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When the 19th century dawned,
Britain was a land of two nations.
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00:00:06,020 --> 00:00:10,420
A small wealthy class ruling
a large and growing population.
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00:00:10,420 --> 00:00:13,940
The Regency was a time between times.
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00:00:13,940 --> 00:00:17,620
It was after absolute monarchy,
but it was before democracy.
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00:00:17,620 --> 00:00:20,420
It was towards the end
of an age of agriculture.
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00:00:20,420 --> 00:00:24,060
It was the beginning
of an age of industry.
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00:00:24,060 --> 00:00:28,260
As radical voices confronted
an arrogant elite,
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00:00:28,260 --> 00:00:31,220
the ways of the old order
were no longer tenable.
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00:00:31,220 --> 00:00:35,660
It was a time that would set
the many against the few.
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00:00:45,140 --> 00:00:48,260
What a wonderful sight
for the Regency swells
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00:00:48,260 --> 00:00:51,500
taking part in the new craze
for ballooning.
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00:00:51,500 --> 00:00:55,380
This is Bath, queen city of the west.
Celebrated for its spa waters.
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00:00:55,380 --> 00:00:59,020
Packed full of genteel
Jane Austen-type characters.
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00:00:59,020 --> 00:01:01,700
But Britain was a troubled land.
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00:01:03,500 --> 00:01:07,380
Years of war had wearied
and impoverished the masses.
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00:01:07,380 --> 00:01:10,420
The country hovered on
the brink of revolution,
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00:01:10,420 --> 00:01:13,860
as the governing classes chose
to use violent repression
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00:01:13,860 --> 00:01:15,900
instead of enlightened reform.
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00:01:17,100 --> 00:01:19,540
Challenging Parliament
and the Cabinet
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00:01:19,540 --> 00:01:20,980
were a new generation
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00:01:20,980 --> 00:01:22,380
of thinkers
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00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:23,980
and poets
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and novelists.
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00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:30,220
The power of the word would now take
over from the power of the sword
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00:01:30,220 --> 00:01:32,580
but not without
the shedding of blood.
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00:01:53,780 --> 00:01:58,100
In the Regency, people admired
a sense of gusto.
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00:01:58,100 --> 00:01:59,900
The most dashing people of the age
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00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:02,460
were literally dashing across
the countryside,
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00:02:02,460 --> 00:02:07,260
and the age's favourite vehicle
was this monster, the mail coach.
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00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:09,100
The mail coach was extraordinary.
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00:02:09,100 --> 00:02:11,940
It could go at an average speed
of seven miles an hour,
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00:02:11,940 --> 00:02:16,020
which seemed utterly amazing
to 19th-century Jeremy Clarksons.
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00:02:16,020 --> 00:02:19,140
This meant that, instead of taking
two days to get to Cambridge,
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00:02:19,140 --> 00:02:21,060
you could get there in seven hours.
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00:02:21,060 --> 00:02:24,940
Edinburgh was only 60 hours away.
Britain was shrinking.
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00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:31,220
Hello, there. All right, love?
Right. Stand out, please.
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00:02:35,300 --> 00:02:39,780
Today, I'm really excited to travel
on the Swingletree mail coach.
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00:02:39,780 --> 00:02:43,220
We're scorching through
the Norfolk countryside.
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00:02:43,220 --> 00:02:48,100
This is John Parker holding
the reins and Rosie as guard.
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00:02:48,100 --> 00:02:52,980
This coach used to earn its keep
on the London to Norwich run.
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00:03:02,100 --> 00:03:04,140
HORN FANFARE
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00:03:08,220 --> 00:03:11,340
Travel by mail coach was expensive,
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00:03:11,340 --> 00:03:13,900
but it was also fast and safe.
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00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:18,100
Our team of horses would be changed
every ten or so miles.
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00:03:18,100 --> 00:03:21,020
We'd be travelling with an armed
guard on the back.
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00:03:21,020 --> 00:03:24,300
And when we got to tollgates
they'd open as if by magic.
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00:03:24,300 --> 00:03:27,300
We'd toot our horn and the keeper
would leap out of the way.
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00:03:27,300 --> 00:03:30,740
Because nothing was allowed
to hold up the king's mail.
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00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:34,620
So what could you signal
with the horn?
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00:03:34,620 --> 00:03:37,380
Are there things like
"I'm coming"? "Get out of the way"?
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00:03:37,380 --> 00:03:40,700
For different coaches, there was
different tunes.
52
00:03:40,700 --> 00:03:44,140
Even for different people. They had
their favourite tunes. Yeah.
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00:03:44,140 --> 00:03:46,780
OK. So this coach was owned
by James Selby
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00:03:46,780 --> 00:03:49,420
and I think you know his particular
coaching call.
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00:03:49,420 --> 00:03:52,900
Let's hear it.
HORN FANFARE
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00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:08,740
If you could afford it,
you rode on it.
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00:04:08,740 --> 00:04:11,580
If you couldn't afford this,
you tried to hook a ride
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00:04:11,580 --> 00:04:15,620
on something else. If you couldn't
get a ride, you had a choice.
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00:04:15,620 --> 00:04:18,460
You either owned a horse and rode it
or you walked.
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00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:20,340
There's no other choices. Yeah.
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00:04:20,340 --> 00:04:23,900
You couldn't jump on the back of
carriages, because they had spikes
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00:04:23,900 --> 00:04:25,460
to make sure you didn't do it.
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00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:28,580
It's the king's mail.
If you held it up,
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00:04:28,580 --> 00:04:32,180
you died. You were either shot
or hung, one of the two.
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00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:36,140
That's a big draconian.
If you stood in front and said,
"Stand and deliver,"
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00:04:36,140 --> 00:04:39,340
these teams of horses, they won't
stop. They'll flatten you.
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00:04:44,140 --> 00:04:47,420
For Regency people, travel
by mail coach was
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00:04:47,420 --> 00:04:49,380
like taking Concorde.
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00:04:49,380 --> 00:04:52,260
Mail coaches helped them
to discover their own countryside.
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00:04:52,260 --> 00:04:56,660
The Highlands, the Lake District
and Spa towns like Bath
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00:04:56,660 --> 00:04:59,140
became tourist destinations
for the first time
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00:04:59,140 --> 00:05:01,980
thanks to coach travel.
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00:05:01,980 --> 00:05:05,460
For the rich, the coach
was the only way to travel.
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00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:08,060
The Prince Regent's dirty weekends
in Brighton
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00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:10,860
were all horse-drawn affairs.
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00:05:10,860 --> 00:05:12,660
But, if George had chosen to notice,
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00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:17,540
the countryside he was travelling
through was changing fast.
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00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:21,860
An agricultural revolution
was driving the rural workers
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00:05:21,860 --> 00:05:25,940
off the land and into
the new industrial cities.
80
00:05:25,940 --> 00:05:29,180
The Enclosure Acts denied villagers
access to the fields
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00:05:29,180 --> 00:05:33,020
where generations of peasants
had scraped out a living.
82
00:05:37,620 --> 00:05:41,540
In these troubled times,
the labourers of Northamptonshire
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00:05:41,540 --> 00:05:43,980
had a voice through John Clare.
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00:05:43,980 --> 00:05:46,860
He's often called the Peasant Poet.
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00:05:46,860 --> 00:05:51,100
In Helpston, his cottage, or cot,
still survives. It's now a museum,
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00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:53,820
devoted to a rare
Regency imagination.
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00:05:56,340 --> 00:06:01,460
And swathy bees about the grass
That stops wi' every bloom they pass
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00:06:01,460 --> 00:06:03,900
And every minute every hour
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00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:08,380
Keep teazing weeds
that wear a flower.
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00:06:11,460 --> 00:06:14,700
Imagine the scene
on a dark winter's night.
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00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:18,140
John Clare is sitting on a stool
in the corner of the room,
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writing a poem.
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00:06:19,140 --> 00:06:21,420
His mother, over there, spinning.
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This was their cottage.
It's just two up, two down.
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00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:28,300
There was earth on the floor,
a ladder instead of stairs,
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and actually ten people were
living here. Three generations
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of the Clare family shared it.
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00:06:33,620 --> 00:06:37,020
It's not quite our modern
idyll of country living by any means,
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00:06:37,020 --> 00:06:40,780
but they were glad to have
this cottage, it was their home.
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00:06:43,740 --> 00:06:48,260
Many of John Clare's poems celebrated
all things bright and beautiful.
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00:06:48,260 --> 00:06:51,340
But in Helpston he witnessed
the single greatest threat
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00:06:51,340 --> 00:06:54,380
to rural life for over
a thousand years.
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00:06:54,380 --> 00:06:56,980
The enclosure of the common lands.
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00:06:59,900 --> 00:07:03,420
Each little tyrant
with his little sign
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00:07:03,420 --> 00:07:07,740
Shows where man claims earth
glows no more divine
106
00:07:07,740 --> 00:07:11,900
But paths to freedom
and to childhood dear
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00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:15,820
A board sticks up to notice
"No road here"
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00:07:15,820 --> 00:07:19,500
And birds and trees
and flowers without a name
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00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:23,740
All sighed when lawless
law's enclosure came.
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00:07:25,580 --> 00:07:29,820
'I talked to the curator David Dykes
about the changes
Clare lived through.'
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00:07:29,820 --> 00:07:33,060
The Enclosure Act of 1809
in this area
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00:07:33,060 --> 00:07:35,780
was the biggest single impact
on his life.
