming.

What you have is properties and land that can be owned or rented have

commoning rights attached to them.

And that means you can then do certain things.

So, for example, a commoner who has the right of pasture has the right

to turn out ponies, cows and donkeys into the New Forest all year round.

So it is like farming, but the animals are not contained.

They're allowed out into the forest and can roam quite freely,

and so are semi-wild.

But there's more to these ponies than meets the eye,

as they have a very important role in shaping the New Forest.

The New Forest ponies, they are a particular breed.

And they are very, very special.

And they are known as architects of the forest

because without the grazing that they do out there,

the habitats within the forest would be very, very different.

They'd be quite overgrown, quite scrubby.

Whereas, as they are now, they are really well-kept habitats.

I'm taking Janet Ellis back to relive her childhood summer

holiday to the New Forest in 1963.

Back then, the young Janet loved the funfair.

So I am bringing her to this modern one,

and it is sure to awaken some fond memories.

Ho-ho. Hey?

This is a proper holiday -

in a funfair, on a sunny day, with you.

That's a proper holiday.

Well, I guess the funfair back in '63 wouldn't have been

quite like this one.

I don't know. But it would have felt as exciting.

-BELL RINGS

-There is a ride starting!

No, it feels really exciting. And it feels happy and relaxed.

-You know, when you were a little girl, were you quite brave?

-No.

SHE LAUGHS Would you go on anything?

-I was really not.

-I've been consistent.

I was frightened of everything when I was eight,

and so it went on till I'm 70. I don't like anything that goes fast.

I don't like anything that goes up in the air too much.

And I don't like anything that whirls around quickly.

I tell you what, I wonder...

I wonder if there is a tunnel of love.

-WHIMSICALLY:

-I hope so.

LEN LAUGHS

-Oh, now, something like that. That is a traditional ride.

-Yes.

-And that looks beautiful.

-It does look beautiful.

And I am prepared to go on it. Ho-ho-ho!

-What do you want to go on, the horse?

-Can I have that little one?

-Can I? Go on, then,

-you have the little one.

-Yeah.

And I'll have the big one.

-This is a New Forest pony, you see, I recognise it.

-Oh, yes.

-A New Forest pony with ambitions.

-I don't know if I can do...

Trust me to get the one... SHE LAUGHS

BELL RINGS Oh!

LEN LAUGHS Oh, how exciting.

Ha-ha!

Farewell!

-Farewell, everyone.

-Oh, Len, you are a knight in shining armour.

-Exactly.

Oh, love it!

It's great, isn't it?

Hello.

-Hey-hey!

-So pretty.

Ooh, love it!

I'm holding the reins in the correct way, actually, I'll have you know.

Oh, I've noticed. Yeah, you're good.

I'm just hanging onto the pole. THEY LAUGH

Oh, joy of joys!

-One doesn't want it to end.

-No.

'The excitement of that has made me feel white daring,

'so Janet has convinced me to take it up a gear. Oh-ho-ho!

'I hope I'm going to regret this.'

LEN YELLS AND LAUGHS

Don't start.

-This is the end of our funfairing.

-Yeah, this is it.

My centre of gravity has changed remarkably since I was eight.

THEY LAUGH

-Oh, no.

-Oh, my!

THEY YELL

LEN LAUGHS Whoa!

Whoa-ho-ho!

-Len.

-I don't know.

-You are brave.

-I'm brave!

-You're brave.

-I'm so brave.

-You're so brave.

-You survived the Cat-o-pillar.

-I survived!

Oh, eh!

How great was that?

'Oh, yes, the Bromley Braveheart strikes again.

'But it's made me feel all queasy.'

I only screamed about eight times.

Well, I find a seat to calm myself down...

..here's seven of the best things

to do in and around the fabulous New Forest.

The Lepe Country Park has over a mile of beautiful coastline.

You'll find breathtaking cliff-top views across the Solent

towards the Isle of Wight.

It's the perfect place for a tranquil stroll

while watching the kayakers take to the water.

Rather them than me!

And if that makes you work up a thirst,

head to the Ringwood Brewery tour.

They've been brewing beer here since medieval times.