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00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:39,780
Prior to that he was able to
walk the fields,
anywhere he wished to go,
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00:07:39,780 --> 00:07:41,820
and he rails against that,
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00:07:41,820 --> 00:07:44,460
in the fact he's lost his freedom
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00:07:44,460 --> 00:07:46,500
and also lost a livelihood,
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00:07:46,500 --> 00:07:49,740
because he couldn't get
to the common land.
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00:07:49,740 --> 00:07:51,260
He couldn't graze the cows.
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00:07:51,260 --> 00:07:55,260
His friends where losing their jobs
and he was seeing an acceleration
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00:07:55,260 --> 00:07:57,860
of people leaving the countryside.
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00:07:57,860 --> 00:08:00,700
One of his benefactors,
the Fitzwilliams,
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00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:02,980
were the big landowners here.
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00:08:02,980 --> 00:08:06,420
And indeed they supported Clare
during his poetry
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00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:08,820
and also were getting land off him
at the same time
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00:08:08,820 --> 00:08:10,460
during the enclosure process.
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00:08:13,500 --> 00:08:18,540
Clare, through his education, became
a curiosity in his native village.
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00:08:18,540 --> 00:08:22,620
The strains of his life and his
heavy drinking possibly explained
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00:08:22,620 --> 00:08:25,820
his drift into insanity.
129
00:08:25,820 --> 00:08:29,660
And here is a very melancholy
letter indeed.
130
00:08:29,660 --> 00:08:33,260
Somebody wrote to him at the asylum,
saying, "Why no more poems?"
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and this answer is heart-breaking.
He writes, "Dear Sir.
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00:08:36,460 --> 00:08:41,100
"I am in a madhouse.
I quite forget your name."
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00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:44,900
He says, "You must excuse me,
for I have nothing to communicate.
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00:08:44,900 --> 00:08:46,340
"I have nothing to say."
135
00:08:46,340 --> 00:08:48,860
It's a very sad end for a poet,
isn't it?
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00:08:54,180 --> 00:08:57,940
John Clare now lies
in the village churchyard.
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00:09:00,820 --> 00:09:03,820
He had asked to be buried round
the other side of the church
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where there was most sun
in the morning and the evening.
139
00:09:07,380 --> 00:09:10,780
This is a man who knew about
the weather, don't forget.
140
00:09:10,780 --> 00:09:14,460
But in the event they put him here,
near to his parents.
141
00:09:26,220 --> 00:09:30,620
In the Regency, when all transport
was still horse-drawn,
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00:09:30,620 --> 00:09:34,140
the advantages of the canal
for carrying goods were overwhelming.
143
00:09:37,380 --> 00:09:40,300
A single horse could pull
50 times more weight
144
00:09:40,300 --> 00:09:42,500
on the water than it could on a road.
145
00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:46,540
Canals carried coal,
iron and grain to the new cities
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00:09:46,540 --> 00:09:49,380
and then transported
manufactured goods
147
00:09:49,380 --> 00:09:52,140
from the factories to the ports.
148
00:09:52,140 --> 00:09:54,460
Canals reached their peak
with the building
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00:09:54,460 --> 00:09:56,940
of the brilliant
Kennet and Avon Canal.
150
00:09:56,940 --> 00:10:01,060
This waterway was the supreme civil
engineering achievement of the 1810s.
151
00:10:03,380 --> 00:10:06,220
The Regency is often described
152
00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:08,900
in terms of fashion and,
most of all, architecture.
153
00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:11,700
But the decade should really
be remembered as the point
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00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:15,700
when Britain entered
the modern machine age.
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00:10:15,700 --> 00:10:18,860
If you ask people to think
of Regency architecture,
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00:10:18,860 --> 00:10:22,420
they're probably going to come up
with Cheltenham, or Brighton,
157
00:10:22,420 --> 00:10:26,100
or parts of London. But one of
the most important buildings
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00:10:26,100 --> 00:10:30,220
from the period is here, in the
middle of the Wiltshire countryside.
159
00:10:30,220 --> 00:10:33,660
You'll work out what it is
when you notice the chimney.
160
00:10:37,940 --> 00:10:41,780
Steam power would make Britain
the most advanced nation on earth.
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00:10:41,780 --> 00:10:44,620
It drove a technological
revolution that would change
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00:10:44,620 --> 00:10:45,860
the face of the country
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00:10:45,860 --> 00:10:48,340
and create social tensions
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00:10:48,340 --> 00:10:51,540
that would threaten
to sweep the monarchy away.
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00:10:53,660 --> 00:10:56,860
The Crofton steam engine is still
doing its original work
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00:10:56,860 --> 00:11:00,060
of keeping the Kennet and Avon
topped up with water.
167
00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:02,980
And its engineer today
is Harry Willis.
168
00:11:04,980 --> 00:11:09,660
So, Harry. What have we got here?
We've got the oldest working
steam engine in the world.
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00:11:09,660 --> 00:11:14,100
Is it yours? Well, it's not mine,
but I'm certainly responsible
for managing it.
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00:11:14,100 --> 00:11:18,700
What do you need to do to it?
These levers control the passage
of steam through the engine.
171
00:11:18,700 --> 00:11:21,420
You need to use them when you're
starting or stopping it
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and also during the running of it.
173
00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:26,580
So this is the nerve centre?
This is the nerve centre.
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00:11:26,580 --> 00:11:28,900
This is the driving platform.
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00:11:28,900 --> 00:11:30,580
Can I drive? You certainly can,
176
00:11:30,580 --> 00:11:32,980
but you'll need to put
a boiler suit on first.
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00:11:32,980 --> 00:11:35,500
OK, I'm going to get
kitted up like you.
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00:11:42,580 --> 00:11:46,100
Here I am, ready to drive.
Right.
179
00:11:46,100 --> 00:11:48,260
What need's doing?
Shall we slow it down?
180
00:11:48,260 --> 00:11:52,820
You can close that a little bit.
Move it to the left a little bit.
181
00:11:52,820 --> 00:11:57,540
I'm reducing the...
Reducing the steam, that's right.
182
00:11:57,540 --> 00:12:01,620
It's hard to imagine how impressive
this must have been to someone
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00:12:01,620 --> 00:12:03,460
who hadn't seen machinery before.
184
00:12:03,460 --> 00:12:06,900
Exactly, and the impact
on the local inhabitants as well,
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00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:09,340
who'd have only seen
horse-drawn transport.
186
00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:11,580
Then this thing came
and began to belch smoke
187
00:12:11,580 --> 00:12:15,420
and make noises. You can hear it
from some distance away, can't you?
188
00:12:15,420 --> 00:12:17,860
Going, "Throb! Throb! Throb!" Yeah.
189
00:12:17,860 --> 00:12:20,780
In fact, a heart is quite
a good analogy. That's right.
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00:12:20,780 --> 00:12:24,500
It was keeping the blood of Britain,
the canal, flowing. Exactly.
191
00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:26,100
Give it a bit more to the right.
192
00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:28,620
A bit more steam to the right
or else it will stop.
193
00:12:28,620 --> 00:12:31,060
Come on, give it some welly.
194
00:12:31,060 --> 00:12:33,020
That's it, it's OK.
195
00:12:33,020 --> 00:12:36,340
There is a tremendous amount of
power here in your hands. Yeah.
196
00:12:38,420 --> 00:12:40,820
I just want to go faster and faster.
197
00:12:48,540 --> 00:12:51,540
The Crofton beam engine lifts 11 tons
of water
198
00:12:51,540 --> 00:12:53,620
up to the canal every minute
199
00:12:53,620 --> 00:12:57,420
There had been waterwheels and
windmills before, but in the Regency
200
00:12:57,420 --> 00:13:00,540
super-efficient steam engines
produced power unimaginable
201
00:13:00,540 --> 00:13:03,420
to previous ages.
202
00:13:05,220 --> 00:13:07,540
For the first time,
you could generate power
203
00:13:07,540 --> 00:13:11,700
wherever you had coal for the furnace
and water for the boiler.
204
00:13:14,540 --> 00:13:18,220
The steam engine liberated and
multiplied all that was possible.
205
00:13:18,220 --> 00:13:21,340
In the 1810s,
this Boulton & Watt beam engine
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00:13:21,340 --> 00:13:24,020
was at the forefront
of technological achievement.
207
00:13:24,020 --> 00:13:27,940
The first wonder
of the new industrial age.
208
00:13:29,780 --> 00:13:34,420
Steam power is one of history's
great leaps forward.
209
00:13:34,420 --> 00:13:37,860
Manufacturing is taken out of
people's houses
210
00:13:37,860 --> 00:13:39,740
and put into factories.
211
00:13:39,740 --> 00:13:43,900
So we get a concentration of
machinery, of manpower,
212
00:13:43,900 --> 00:13:46,340
of the population itself.
213
00:13:46,340 --> 00:13:49,060
We get the birth
of our industrial cities.
214
00:13:53,140 --> 00:13:56,020
The Industrial Revolution
of the Regent's time
215
00:13:56,020 --> 00:13:59,060
was one of the great discontinuities
of history,
216
00:13:59,060 --> 00:14:02,580
where everything after was
so little like what had gone before.
217
00:14:02,580 --> 00:14:05,900
'I spoke to the industrial historian
Neil Cossons
218
00:14:05,900 --> 00:14:09,900
'on how it affected those who
witnessed these changes.'
219
00:14:09,900 --> 00:14:13,660
What do you think it felt like
to live through this period?
220
00:14:13,660 --> 00:14:17,820
There is no question in my mind that
people through the Regency period
221
00:14:17,820 --> 00:14:20,740
knew that they were living
in tempestuous times.
222
00:14:20,740 --> 00:14:23,900
You only have to dig a little
below the surface, I think,
223
00:14:23,900 --> 00:14:27,060
and go into these new
industrial communities
224
00:14:27,060 --> 00:14:29,980
to see both sides of the coin.
Immense prosperity
225
00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:33,900
and huge social deprivation.
226
00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:37,420
On the other hand, it's worth
remembering that the numbers of jobs
227
00:14:37,420 --> 00:14:40,660
that were created as a result
of industrialisation were huge.
228
00:14:40,660 --> 00:14:47,180
So whereas small numbers
of cottage-based industries
229
00:14:47,180 --> 00:14:51,620
went into decline, they were
replaced by huge numbers of jobs
230
00:14:51,620 --> 00:14:54,500
and mass migrations
from the countryside
231
00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:57,380
into the new industrial communities.
232
00:14:57,380 --> 00:14:59,740
Let's have a look
at your favourite picture.
233
00:14:59,740 --> 00:15:02,460
This is certainly
one of my favourites,
234
00:15:02,460 --> 00:15:06,060
largely because I lived
perhaps 200 yards
235
00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:08,940
from where the artist stood
when he painted it. Yeah.
236
00:15:08,940 --> 00:15:11,540
That's a view looking down
the valley
237
00:15:11,540 --> 00:15:14,180
of the River Severn,
with bedlam furnaces
238
00:15:14,180 --> 00:15:17,060
and the silhouette of the dwellings
239
00:15:17,060 --> 00:15:20,700
and associated
buildings in front of it.
240
00:15:20,700 --> 00:15:24,740
This is a scene painter's,
a theatre painter's view.
241
00:15:24,740 --> 00:15:29,260
Philip de Loutherbourg's picture of
Coalbrookdale By Night.
242
00:15:29,260 --> 00:15:32,980
He's made it look awe-inspiring
and wonderful and sort of magical.
243
00:15:32,980 --> 00:15:35,700
Hasn't he?
A sort of Dante's Inferno view, too.
244
00:15:35,700 --> 00:15:37,380
So he's saying, "Isn't it great?
245
00:15:37,380 --> 00:15:41,100
"Look at this power, strength,
magnificence." Do you think?
Absolutely.
246
00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:44,060
That's one of the archetypal images
247
00:15:44,060 --> 00:15:47,340
of the middle industrial revolution.
248
00:15:47,340 --> 00:15:51,260
But there is also, I think, a
statement of an entirely new world.
249
00:15:51,260 --> 00:15:54,740
Mm-hm. And Turner, similarly,
and his view of Leeds. Yeah.
250
00:15:54,740 --> 00:15:58,780
Now, that painting shows
an urban scene
251
00:15:58,780 --> 00:16:02,140
which would have been impossible
252
00:16:02,140 --> 00:16:04,140
20 years earlier.
253
00:16:04,140 --> 00:16:06,940
Because you see large factories
and chimneys,
254
00:16:06,940 --> 00:16:09,820
which would be the chimneys
of the steam engines
255
00:16:09,820 --> 00:16:12,420
that powered the machines
in those factories.
256
00:16:12,420 --> 00:16:16,140
And that would have been
an entirely new vision.
257
00:16:16,140 --> 00:16:20,700
And uniquely English, or shall
we say British, at that period.
258
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:22,820
I like the way you've got
the contrast
259
00:16:22,820 --> 00:16:25,620
of the dark satanic mills
in the background,
260
00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:28,100
and then you've got almost
a rural scene here.
261
00:16:28,100 --> 00:16:31,780
You've got people going about
their business, building a wall,
262
00:16:31,780 --> 00:16:33,820
going on a journey on donkeys.
263
00:16:33,820 --> 00:16:36,820
They're doing something to do with
the textile industry.
264
00:16:36,820 --> 00:16:38,860
Are they drying, bleaching,
colouring cloths?
265
00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:42,740
They might be doing
any of those things. OK!
266
00:16:42,740 --> 00:16:47,260
But the interesting aspect
of that is you have, in parallel,
267
00:16:47,260 --> 00:16:49,580
the pre-industrial world.
Still going on.
268
00:16:49,580 --> 00:16:52,260
And the new industrial world.
And that's a paradox?
269
00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:55,060
So there were rural scenes
and rural communities
270
00:16:55,060 --> 00:16:58,780
that were hardly touched
by the impact of industrialisation.
271
00:16:58,780 --> 00:17:01,020
One of the things
that we need to remember
272
00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:05,260
is that we've been taught more about
the evils of industrialisation
273
00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:09,300
than the good bits of it,
for generations.
274
00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:12,700
And what the industrial revolution
has hidden, in a sense,
275
00:17:12,700 --> 00:17:15,100
partly because it was
so all-embracing,
276
00:17:15,100 --> 00:17:18,100
is the appalling working
and living conditions
277
00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:21,340
of the pre-industrial rural poor.
Mm-hm.
278
00:17:21,340 --> 00:17:25,700
And the squalor
and extraordinary deprivation
279
00:17:25,700 --> 00:17:28,660
and grindingness of the poverty
280
00:17:28,660 --> 00:17:31,500
of the rural labourer
281
00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:34,980
was at least as bad
and possibly much worse
282
00:17:34,980 --> 00:17:38,260
than the mill worker of a generation
283
00:17:38,260 --> 00:17:40,420
or two generations later.
284
00:17:43,780 --> 00:17:46,900
Textile mills gave many jobs
to the men, women and children
285
00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:52,020
driven off the countryside
in ever greater numbers
during the decade.
286
00:17:54,460 --> 00:17:58,500
But mechanisation came at a high
human cost, when each fresh invention
287
00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:03,380
or new machine could wipe out
a family's livelihood at a stroke.
288
00:18:06,020 --> 00:18:08,820
In the Prince Regent's lifetime,
289
00:18:08,820 --> 00:18:11,500
spinning was revolutionised.
290
00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:15,980
It went from being a case of one
person operating one spinning wheel
291
00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:20,860
and producing just one spindle of
thread, to machines like this.
292
00:18:20,860 --> 00:18:23,500
This one's got 714 spindles.
293
00:18:23,500 --> 00:18:26,740
Still operated by just one worker,
294
00:18:26,740 --> 00:18:29,620
but it means that 713 spinners
295
00:18:29,620 --> 00:18:31,740
have lost their jobs.
296
00:18:33,420 --> 00:18:36,700
Many people reacted with fear,
and then with anger.
297
00:18:36,700 --> 00:18:40,580
In the 1810s, gangs started to roam
about the Midlands and the North
298
00:18:40,580 --> 00:18:45,220
smashing up the new machines, much
to the fury of the Tory government.
299
00:18:45,220 --> 00:18:48,900
These men were called frame-breakers
or, more commonly, Luddites.
300
00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:55,180
Although Luddism
was a grassroots movement,
301
00:18:55,180 --> 00:19:00,260
it had an aristocratic supporter
in the person of Lord Byron.
302
00:19:00,260 --> 00:19:02,700
In 1812, Lord Byron got really upset
303
00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:05,740
by the plight of
the Nottinghamshire weavers.
304
00:19:05,740 --> 00:19:09,620
Some of them were Luddites and
they fell foul of this new bill
305
00:19:09,620 --> 00:19:13,220
being introduced by the Tories
called The Frame-Breaking Bill.
306
00:19:13,220 --> 00:19:15,900
Anybody caught breaking or damaging
machinery
307
00:19:15,900 --> 00:19:17,740
would now face the death penalty.
308
00:19:17,740 --> 00:19:20,780
Byron thought this
was outrageously repressive
309
00:19:20,780 --> 00:19:23,420
and he travelled south
to London by coach
310
00:19:23,420 --> 00:19:27,380
to plead the cause of the weavers
in his maiden speech
311
00:19:27,380 --> 00:19:29,060
in the House of Lords.
312
00:19:33,700 --> 00:19:37,260
Byron arrived and launched
into this passionate speech,
313
00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:40,860
defending the Luddites.
Perhaps even went a bit over the top.
314
00:19:40,860 --> 00:19:44,980
He was arguing against the
death penalty for breaking machines.
315
00:19:44,980 --> 00:19:48,020
He said, yes, the Luddites
had committed outrages,
316
00:19:48,020 --> 00:19:50,820
but that this had arisen
from circumstances
317
00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:53,260
of the most unparalleled distress.
318
00:19:53,260 --> 00:19:56,180
He was shaking and trembling
with emotion.
319
00:19:56,180 --> 00:19:59,580
He said that the Luddites
had not been ashamed to beg,
320
00:19:59,580 --> 00:20:01,740
but there had been no-one
to relieve them.
321
00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:06,060
He said that their excesses,
however to be deplored and condemned,
322
00:20:06,060 --> 00:20:09,020
could hardly be subject to surprise.
323
00:20:09,020 --> 00:20:12,180
Now, did Byron get what he wanted?
324
00:20:12,180 --> 00:20:16,980
No, he didn't.
This pouting and posturing had
slightly annoyed the other lords.
325
00:20:16,980 --> 00:20:21,900
As soon as Byron sat down,
they passed their bill anyway.