A lot has changed since then, of course, but if you'd like to see

how they do it now, Alex Harrison has all the gear for the beer.

Brewery tours are very popular at Ringwood Brewery.

We've been running tours for about the last six years.

We let our customers come into the brew bar,

get a brief history of the brewery, walk around,

see the actual brewery itself, and then have a chance to sample

our entire range of beers in the bar afterwards.

We've been making beer here in Ringwood since 1978.

And Best Bitter and Fortyniner

are still brewed to the exact same recipe.

And you see all the beer here, fermenting away quite nicely.

You get a really pungent aroma off it at the moment.

After Janet and I's roller-coaster rocket down memory lane,

we deserve a rest.

And I want to find out about her passion for acting.

Well, I think I've got to have a sit-down.

You know how to treat a girl, though, Len. Never let it be said.

-That's what I am like.

-Perfect.

You can't beat a date with me. SHE CHUCKLES

So when you were -

you know, in '63 - a little girl, did you always, even from that age,

want to, you know, go into the theatre?

I wanted to be an actress from when I was about five.

I think I didn't really know what the word meant.

And everything in my life was about being on stage.

I wanted to read in assembly, I wanted to be in every play,

I wanted to learn poems.

-I must have been a nightmare, actually.

-Right.

I wanted to go to drama school.

I wanted to finish regular school

and then go somewhere where it was like a degree, really.

It was a three-year course.

In my last year, you're doing all your plays for the benefit

of agents and theatre companies.

And it wasn't till three weeks to go that an agent took me on,

a bit close to the wire.

But I had my first professional job with my provisional equity card

three weeks after leaving.

-Oh, that's marvellous.

-Yeah, that was amazing. It was great.

-As a little girl, who did you admire as an actor or actress?

-Easy.

Julie Andrews and Hayley Mills.

The first film I ever saw was Pollyanna, and I just loved it.

The Sound Of Music was my favourite film.

-Really?

-I think it still is.

-Yeah.

-Loved it.

Who did you like the most out of Julie Andrews or

Christopher Plummer?

Well, when I made my sister and me perform it,

I took both those roles.

Do you know, once I had a burst pipe in my house.

And I looked in the Yellow Pages for a plumber, and I phoned him up.

And I said, "Are you a plumber?" He said, "Yes."

-I said, "What's your name?" He said, "Christopher."

-No.

-He was Christopher the plumber.

-Christopher the plumber.

That was as near as I ever got to Christopher Plummer.

I think I might look a bit like him, you know, in a bizarre way.

You could be my Captain Von Trapp.

You probably would like to say, "Shut your trap."

Right. Well, look, there is more fun and frolics to be had.

-I'm sure there are.

-Shall we...?

-You've done well with that.

-I know, it's nice.

-Shall we wander on?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

For most people, holidays are about new sights and tastes.

For eight-year-old Janet, that was one particular pudding.

So now, what we want to do is

try and replicate 1963

-and the food that you would've had.

-Really?

-Yes.

Now, what would you have been eating back in '63?

-Well, I don't think it was that adventurous, Len.

-Right.

I think prawn cocktail and that sort of thing

was as far as we went on the exotic states.

-What about puddings?

-Oh, you mean my fantasy pudding?

-You mean baked Alaska?

-Cuddle me.

The baked Alaska is a yummy-scrummy ice cream dessert

surrounded by a hot meringue coating.

It was a firm favourite on fancy dining tables in the '60s,

including Janet's.

'I've got a place set up in this pub to see if we can make one every bit

'as good, starting with the meringue.'

Right, here we go, baked Alaska.

Baked Alaska! You can't do this without breaking eggs,

like something else.

Now, was your mum much of a cook?

Well, she was a good plain cook

because you could tell what

day of the week it was by what my mum cooked.

So we would always have a roast, then we would always have the mince,

then we would always have sausages. My dad was a brilliant cook.

-Really?

-He loved cooking. He was really good, yeah.

This is the hard work.

After your dad finished his Army career, what did he get up to then?

By then, my dad was working for a model agent.

Because he'd always loved making things and he wanted to go into

something that was akin to that when he left.