326
00:20:21,900 --> 00:20:25,820
But Byron was suddenly to become
a literary superstar,
327
00:20:25,820 --> 00:20:29,020
when his narrative poem called
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
328
00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:32,260
was published the following month.
329
00:20:32,260 --> 00:20:37,180
The first edition sold out in three
days and London was intoxicated.
330
00:20:37,180 --> 00:20:40,620
There was traffic chaos as
carriages queued up to drop off
331
00:20:40,620 --> 00:20:43,660
dinner invitations at his
rooms in St James's.
332
00:20:43,660 --> 00:20:45,780
It was a real overnight success.
333
00:20:45,780 --> 00:20:53,180
In Byron's own words, I awoke one
morning and found myself famous.
334
00:20:53,180 --> 00:20:56,260
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
gave a war-locked nation
335
00:20:56,260 --> 00:21:00,260
a tantalising glimpse
of Mediterranean Europe.
336
00:21:00,260 --> 00:21:01,980
It also marked an early stage
337
00:21:01,980 --> 00:21:07,300
in Byron's management of his own
mysterious, exotic, rakish image.
338
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:12,060
An image that consciously played up
his theatrical, seductive character.
339
00:21:12,060 --> 00:21:14,860
One not bound by social conventions,
340
00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:19,740
one who flirted with the dangerous
frontiers of the acceptable.
341
00:21:19,740 --> 00:21:24,100
In a very modern way Byron
maintained strict picture approval.
342
00:21:24,100 --> 00:21:29,020
He rejected one innocent
boyish portrait but authorised
343
00:21:29,020 --> 00:21:32,580
another very camp canvas of himself
in full Albanian costume.
344
00:21:39,660 --> 00:21:44,820
But Byron's image didn't always match
with Byron in the flesh.
345
00:21:44,820 --> 00:21:47,140
I went to the London wine
merchants, Berry Brothers,
346
00:21:47,140 --> 00:21:48,660
to see some documentary evidence
347
00:21:48,660 --> 00:21:53,300
that Lord Byron was not always the
snake-hipped seducer of legend.
348
00:21:56,140 --> 00:21:59,220
Now in here I think we've got
349
00:21:59,220 --> 00:22:03,660
Lord Byron, there he is,
he was first weighed in 1806,
350
00:22:03,660 --> 00:22:09,580
he was 18 years old and
he was only 5'8'' tall.
351
00:22:09,580 --> 00:22:13,220
He comes in at a
pretty hefty 13 stone 12.
352
00:22:13,220 --> 00:22:15,700
That was wearing his boots,
but not his hat.
353
00:22:15,700 --> 00:22:18,140
That's borderline
obese for a teenager.
354
00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:21,540
He wasn't always the
irresistible Adonis of legend
355
00:22:21,540 --> 00:22:25,020
and we know he took a lot of
trouble to try to reduce his weight.
356
00:22:25,020 --> 00:22:27,220
We hear about him playing cricket,
357
00:22:27,220 --> 00:22:31,300
wearing seven waistcoats and a great
coat in an attempt to sweat it off
358
00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:34,340
and sometimes at dinner he
would refuse all food
359
00:22:34,340 --> 00:22:36,780
except for soda water and biscuits.
360
00:22:36,780 --> 00:22:41,660
This worked - five years later,
by 1811 he's lost four stone,
361
00:22:41,660 --> 00:22:46,140
he's gone right down
to nine stone 11, pretty svelte.
362
00:22:51,580 --> 00:22:53,500
I think I'll give it a go myself.
363
00:22:57,500 --> 00:22:59,140
That just about balances,
364
00:22:59,140 --> 00:23:03,180
but I'm not telling you how much
weight there is on the other side.
365
00:23:05,220 --> 00:23:09,020
Being a dissolute poet was
scandalous enough, but the behaviour
366
00:23:09,020 --> 00:23:13,340
of the bloated Prince Regent was
truly shocking to his subjects.
367
00:23:13,340 --> 00:23:15,580
His affairs with his mistresses
368
00:23:15,580 --> 00:23:19,060
outraged the God-fearing,
respectable, populace.
369
00:23:20,660 --> 00:23:22,740
George was a serial adulterer
370
00:23:22,740 --> 00:23:25,900
in a way that opened up
to enormous ridicule.
371
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:27,580
Ironically, the one woman
372
00:23:27,580 --> 00:23:31,020
who was free from his sexual
attentions was his wife.
373
00:23:31,020 --> 00:23:34,940
Caroline of Brunswick was
his German mail-order bride
374
00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:39,540
and when she arrived in London George
famously said on seeing her,
375
00:23:39,540 --> 00:23:42,820
"Harris, I am not well,
pray bring the brandy."
376
00:23:42,820 --> 00:23:48,500
And she said,
"He wasn't that fat in his portrait!"
377
00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:50,700
Their wedding was a disaster.
378
00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:53,900
He'd only agreed to it to help
clear his debts, he complained
379
00:23:53,900 --> 00:23:58,020
about her offensive smell
and he was drunk at the ceremony.
380
00:23:58,020 --> 00:24:00,300
They did manage to produce an heir,
381
00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:03,700
but after the honeymoon they
were never intimate again.
382
00:24:05,300 --> 00:24:09,380
George was largely indifferent to
his only child and heir, Charlotte,
383
00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:11,300
and chose not see her very often,
384
00:24:11,300 --> 00:24:15,300
much preferring the company
of one of his many mistresses.
385
00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:21,380
His selfish and extravagant lifestyle
had become a national disgrace.
386
00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:28,620
Maybe George's debauched behaviour
387
00:24:28,620 --> 00:24:32,780
annoyed the gods,
provoking them to send destruction.
388
00:24:32,780 --> 00:24:38,060
In April 1815, a volcano
erupted far away in Indonesia.
389
00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:42,940
It had a dramatic effect
on the world's weather
390
00:24:42,940 --> 00:24:44,660
and the political climate.
391
00:24:44,660 --> 00:24:47,140
Tongues of flame leaped
high into the sky.
392
00:24:47,140 --> 00:24:49,660
Explosions ripped the air
393
00:24:49,660 --> 00:24:52,700
and smoke and ash swirled high
above the Java sea.
394
00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:57,340
Beneath the volcano
over 70,000 perished.
395
00:24:57,340 --> 00:25:01,020
It seemed like the end of the world.
396
00:25:01,020 --> 00:25:05,980
Mount Tambora's eruption was the
largest in recorded history.
397
00:25:05,980 --> 00:25:10,140
The explosion was heard
over 1200 miles away.
398
00:25:10,140 --> 00:25:16,420
160 cubic kilometres of debris
were thrown into the atmosphere
399
00:25:16,420 --> 00:25:21,500
creating a volcanic winter which
lasted the whole of the next year.
400
00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:24,780
In Europe crops would fail,
401
00:25:24,780 --> 00:25:29,420
livestock die, and people starve.
402
00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:35,540
But the fires and shadows of Tambora
403
00:25:35,540 --> 00:25:42,420
had the most surprising effect on
the imagination of one young woman.
404
00:25:42,420 --> 00:25:46,140
One of the greatest literary
creations of the regency period
405
00:25:46,140 --> 00:25:50,780
was Frankenstein, by Mary Godwin,
she was first the mistress
406
00:25:50,780 --> 00:25:54,340
and later the wife
of the notorious Percy Shelley.
407
00:25:54,340 --> 00:25:57,180
The original manuscript
is here at the Bodleian,
408
00:25:57,180 --> 00:26:00,100
normally only scholars get to see it.
409
00:26:04,180 --> 00:26:06,620
This priceless manuscript
is kept safe in Oxford,
410
00:26:06,620 --> 00:26:08,820
high up in the tower of
the Bodliean library.
411
00:26:08,820 --> 00:26:13,900
There I am going to meet writer
Daisy Hay, an expert on Mary Shelley.
412
00:26:13,900 --> 00:26:16,660
And she can tell me about
Mary's curious Swiss holiday.
413
00:26:16,660 --> 00:26:21,220
A holiday that gave form to one
of fiction's enduring creations.
414
00:26:21,220 --> 00:26:24,980
Daisy, Hello, thanks for having me.
415
00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:27,500
Pleasure. What have we got?
416
00:26:27,500 --> 00:26:29,580
We've got the manuscript of
Frankenstein
417
00:26:29,580 --> 00:26:33,620
and some pictures of
Mary and Byron and Shelley.
418
00:26:33,620 --> 00:26:38,180
OK. So tell me about this holiday
on the banks of Lake Geneva.
419
00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:43,580
In the spring of 1816
Byron leaves England for good
420
00:26:43,580 --> 00:26:49,260
and heads down the Rhine Valley to
Geneva, London has become too hot.
421
00:26:49,260 --> 00:26:53,940
He is joined there kind of
by accident by Shelley and by
422
00:26:53,940 --> 00:26:58,780
Shelley's mistress, Mary Godwin, and
Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont.
423
00:26:58,780 --> 00:27:01,460
This is a really
complicated situation.
424
00:27:01,460 --> 00:27:05,300
So we've got the two Romantic
poets and we've got the two sisters
425
00:27:05,300 --> 00:27:08,340
and the second sister is
kind of stalking Byron.
426
00:27:08,340 --> 00:27:13,180
The second one has decided
she wants a radical poet of her own
427
00:27:13,180 --> 00:27:16,100
and she writes to Byron
and offers herself to him.
428
00:27:16,100 --> 00:27:20,140
An offer which he accepts, and this
results in a very brief affair
429
00:27:20,140 --> 00:27:22,300
just before Byron leaves London.