So he was doing bits and pieces of set design and that kind of stuff.

And I was doing Dr Who and I got talking to the visual effects man,

and I said, "Oh, my dad loves doing all this stuff."

And he said, "Well, they've got a job coming up here."

-Oh, really?

-So that is how he came to apply, yeah.

So he applied for the job and got onto the visual effects team

-in the BBC and stayed there till he retired.

-Yeah.

Let's have a look at your... Why is yours all fluffy and white and...

-Cos I'm knackered!

-Well, look, I think it's

cos you got a small bowl and I've got this great big jumbo thing.

I've had enough of that.

'In true Blue Peter style,

'here's an ice cream base that's been prepared earlier.

'But we need to add the important finishing touch.'

So what is the next process? We've got the lovely...

Well, basically,

you pipe the meringue mixture around the ice cream.

-Around the edge?

-Yeah. Well, all around it, cover it completely.

Absolutely completely.

And then all around the sides as well.

And then you put in the oven -

we'll probably use a blowtorch here -

-until the whole thing...

-Do I do all that middle?

-Yeah.

-You can make it as thick as you like.

-Oh, I love it.

Cos the surprise is when you're eating it,

you've got the meringue-y, hot, fluffy outside

and then the ice cream all chilled in the middle.

-How's that?

-I think it's ready.

It is rather beautiful, actually, isn't it?

'Now for that crispy finish.

'This takes me back to my days as a welder.'

-Stand back.

-I'm standing.

-This is very dangerous.

SHE LAUGHS

-Whoa!

-Look at that.

-Look at that.

-Ho-ho!

Cooking with gas.

Beautiful.

'Yeah, gorgeous(!)

'While we tidy that up...'

..here is my next instalment of my seven top tips

for visiting this area.

The New Forest Centre is packed with displays and history

all about this fascinating forest.

Step back to the 1930s through a re-creation of commoner

Harry Burt's traditional cob cottage and find out how the

New Forest was turned into a military camp during World War II.

If you make your way here by train,

you may pass a few signal boxes on the way.

But there are few remaining like the Romsey signal box,

which now operates as a museum.

Dick Hewett is on track with the facts.

Romsey signal box is being saved as a preserved box.

It used to work on the line side.

The Friends of Romsey Signal Box is a team of volunteers.

And we maintain and develop the site and open it to visitors

whenever we can.

Enthusiasts can come in and they can operate the signal box

just as it would have been operating in the old days.

They can pull a lever and see the signal operating, just as here.

And you'll see the signal going up there, outside.

For enthusiasts, they can come and they can operate the signal box

as it did authentically,

just as it would have been operating in the old days.

I'm taking Janet back to the summer of '63.

But before we enjoy dessert,

I've another surprise in store to bring back some tasty memories.

So are you ready for your baked Alaska?

I couldn't be more ready for baked Alaska.

Well, hold on to your knickers,

because before that, we've got another one of your specialities.

-Oh, my goodness, what?

-Ronnie! Ronnie, please!

Prawn...

Prawn cocktail.

-And it's a whopper.

-It is a whopper, look at...

-BOTH:

-Thank you so much.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Look at this, it is like a knickerbocker glory.

-It is.

-Isn't it?

Mm! LEN CHUCKLES

Nothing wrong with that.

So, how did you get your first acting job?

-I know you did Dr Who.

-Hm.

-Was that your first venture?

-No. Actually,

my first thing was Jackanory Playhouse.

-Do you remember that?

-Jackanory.

It was a series where they made little films, fairy stories.

And it was the first job I had out of leaving Central.

And then my father was played by Frank Thornton.

And the wizard of the story was played by Leonard Sachs,

-you know, from the good old days.

-Yeah.

-And it was absolutely lovely.

Please, give me something different,

something exciting, dangerous even.

I want something to happen to me that's never, never happened before.

'I played the very important part of a princess who was changed,

'for most of the play, into a pot plant.

'Oh, that's nice.'

-Mm...

-Oh!

-Oh, thank you.

-Oh.

-May I just cut it?

-Do, yeah.

-Oh, it is...

-Forensically.

-Yes, I am like, yeah, in the path lab.

-Yeah.

I wish I hadn't done this now.

Oh, it's got a biscuity base, this one.

-I wanted to sort of reveal it. Oh.

-You have, look at that.

-Look at that.

-And then, of course, you got into presenting with Jigsaw.

Jigsaw, strictly speaking, I would have said I was still acting.

Because although I did occasional bits to camera, to me,

it was still an acting job. But it was because of that that

somebody said to me, "Why don't you think about presenting?"

Which of course, initially, I thought,

-"But I am headed for the stage!"

-Yeah.

But it was enough of a little lure that when somebody said,

"Why don't you audition for Blue Peter?"

-For a start, any job you audition for, you want to get.

-Yeah.

And I thought, if you're going to do presenting,

-that's starting quite high.

-Yes, of course it is.

Well, you know, it must be the most iconic children's television

-programme of all time.

-Yeah. Well, it stayed pretty consistent.

It is a lovely, lovely programme to do.

And I was really lucky that I became great friends with every single

one of the presenters I worked with, and we are all still in touch now.

So, yeah. Pretty spoiled, actually, doing that job. Pretty spoiled.

-Well, I think we are pretty spoiled, having a prawn cocktail...

-Yeah.

..followed by baked Alaska.

One of Janet's most vivid memories of 1963 was watching the cows

being milked at a nearby farm.

Now, we all know most farms don't milk cows by hand these days,

but we're going to see a farm where they make cheese with

milk from their own herd of cows, including the lovely Daisy here.

Whoa, steady on, Daisy. Go up.

The aroma is delicious, but how easy is it to make?

Master cheeseman James is showing us

how it's done in our very natty cheesemakers' gear.

-James.

-Yeah.

-This is Janet.

-Hello, Janet, how do you do?

What exactly have we got here?

So, we've got here curds and whey.

That's your curds. This is what will be cheese.

It is not going to be cheese right now because if you eat that...

You can try a little bit if you like.

-If you eat that, it doesn't taste a lot like cheese.

-No.

-The flavour comes from the maturing process.

-Quite creamy.

-So these are our moulds here.

-Right.

These are cheesecloths.

And in these, we've got tiny little holes.

That is going to allow the whey to drain out naturally.

-If we didn't have them, we would have a big mess.

-Right.

-We wouldn't have very good cheese.

-We don't want that.

So we are going to scoop down into the curd. Just try and bring it up.

It is going to be a bit wet.

-We're going to take it over and we're going to pour it in.

-OK.

Let's have a go, come on.

You come up here.

-A little like The Generation Game, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Although we know what we're going to pull out.

-Yeah. It's heavy.

It's really heavy! Of course it's heavy, it's full of curd.

-Oh, yes, heavy.

-They are heavy, aren't they?

Do you give it a good shake first before you...?

You can give it a shake if you like.

-You are not too bothered about that?

-No, it's all right.

But we do want to pop it in.

-OK.

-I'm going to bung mine in here.

-Woo!

-Oh!

-It is actually hard physical labour, this, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

I can't help the funny faces. I can't help it.

Cos it's so gooey and dodgy, I like to sort of...

Oooh...

It's great!

I could do this. I couldn't do it for long, but I could do it.

I'm a natural at this cheesemaking.

Once I get home, I'm going to buy a cow,

stick it in my back garden.

Watch out at the supermarket for Len's Cornish Delight.

Oh, yes!

# Oh, I get so pleased

# When I'm making cheese

# I get the curd and the whey... #

'When the tubs are full, the next part of the process is to

'pull the cheesecloth in preparation for the old lift and flip.'

Now, I am usually a fan of that on the dance floor,

but this move isn't easy.

OK, so we're going to turn it over

and we're just going to support our hand, literally like that.

-Oh.

-It is a little bit heavy, but you should be all right.

-And you're going to let gravity take your hand down.

-Eh...

-And you're going to take it out. Got it?

-Ah! Yes...

Now put that down the right way.

-Yes.

-And we're just going to slowly go in.

Try to leave the cloth covered.

That didn't go to plan.

'I don't seem to be getting the hang of it.