430
00:27:22,300 --> 00:27:25,220
Thereafter Claire persuades
Shelley and Mary
431
00:27:25,220 --> 00:27:27,740
that they should follow
Byron to Geneva.
432
00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:31,260
So they all meet on the shores of
Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816,
433
00:27:31,260 --> 00:27:33,140
having arrived by different ways.
434
00:27:33,140 --> 00:27:36,180
And Byron takes a large villa,
435
00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:39,860
a grand house on the shores of Lake
Geneva called the Villa Diodati.
436
00:27:39,860 --> 00:27:41,060
And it rains a lot.
437
00:27:41,060 --> 00:27:45,100
The weather was an important
part of distorted, isn't it?
438
00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:46,740
Yes, the weather turns.
439
00:27:46,740 --> 00:27:48,780
Thunder echoes round the lake.
440
00:27:48,780 --> 00:27:51,220
There are huge lightning storms
441
00:27:51,220 --> 00:27:56,380
and the group retreat inside to tell
ghost stories and to read Coleridge.
442
00:27:56,380 --> 00:27:59,060
The weather is
bad all over the world, isn't it?
443
00:27:59,060 --> 00:28:00,500
Because of the volcano.
444
00:28:00,500 --> 00:28:04,220
Yes, so right across
the northern hemisphere
445
00:28:04,220 --> 00:28:07,220
crops fail and the sun disappears.
446
00:28:07,220 --> 00:28:09,540
There was terrible distress
447
00:28:09,540 --> 00:28:13,180
which they all come back to
in England in 1816.
448
00:28:13,180 --> 00:28:16,620
So what they are experiencing is
part of a much wider phenomenon.
449
00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:20,420
So they're all cooped up
together telling ghost stories and
450
00:28:20,420 --> 00:28:23,300
Mary's turns out be the
best of the lot, doesn't it?
451
00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:25,540
It does but initially it
doesn't happen easily for her.
452
00:28:25,540 --> 00:28:28,380
Everybody us get on with their
ghost story quite quickly
453
00:28:28,380 --> 00:28:29,780
and she can't think of one.
454
00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:31,980
Until one night she has a nightmare,
455
00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:34,260
she called it a waking dream,
and this vision
456
00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:38,980
of the moment in which her monster
Frankenstein is created comes to her
457
00:28:38,980 --> 00:28:40,180
and then she's able to say,
458
00:28:40,180 --> 00:28:43,420
"I have thought of a story",
the following morning.
459
00:28:43,420 --> 00:28:47,500
And here's the actual moment in
her own handwriting. This is great.
460
00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:50,340
This is the moment the monster
461
00:28:50,340 --> 00:28:54,900
comes to life and the narrator
says in the glimmer of the half
462
00:28:54,900 --> 00:29:00,500
extinguished light I saw the
dull yellow eye of the creature open.
463
00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:03,140
And then down here
464
00:29:03,140 --> 00:29:05,180
Shelley, her future husband,
he's annotated it,
465
00:29:05,180 --> 00:29:07,740
he's improve the writing.
466
00:29:07,740 --> 00:29:09,620
Do you think he's improved it?
467
00:29:09,620 --> 00:29:12,820
Throughout you can see Shelley's
annotations in the margin.
468
00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:16,460
You can see the difference between
Shelley's handwriting and Mary's.
469
00:29:16,460 --> 00:29:18,780
He edited the manuscript as
470
00:29:18,780 --> 00:29:20,740
she went along so
you can see that he's changed,
471
00:29:20,740 --> 00:29:24,460
for example, handsome for beautiful
472
00:29:24,460 --> 00:29:28,500
and has added a description of
the hair here as lustrous black.
473
00:29:28,500 --> 00:29:32,380
What's the significance of Shelley
changing it?
474
00:29:32,380 --> 00:29:35,380
What do you think he's added
to the story?
475
00:29:35,380 --> 00:29:37,460
There's something about
lustrous black,
476
00:29:37,460 --> 00:29:39,500
he's sharpened the contrast,
I think.
477
00:29:39,500 --> 00:29:42,260
We've got this creature described
in terms of colour, yellow,
478
00:29:42,260 --> 00:29:45,980
but now there's something
almost unearthly
479
00:29:45,980 --> 00:29:48,620
about the vividness of this,
I think.
480
00:29:48,620 --> 00:29:51,700
The change to beautiful
rather than handsome,
481
00:29:51,700 --> 00:29:55,300
there's somehow something
more inhuman about it, I think.
482
00:29:55,300 --> 00:29:58,780
What was the atmosphere like
at the villa?
483
00:29:58,780 --> 00:30:02,420
Because Byron was definitely
the most successful of them so far.
484
00:30:02,420 --> 00:30:04,700
Was it like a rock
star with his groupies?
485
00:30:06,100 --> 00:30:08,540
Well, I think, as you say,
he was the most famous, he's older,
486
00:30:08,540 --> 00:30:11,780
he's richer, an established poet,
but I think that perhaps
487
00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:14,660
what the atmosphere was like,
it always seems to me
488
00:30:14,660 --> 00:30:16,260
to be quite like those conversations
489
00:30:16,260 --> 00:30:18,540
you have late into the night
when you're a student.
490
00:30:18,540 --> 00:30:19,900
They are all very young.
491
00:30:19,900 --> 00:30:23,340
Did you practise free love late
in the night when you were a student?
492
00:30:23,340 --> 00:30:27,100
Ah, no! But you know when you argue
about things and stay up to 3am
493
00:30:27,100 --> 00:30:29,260
and that seems to me
to be quite familiar,
494
00:30:29,260 --> 00:30:34,340
the way they are to each other,
that very intense way you are
495
00:30:34,340 --> 00:30:36,980
when you're young and working out
what you think about the world.
496
00:30:36,980 --> 00:30:40,420
Here's another bit of Shelley
inserting his views.
497
00:30:40,420 --> 00:30:41,940
What does that one say?
498
00:30:41,940 --> 00:30:45,580
This is a section with quite
a long bit of Shelley annotation,
499
00:30:45,580 --> 00:30:48,140
it starts here
and goes over the page.
500
00:30:48,140 --> 00:30:52,420
This is where he's talking about
the virtues of a republican system
501
00:30:52,420 --> 00:30:55,060
rather than a system
with monarchies,
502
00:30:55,060 --> 00:30:57,500
and talking about this in terms
of how you treat those
503
00:30:57,500 --> 00:31:01,340
who are more vulnerable than you,
particularly about servant classes
504
00:31:01,340 --> 00:31:04,620
and how the system of having
servants in Switzerland,
505
00:31:04,620 --> 00:31:08,660
which is a republican country,
is preferable to that in England.
506
00:31:08,660 --> 00:31:11,740
He's saying, "The republican
institutions of our country
507
00:31:11,740 --> 00:31:14,540
"have produced simpler and happier
manners than those
508
00:31:14,540 --> 00:31:18,020
"which prevail in the great
monarchies that surround it."
509
00:31:18,020 --> 00:31:21,260
So, this is a Shelleyian manifesto,
I suppose,
510
00:31:21,260 --> 00:31:23,340
sneaking its way into Frankenstein.
511
00:31:23,340 --> 00:31:27,540
And Shelley isn't alone,
is he, in this decade, the 1810's?
512
00:31:27,540 --> 00:31:32,220
There's a lot of respectable people
talking up against absolute monarchy.
513
00:31:32,220 --> 00:31:33,660
There really is,
514
00:31:33,660 --> 00:31:36,180
and for people like Shelley
and those around him,
515
00:31:36,180 --> 00:31:39,900
the way in which power
is concentrated in the hands
516
00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:42,620
of a tiny minority
seems to become untenable,
517
00:31:42,620 --> 00:31:46,260
so Shelley writes a proposal
for putting reform to the vote,
518
00:31:46,260 --> 00:31:51,060
he wants there to be a referendum
on universal manhood suffrage,
519
00:31:51,060 --> 00:31:52,900
so there is a feeling that
520
00:31:52,900 --> 00:31:57,140
the way in which British society
is structured cannot go on.
521
00:32:01,500 --> 00:32:07,140
In 1816, Britain's small ruling elite
were facing their own nightmare -
522
00:32:07,140 --> 00:32:11,540
a population suffering unemployment
and starvation demanded reform.
523
00:32:11,540 --> 00:32:14,060
The pressure from
the new urban masses
524
00:32:14,060 --> 00:32:15,900
was every bit as terrifying
to the government
525
00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:18,740
as Frankenstein's monster.
526
00:32:18,740 --> 00:32:20,940
The vote in Regency England
527
00:32:20,940 --> 00:32:24,420
was limited to a ridiculously
small number.
528
00:32:24,420 --> 00:32:28,100
Lots of MPs were returned by
so-called pocket or rotten boroughs.
529
00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:31,860
Dunwich had all but
disappeared into the North Sea,
530
00:32:31,860 --> 00:32:35,460
and the medieval settlement
of Old Sarum had only 15 voters,
531
00:32:35,460 --> 00:32:38,020
yet both returned two MPs,
532
00:32:38,020 --> 00:32:39,660
while the bustling cities
533
00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:43,500
of Birmingham, Liverpool and
Manchester had no MPs at all.
534
00:32:43,500 --> 00:32:48,180
The clamour for fairer
parliamentary representation
535
00:32:48,180 --> 00:32:51,100
was becoming louder
and more insistent.