'Janet, on the other hand, has the flipping move down to a T.

'She makes it look so easy!

'Right, I am determined to get it this time.'

-Yes, yes, yes!

-That's it. Hold on to it.

-Yes, yes.

-And slide her in.

Yeah, almost.

-Harsh.

-That's better.

'OK, so I need to work on my technique.'

But in the meantime, here's the last of my seven things to do

in and around the New Forest.

Dating back to the 13th century, King John's house was once

the main building of a large medieval complex.

It's now a museum of Victorian and Edwardian life.

Check out the graffiti cut into the medieval plaster

and this amazing rare floor made with animal bone.

Oh, I don't like it.

The idyllic Eyeworth Pond was created in 1871 to provide

water for the nearby Schultze Gunpowder Company.

Little of their factory remains except the pond itself,

which contains 6 million gallons of H2O.

It's now a thriving wildlife habitat and a perfect picnic spot.

At one, the forest was the ancestral home

to the late Lord Montagu,

who spent his life building a collection of 250 classic cars

and motorbikes and created the National Motor Museum.

Petrol heads, you're going to love it.

The Motor Museum started in 1952

when Lord Montagu opened his home,

Palace House, to visitors.

And it began with just five cars put on display in the front hall

in homage to his father, John, who was an early motoring pioneer.

But in 1972, this wonderful purpose-built building was put up

and the whole collection was moved in here.

Among all the beautiful cars on display, I have to say,

my personal favourite is probably the American 1935 Auburn.

It was believed to have been driven by Marlene Dietrich in one

of her films, and it really is a very glamorous lady's car.

The collection numbers about 280 vehicles,

and that is cars and motorcycles.

And what we're trying to do here is tell the story of motoring

on the roads of Britain from the very early days of motoring,

the 1880s,

right up to the present day, with examples from all the decades.

The way Janet took to cheesemaking,

it was no wonder she was asked to do all sorts on Blue Peter,

but I want to know what was the worst challenge,

with a bit of cheese, of course.

Now, in your four years on Blue Peter,

was there anything that they said,

"You know what, we'd like you to do...whatever,"

and you said, "I'm sorry"?

There is a lot I should've said that about, but actually,

I carried on. And that's why people remember those films,

cos I was so obviously petrified.

There was only one, but to get to the location, you had to abseil,

and I just could not bear the idea of abseiling,

particularly as it wasn't even the film.

It was just to get to the location you had to abseil.

And I said, "I really don't feel comfortable doing that."

But I did take over a film from somebody, too.

Simon Groom was supposed to be doing a film about what happens

if a cable car breaks down, and he just couldn't cope with it.

-So I went and did that one.

-Oh, right.

-So we swapped about a bit.

Yeah.

I discovered how they'd cope in the unlikely event of an emergency.

If there ever is a breakdown,

this hair-raising ride is the only way to reach stranded passengers.

-You also got to travel all over the world.

-Yeah.

Not holidays, of course, expeditions.

But, yeah, we did.

The first one of those I did was just after I joined the programme.

Went off to Sri Lanka for four weeks.

I'd never been anywhere like that before in my life, with palm trees

at that angle down white sand and exploring a whole country.

It was just a treat.

At least we thought we were bathing the elephants,

but we got just as wet ourselves.

That day with the elephants was a highlight of an exciting

expedition to a beautiful island.

Is there anything that stands out that was either difficult or

fun or whatever?

Well, the obvious difficult things were things like the parachuting,

because, you know, I did high altitude stuff - 25,000 feet.

For three and a half years, Janet underwent intensive RAF training

to learn how to freefall jump.

After breaking her pelvis on jump 23, she still persevered.

What a star!

34 small leaps in total were all in preparation for the big one.

In just 90 seconds, she became the first British civilian female

to freefall jump 25,000 feet,

creating a new world record.

Strangely, I didn't feel as scared as I have done on other jumps.

As we waited to go down the exit ramp,

this was the moment I had waited three and a half years for.

The green light meant go, and we went for it.

We jumped 17,000ft above the cloud tops,

nearly four miles above the ground.

All that training, all that work was worth it for a minute and a half

of unforgettable freefall.