536
00:32:54,820 --> 00:32:58,060
The Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool,
and his cabinet,
537
00:32:58,060 --> 00:33:02,340
seemed deaf to the demands
of the growing urban population.
538
00:33:02,340 --> 00:33:06,060
In 1816, the tension
between the two boiled over,
539
00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:09,740
when a gathering of leading
radicals addressed a mass meeting
540
00:33:09,740 --> 00:33:12,140
at Spa Fields in north London.
541
00:33:13,980 --> 00:33:17,220
Here are the two perpetrators
or ringleaders -
542
00:33:17,220 --> 00:33:20,780
one of them is Henry Hunt,
Henry 'Orator' Hunt, as he's called.
543
00:33:20,780 --> 00:33:23,940
He's quite a classy individual,
he's 43 years old,
544
00:33:23,940 --> 00:33:28,620
he's a prosperous farmer, and what
he wants his universal suffrage.
545
00:33:28,620 --> 00:33:31,020
He wants an annual election
to Parliament,
546
00:33:31,020 --> 00:33:34,300
he wants quite a gentle
version of reform, I suppose.
547
00:33:34,300 --> 00:33:38,060
The great advantage he has
as a radical leader is his voice -
548
00:33:38,060 --> 00:33:41,540
he has a great pair of lungs,
he can address an enormous crowd,
549
00:33:41,540 --> 00:33:43,980
and in 1816 he'd been
all over Britain
550
00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:47,300
addressing these huge
gatherings of reformers.
551
00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:50,140
He'd spoken to 80,000 people
in Birmingham,
552
00:33:50,140 --> 00:33:53,380
in Blackburn,
40,000 had turned up to hear him.
553
00:33:53,380 --> 00:33:55,220
In Nottingham, it was 20,000,
554
00:33:55,220 --> 00:33:57,660
in Stockport it was 20,000 again,
555
00:33:57,660 --> 00:34:00,340
and in Macclesfield, 10,000 people,
556
00:34:00,340 --> 00:34:03,380
so he was a very,
very popular speaker.
557
00:34:03,380 --> 00:34:06,740
The other ringleader
was Arthur Thistlewood,
558
00:34:06,740 --> 00:34:08,660
he's a very different cup of tea.
559
00:34:08,660 --> 00:34:11,580
He's a little bit older, he's 46,
he's not a farmer,
560
00:34:11,580 --> 00:34:13,260
but is the illegitimate son of one,
561
00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:16,140
and this should set off alarm
bells with the authorities -
562
00:34:16,140 --> 00:34:19,180
he spent time in
revolutionary France.
563
00:34:19,180 --> 00:34:21,420
Maybe he's taken in
some Jacobean ideas.
564
00:34:21,420 --> 00:34:26,300
In fact, he has. He's from a group
called the Spencean Philanthropists
565
00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:28,740
and what he wants is
violent revolution
566
00:34:28,740 --> 00:34:32,020
followed by the total
redistribution of property.
567
00:34:32,020 --> 00:34:37,020
So, in November 1816,
a great crowd gathers at Spa Fields
568
00:34:37,020 --> 00:34:38,900
and they demand reform.
569
00:34:38,900 --> 00:34:40,980
They draw up a list of things
they want -
570
00:34:40,980 --> 00:34:43,380
universal suffrage
and annual elections.
571
00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:48,700
This is sent to the Prince Regent,
but there is no reply,
572
00:34:48,700 --> 00:34:51,060
he completely ignores them.
573
00:34:51,060 --> 00:34:53,700
So, a month later, in December,
574
00:34:53,700 --> 00:34:57,380
the crowd gathers again
at Spa Fields,
575
00:34:57,380 --> 00:34:59,740
and this time there's fighting,
it's a riot.
576
00:34:59,740 --> 00:35:03,660
Arthur Thistlewood is arrested,
but he escapes imprisonment,
577
00:35:03,660 --> 00:35:05,700
he gets off on a technicality.
578
00:35:05,700 --> 00:35:09,860
After Spa Fields,
the roads of these two men diverge,
579
00:35:09,860 --> 00:35:12,940
one peaceful,
the other increasingly violent.
580
00:35:14,940 --> 00:35:17,700
Thistlewood was now
even more determined
581
00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:21,340
to incite the London mob
into bloody revolution.
582
00:35:21,340 --> 00:35:26,420
The Regent, who'd loftily ignored
the petitions of his people,
583
00:35:26,420 --> 00:35:29,460
was now to feel their wrath
at first hand.
584
00:35:29,460 --> 00:35:34,140
By 1817, those voices
of discontent were growing louder.
585
00:35:34,140 --> 00:35:37,580
In January of that year,
the Prince Regent in his coach
586
00:35:37,580 --> 00:35:41,460
on the way home from Parliament,
where he'd been making an address,
587
00:35:41,460 --> 00:35:44,300
when he got surrounded
by an angry mob.
588
00:35:44,300 --> 00:35:46,820
They were shouting,
"Seize him! Seize him!"
589
00:35:46,820 --> 00:35:48,900
and, "Throw things! Throw things!"
590
00:35:48,900 --> 00:35:52,580
And they called him names
too rude to be printed in the Times.
591
00:35:52,580 --> 00:35:54,660
Suddenly, there was a loud crack...
592
00:35:54,660 --> 00:35:57,740
HORSE WHINNIES
..the glass of the windows
got broken,
593
00:35:57,740 --> 00:36:01,140
George thought that this was
an assassination attempt.
594
00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:04,660
He offered a £1,000 reward
for the catching of the criminal.
595
00:36:04,660 --> 00:36:07,100
But then people started
asking questions -
596
00:36:07,100 --> 00:36:11,460
nobody had actually seen a gun,
and nobody had smelt any smoke,
597
00:36:11,460 --> 00:36:14,220
maybe it was all in his imagination.
598
00:36:14,220 --> 00:36:16,380
This turned out to be the case.
599
00:36:16,380 --> 00:36:19,740
The thing that probed the window
wasn't a bullet at all.
600
00:36:19,740 --> 00:36:22,460
It was just
an ordinary little pebble.
601
00:36:22,460 --> 00:36:26,140
The Regent, at 55,
was under-employed,
602
00:36:26,140 --> 00:36:28,980
overdrawn and overweight.
603
00:36:28,980 --> 00:36:30,900
He was a laughing stock.
604
00:36:30,900 --> 00:36:33,940
In a society jaded
by George's excesses,
605
00:36:33,940 --> 00:36:37,900
his subjects wished to see
in his daughter, Charlotte,
606
00:36:37,900 --> 00:36:39,740
a purer image of royalty.
607
00:36:39,740 --> 00:36:42,460
A princess untainted by the gluttony
608
00:36:42,460 --> 00:36:45,420
and sexual incontinence
of the Regent.
609
00:36:45,420 --> 00:36:50,100
Aged 20, with great celebration,
she married a German prince,
610
00:36:50,100 --> 00:36:51,820
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg,
611
00:36:51,820 --> 00:36:56,940
and settled here
at Claremont House in Surrey.
612
00:37:00,260 --> 00:37:04,500
As a child, Princess Charlotte
was neglected by her father.
613
00:37:04,500 --> 00:37:07,780
But here, she found
contentment and happiness,
614
00:37:07,780 --> 00:37:10,500
and, in 1817, Britain
was delighted with the news
615
00:37:10,500 --> 00:37:11,980
that she'd got pregnant.
616
00:37:11,980 --> 00:37:14,940
Perhaps an heir would provide
a brighter future
617
00:37:14,940 --> 00:37:19,740
for the Hanoverian dynasty which her
father brought into such disrepute.
618
00:37:19,740 --> 00:37:22,500
But, it wasn't going to end happily.
619
00:37:22,500 --> 00:37:25,220
After a 48 hour labour up there,
620
00:37:25,220 --> 00:37:28,180
poor Charlotte's son was born dead
621
00:37:28,180 --> 00:37:30,420
and she died a few hours later.
622
00:37:30,420 --> 00:37:32,580
In this one dreadful night,
623
00:37:32,580 --> 00:37:35,740
the whole royal line
of the Prince Regent ended.
624
00:37:43,540 --> 00:37:48,220
People said it was as though every
household had lost a favourite child.
625
00:37:48,220 --> 00:37:52,220
The whole country mourned,
and drapers sold out of black cloth.
626
00:37:52,220 --> 00:37:54,180
On hearing the news, her mother,
627
00:37:54,180 --> 00:37:56,500
Princess Caroline,
fainted with shock.
628
00:37:59,980 --> 00:38:02,820
George, who'd always
been a dreadful father,
629
00:38:02,820 --> 00:38:08,540
was crippled with grief, and unable
to face his own daughter's funeral.
630
00:38:08,540 --> 00:38:12,900
She was buried, her son at her feet,
in St George's Chapel at Windsor.
631
00:38:15,220 --> 00:38:17,020
After Charlotte's death,
632
00:38:17,020 --> 00:38:21,860
a public subscription was launched
to build a monument to honour her.
633
00:38:21,860 --> 00:38:23,820
The response was phenomenal -
634
00:38:23,820 --> 00:38:27,180
in two years,
over £12,000 had been raised,
635
00:38:27,180 --> 00:38:29,420
and the sculptor Matthew Cotes Wyatt
636
00:38:29,420 --> 00:38:32,060
was commissioned
to make this Cenotaph.