-It always appears to be so much fun.

-Yep.

You know, we had a good time,

but we were always conscious that there was a child watching.

That comes across.

-Shall we leave?

-Yeah.

-We're cheesemakers.

-We're cheesemakers.

-You've got the hat.

-I've got the hat to prove it.

One of the most iconic buildings in the New Forest is Romsey Abbey,

which was built in the 10th century, 907 to be exact.

Abbey fact fan Phoebe Merrick has her own story to tell.

Romsey Abbey, which was one of

the great houses of Benedictine nuns

in medieval England, was founded

by the granddaughter of Alfred the Great.

And later the daughter of King John was sent to school here.

Most of the building that you can see now was

built in the 1120s to 1140s.

It is at least the third church on the site.

And then 100 years later, the western end was extended

and the main part of the building raised higher.

Romsey was the first place where the Army established a purpose-built

training school for horses after the outbreak of the First World War.

During the war, they had over 120,000 horses through Romsey

which were trained for war service.

We are staying at this amazing abbey for a bit longer because,

back in 1963, this place was an important part of Janet's holiday.

Wow.

-Isn't this fantastic?

-Isn't it?

It's really special, isn't it?

It is so... What's lovely, it's peaceful.

-Well, it is one of the first places I came to like this.

-Yeah?

And it set up a lifelong fascination

with church architecture and iconography.

And everything about it,

the ambition of building something like this.

And when you think how long ago it was built, you know,

-hundreds and hundreds of years ago...

-Yeah.

You know, how did they do it?

It still has power, doesn't it?

-It's wonderful.

-It made a deep impression on me.

-Yeah.

-Even that young.

-Yeah.

-It was just so very peaceful.

Especially when you are a little girl this big,

-it's even more massive.

-Yeah.

-So you would have come here with your family.

-Yes.

I have a very clear memory of that.

I think my mother, in particular, felt then the same the way that I

do now, that it was just something that would make an impression on me.

That huge vaulted ceiling and the columns

and the attention to detail, it's just really special.

And I'm sure after a day of whatever else we've been doing -

funfairs, running about, ice creams - to just come in here

and have to be a little bit quiet, no bad thing.

The only thing missing is singing.

I'd love to hear some singing in here, but...

-Well, I can do Onward, Christian Soldiers.

-OK.

-If you...

-Yeah, I'd like that.

-I'll do it sort of quietly.

-OK.

# Onward, Christian soldiers

# Marching as to war

# With the... #

See, as soon as I start singing, a crowd starts coming in.

Have you noticed that? SHE LAUGHS

-That's what...

-It's the hat.

It's the hat on the floor with the pennies in it. That's what does it.

-That attracts them.

-That attracts them.

-Well, this is lovely.

-Yeah.

Well, I'm glad you like it too.

Oh, no, I like it. More than like it, I think it is fantastic.

Well, let's... Look,

let's get out before they ask us for the collection.

-Yeah, exactly.

-LEN LAUGHS

'It's been a real treat to spend the day with Janet

'and relive her family holiday to the New Forest.

'It's been a day of cheesemaking...'

# Oh

# I get so pleased

# When I am making cheese. #

'..flame-throwing...'

Cooking with gas.

'..and coasting down memory lane.'

Oh, no! THEY YELL

I've got to say, I've had a marvellous day. I really have.

-Me too.

-It's been good.

-Yeah. I feel really...

like you do at the end of the best holidays - tired but happy.

And just to remind you of your little holiday,

-this is a little scrapbook...

-Thank you!

-..of memories.

Oh, thank you so much.

For Janet, a scrapbook of memories

of our adventure today.

Now, back in 1963,

she always wanted to steal one

of the New Forest ponies.

She can't have that, but I hope

she loves this little gift.

Oh, my gosh. How beautiful.

Seriously, it's like you've seen my mantelpiece

and you know this is missing.

-Yes.

-That is so lovely.

-THEY LAUGH

-It's been lovely.

-It's been a super, super day.

It's goodbye from the enchanting New Forest and the summer of 1963,

A place in time that will forever hold a special place

in Janet's heart.