637
00:38:32,060 --> 00:38:35,540
It must be one of the most
spectacular works of art
638
00:38:35,540 --> 00:38:36,540
of the Regency.
639
00:38:36,540 --> 00:38:40,220
Down below Charlotte's body
the mourners are heavily,
640
00:38:40,220 --> 00:38:42,300
realistically draped with cloth,
641
00:38:44,060 --> 00:38:46,580
And up above, the angels
642
00:38:46,580 --> 00:38:49,540
are carrying Charlotte and
her baby up to heaven.
643
00:38:55,620 --> 00:38:59,740
There's no sense of British
reserve or stiff upper lip here,
644
00:38:59,740 --> 00:39:04,780
and rightly so, because the monument
was paid for by thousands
of ordinary people
645
00:39:04,780 --> 00:39:07,660
who wanted a record of their grief.
646
00:39:10,060 --> 00:39:13,700
To them, Charlotte had been
the future of the monarchy,
647
00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:16,340
the future of Britain,
and here she is,
648
00:39:16,340 --> 00:39:19,820
tragically young,
being carried away by angels.
649
00:39:27,580 --> 00:39:30,900
Although there was a genuine public
outpouring of emotion,
650
00:39:30,900 --> 00:39:34,540
the bitter conflicts of the years
following Waterloo
651
00:39:34,540 --> 00:39:37,260
hadn't been forgotten
by one Republican.
652
00:39:43,100 --> 00:39:45,380
On a November day here in Marlowe,
653
00:39:45,380 --> 00:39:48,260
Shelley heard about the death
at Claremont.
654
00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:51,340
It inspired him to write
a political pamphlet.
655
00:39:51,340 --> 00:39:56,660
He called it,
An Address To The Nation
On The Death Of Princess Charlotte.
656
00:39:58,820 --> 00:40:02,220
But this wasn't to be
a simple eulogy.
657
00:40:02,220 --> 00:40:06,580
The pamphlet also mourned the death
of three men who were executed
658
00:40:06,580 --> 00:40:09,580
on the day following
Princess Charlotte's death.
659
00:40:09,580 --> 00:40:12,020
These three were workers
from Derbyshire.
660
00:40:12,020 --> 00:40:15,540
They'd been involved in
a protest march calling for reform,
661
00:40:15,540 --> 00:40:18,980
but they'd been set up to it
by a government spy.
662
00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:27,460
Shelley was one of the few radicals
to risk open publication
of his views.
663
00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:29,500
"Liberty is dead," he wrote.
664
00:40:29,500 --> 00:40:32,100
"Fetters heavier than iron
weigh upon us,
665
00:40:32,100 --> 00:40:35,580
because they bind our souls."
666
00:40:35,580 --> 00:40:38,300
The government seemed
to have no answer
667
00:40:38,300 --> 00:40:42,300
to the pressure for democratic change
that was coming from below.
668
00:40:43,580 --> 00:40:49,060
The morning of the 19th August, 1819,
was hot and cloudless.
669
00:40:49,060 --> 00:40:53,460
On that morning,
a cloth worker called John Lees
left his home in Oldham.
670
00:40:53,460 --> 00:40:56,900
He wanted to go into Manchester
to attend a big rally
671
00:40:56,900 --> 00:41:00,900
for parliamentary reform that
was being held in St Peter's Fields.
672
00:41:00,900 --> 00:41:05,980
He and 60,000 other people wanted to
hear the famous orator, Henry Hunt.
673
00:41:07,300 --> 00:41:10,820
Orator Hunt,
the champion of Spa Fields,
674
00:41:10,820 --> 00:41:13,340
was perhaps the best man
in Britain to inspire
675
00:41:13,340 --> 00:41:17,620
and lead large crowds in the call
for greater freedom.
676
00:41:17,620 --> 00:41:22,300
At half-past one, Henry 'Orator' Hunt
arrived at this spot
677
00:41:22,300 --> 00:41:26,700
and he climbed up on to a cart
to address the crowd.
678
00:41:26,700 --> 00:41:30,220
He would have seen 60,000 people
watching him,
679
00:41:30,220 --> 00:41:33,900
all crammed into this area about
the size of two football pitches.
680
00:41:33,900 --> 00:41:36,900
But it was quiet,
these people were unarmed,
681
00:41:36,900 --> 00:41:39,460
they were sober,
they were behaving very well
682
00:41:39,460 --> 00:41:41,980
and they'd come dressed
in their Sunday best.
683
00:41:43,900 --> 00:41:46,940
So, Orator Hunt is all ready to go
with his speech,
684
00:41:46,940 --> 00:41:50,940
but the local magistrates
are watching from a house
just over there,
685
00:41:50,940 --> 00:41:54,580
and they just can't believe that his
speech is going to go off peacefully,
686
00:41:54,580 --> 00:41:56,220
and they panic.
687
00:41:56,220 --> 00:41:59,660
They send in the special constables
and the local militia,
688
00:41:59,660 --> 00:42:02,500
called the Yeomanry,
to arrest Orator Hunt.
689
00:42:02,500 --> 00:42:05,540
The crowd tried to protect him
by linking their arms,
690
00:42:05,540 --> 00:42:07,900
but the Yeomanry
are only volunteers,
691
00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:09,900
they start waving
their sabres around.
692
00:42:09,900 --> 00:42:14,700
They're clearly out of their depth,
so the proper soldiers are called in.
693
00:42:14,700 --> 00:42:18,860
Two bands of Hussars are summoned
and ordered to clear the square.
694
00:42:29,540 --> 00:42:33,100
This is Chetham's Library
in Manchester.
695
00:42:33,100 --> 00:42:38,260
It was founded in 1653 and it's
the oldest public library in Britain.
696
00:42:38,260 --> 00:42:41,460
It was well known to the radicals
of Regency Manchester,
697
00:42:41,460 --> 00:42:44,540
and lots of their original
documents still survive here.
698
00:42:49,620 --> 00:42:52,380
I've come to look at
the contemporary evidence
699
00:42:52,380 --> 00:42:54,220
with the historian Robert Poole
700
00:42:54,220 --> 00:42:58,500
to find out how a peaceful protest
turned into a bloody massacre.
701
00:42:59,820 --> 00:43:03,140
So, what kind of a man was he,
Henry Hunt?
702
00:43:03,140 --> 00:43:06,740
He was called Orator Hunt as well,
wasn't he, because he had
enormous lungs?
703
00:43:06,740 --> 00:43:09,940
Yes, Hunt was also a powerful
personality.
704
00:43:09,940 --> 00:43:12,900
He said, "I'm a gentleman farmer
with a small fortune
705
00:43:12,900 --> 00:43:16,180
"and a friend of the people,"
and he contrasted himself
706
00:43:16,180 --> 00:43:20,180
to the wealthy parasites who ran
government and finance at the time,
707
00:43:20,180 --> 00:43:22,700
the equivalent of the fat-cat
bankers of our own age.
708
00:43:22,700 --> 00:43:26,420
He saw himself as one of the wealth
producers, but also as a kind of
709
00:43:26,420 --> 00:43:30,660
aristocratic leader of the people,
but he'd become outraged
at the way people were treated
710
00:43:30,660 --> 00:43:33,380
and had fallen in with
the radical Whigs.
711
00:43:33,380 --> 00:43:36,380
So he wasn't of the people,
he wasn't a weaver,
712
00:43:36,380 --> 00:43:38,980
but he'd set himself up
as their leader,
713
00:43:38,980 --> 00:43:41,900
and on one level
he's giving them good advice here.
714
00:43:41,900 --> 00:43:44,700
He's saying, behave well,
don't get drunk,
715
00:43:44,700 --> 00:43:47,740
behave in an orderly fashion
and we'll be fine,
716
00:43:47,740 --> 00:43:51,460
but at the same time he's hinting
that there could be trouble.
717
00:43:51,460 --> 00:43:55,220
He's talking about "our enemies"
and, "there might be bloodshed,"
718
00:43:55,220 --> 00:43:58,900
and he calls the authorities
"malignant and contemptible."
719
00:43:58,900 --> 00:44:02,020
Yes, and accuses the authorities
of seeking to excite a riot
720
00:44:02,020 --> 00:44:04,340
in order of a pretence
for spilling blood.
721
00:44:04,340 --> 00:44:07,460
Hunt was extremely good at almost
riding two horses at once.
722
00:44:07,460 --> 00:44:09,260
He needed to rouse the people
723
00:44:09,260 --> 00:44:12,500
and demonstrate the tremendous
force of popular resentment,
724
00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:15,540
but at the same time demonstrate
only he could control crowds.
725
00:44:15,540 --> 00:44:17,140
What did he want, exactly,
726
00:44:17,140 --> 00:44:19,820
in calling all of his associates
to this meeting?
727
00:44:19,820 --> 00:44:21,860
What did they hope
to achieve together?
728
00:44:21,860 --> 00:44:24,700
They wanted a radical reform
of Parliament,
729
00:44:24,700 --> 00:44:27,900
that is universal suffrage, by
which they meant manhood suffrage,
730
00:44:27,900 --> 00:44:31,860
annual parliaments, so that MPs
regularly had to account
for themselves,
731
00:44:31,860 --> 00:44:33,260
and a secret ballot,
732
00:44:33,260 --> 00:44:36,740
to make sure people couldn't be
influenced by landlords
or employers.
733
00:44:36,740 --> 00:44:39,300
And part of the problem
was that Manchester,
734
00:44:39,300 --> 00:44:43,380
this great industrial city,
wasn't really represented, was it?
735
00:44:43,380 --> 00:44:46,900
Because the old distribution of MPs
didn't take it into account?
736
00:44:46,900 --> 00:44:49,860
No, Manchester was a modern
industrial city in many ways,
737
00:44:49,860 --> 00:44:52,100
but it just kind of
had parish pump politics,
738
00:44:52,100 --> 00:44:54,940
it was governed by its parish
vestry and its court leets,
739
00:44:54,940 --> 00:44:57,380
and a lot of constables
and dog whippers and so forth,
740
00:44:57,380 --> 00:44:59,140
and it wasn't a modern town at all.
741
00:44:59,140 --> 00:45:03,180
This is a plan of the set-up
at St Peter's Field.
742
00:45:03,180 --> 00:45:05,780
On print, you can see the density
of people,
743
00:45:05,780 --> 00:45:08,780
all the flags, the banners,
around the hustings.
744
00:45:08,780 --> 00:45:12,540
But also towards the edges,
quite a large number of spectators.
745
00:45:12,540 --> 00:45:15,940
It wasn't just a rally of reformers.
It was a bit of a day out.
746
00:45:15,940 --> 00:45:20,180
There were a lot of people watching,
which makes what happened
all the more shocking.
747
00:45:20,180 --> 00:45:24,540
They sent in the Deputy Constable
to arrest Henry Hunt
simply because they feared
748
00:45:24,540 --> 00:45:31,020
that anybody making a rousing speech
to a large crowd of ordinary people
749
00:45:31,020 --> 00:45:34,580
gathered without the legitimate
authority to keep them in order,
750
00:45:34,580 --> 00:45:36,900
that was like applying a match
to a dry field.
751
00:45:36,900 --> 00:45:39,660
They just felt there had to be
some kind of explosion.
752
00:45:39,660 --> 00:45:44,940
So the Yeomanry panicked? They came
in and started slashing people.
753
00:45:44,940 --> 00:45:47,300
It was said they were drunk,
is that true?
754
00:45:47,300 --> 00:45:51,420
If they hadn't been drinking,
it would've been out of character
for the Yeomanry.
755
00:45:51,420 --> 00:45:55,220
A lot were publicans and
small tradesmen. That's what
people did at lunchtime.
756
00:45:55,220 --> 00:46:00,980
There are reports of that and the
fact that they had their swords
sharpened in the weeks before.
757
00:46:00,980 --> 00:46:04,620
When they got stuck, they were
untrained. They were volunteers.
758
00:46:04,620 --> 00:46:07,300
They'd only been formed
a couple of years before.
759
00:46:07,300 --> 00:46:11,060
They started slashing around them
with sabres, which caused a crush
and a panic
760
00:46:11,060 --> 00:46:13,580
and sparked what became
the Peterloo Massacre.
761
00:46:13,580 --> 00:46:18,660
This book here is a list of many
of the people who did get hurt.
762
00:46:18,660 --> 00:46:23,980
We've got Judith Kilner,
"a pregnant woman was much bruised"
763
00:46:23,980 --> 00:46:29,620
and we've got a lady thrown into
a cellar with a woman who was killed,
"was pregnant at the time."
764
00:46:29,620 --> 00:46:32,700
We've got somebody cut under the ear
by a sabre.
765
00:46:32,700 --> 00:46:35,700
We've got people being sabred
and crushed,
766
00:46:35,700 --> 00:46:40,260
being hit on head with truncheons,
being crushed by the horses.
767
00:46:40,260 --> 00:46:44,020
It's just horrible.
How many people actually got killed?
768
00:46:44,020 --> 00:46:46,500
There were 15 killed on the day.
769
00:46:46,500 --> 00:46:50,460
But there were over 650 injured
in only 20 minutes,
770
00:46:50,460 --> 00:46:54,380
which is why it deserves the title,
I think, of a massacre.
771
00:46:54,380 --> 00:46:56,620
Over 200 of those were sabre wounds.
772
00:46:56,620 --> 00:47:00,620
Many of those were women,
and some of them were children.
773
00:47:00,620 --> 00:47:05,500
There's some research been done on
the injuries to women at Peterloo.
774
00:47:05,500 --> 00:47:12,220
It's fairly reliably reckoned
they were more likely
to be sabred than the men.
775
00:47:12,220 --> 00:47:17,580
The Yeomanry went for the women,
because they were the people the
authorities hated and resented most.
776
00:47:17,580 --> 00:47:21,860
That's because it was felt it was
improper for women to be
taking part in politics?
777
00:47:21,860 --> 00:47:26,580
Yes. Female reformers
dressed in virginal white,
in that patriotic way,
778
00:47:26,580 --> 00:47:30,380
seemed to the authorities
like Marianne,
the symbol of the French Revolution.
779
00:47:30,380 --> 00:47:34,140
It was claimed they were deaf
to every feminine virtue.
780
00:47:34,140 --> 00:47:39,540
You can see this in this satirical
picture from a loyalist newspaper.
781
00:47:39,540 --> 00:47:44,460
You've got an imaginary scene
at one of the meetings
of female reformers in Manchester.
782
00:47:44,460 --> 00:47:47,580
Meetings of this kind did happen.
783
00:47:47,580 --> 00:47:50,460
The female reformers had no
idea how to conduct a meeting.
784
00:47:50,460 --> 00:47:53,260
One is standing on the table,
many are drinking gin.
785
00:47:53,260 --> 00:47:56,980
None of them are listening.
There is one here snogging.
They're all chatting.
786
00:47:56,980 --> 00:47:59,460
They don't know anything
about politics.
787
00:47:59,460 --> 00:48:03,300
It's reminiscent of 17th century
pictures of a fox addressing
the silly geese
788
00:48:03,300 --> 00:48:06,020
who think they know about politics,
but really don't.
789
00:48:06,020 --> 00:48:11,180
And just like a proper battle,
there were souvenirs and medals made.
790
00:48:11,180 --> 00:48:14,060
Planned with satirical intent.
791
00:48:14,060 --> 00:48:20,300
There's an example here modelled
on the famous Josiah Wedgwood
anti-slavery medal.
792
00:48:20,300 --> 00:48:23,380
The black slave kneeling,
and the slogan,
793
00:48:23,380 --> 00:48:25,180
"Am I not a man and brother"?
794
00:48:25,180 --> 00:48:29,460
Here, the kneeling figure is
a ragged weaver and he's saying,
795
00:48:29,460 --> 00:48:31,260
"Am I not a man and brother?"
796
00:48:31,260 --> 00:48:33,460
And he's speaking to a member
of the Yeomanry,
797
00:48:33,460 --> 00:48:35,140
who has a bloodied axed raised.
798
00:48:35,140 --> 00:48:39,620
His reply is, "No, you're a poor
weaver." "Off with your head." Mmm.
799
00:48:39,620 --> 00:48:42,420
It's surrounded by skulls
and crossbones.
800
00:48:42,420 --> 00:48:46,740
It's very...
It's bitter, isn't it?
801
00:48:46,740 --> 00:48:50,780
It's making the point that Britain
has abolished slavery abroad.
802
00:48:50,780 --> 00:48:53,020
But still doing it at home.
Yes.
803
00:48:53,020 --> 00:48:56,060
How quickly was that connection made?
Waterloo.
804
00:48:56,060 --> 00:49:00,180
This became known as Peterloo
in sort of parody.
805
00:49:00,180 --> 00:49:03,420
Very quickly.
In a way, the authorities
made the connection first
806
00:49:03,420 --> 00:49:08,060
because one volunteer special
constable said to some of the crowd,
"This is Waterloo for you."
807
00:49:08,060 --> 00:49:12,300
Meaning like Napoleon.
"You reformers have now met
your Waterloo."
808
00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:15,700
The constables and the Yeomanry
were proud of what they were doing
809
00:49:15,700 --> 00:49:18,820
in averting revolution,
as they saw it.
810
00:49:18,820 --> 00:49:21,460
Within a week,
the local radical newspaper,
811
00:49:21,460 --> 00:49:24,380
the Manchester Observer,
announced it was going to publish
812
00:49:24,380 --> 00:49:27,060
the evidence under the title
"Peterloo Massacre"
813
00:49:27,060 --> 00:49:29,020
with ironic reference to Waterloo.
814
00:49:29,020 --> 00:49:33,140
This was the time when the troops,
who were supposed
to be guarding the people,
815
00:49:33,140 --> 00:49:37,300
had turned on them
and there were more Waterloo
veterans amongst the crowd
816
00:49:37,300 --> 00:49:40,980
than there were amongst troops and
none among the volunteer Yeomanry.
817
00:49:42,700 --> 00:49:45,940
Peterloo frightens
the Government to the core.
818
00:49:45,940 --> 00:49:50,140
Feeling that the growing
disturbances were threatening
violent revolution,
819
00:49:50,140 --> 00:49:55,740
they banned all public meetings
and imposed imprisonment without
trial for some of those arrested.
820
00:49:55,740 --> 00:49:58,900
This only served further
to inflame the crowds.
821
00:50:01,500 --> 00:50:04,500
With the death of George III
in 1820,
822
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:07,820
and the accession of the detested
Prince Regent to the throne,
823
00:50:07,820 --> 00:50:12,340
the other radical from
Spa Fields, Arthur Thistlewood,
decided to act.
824
00:50:15,900 --> 00:50:20,580
He plotted to murder the Cabinet
and remove the King.
825
00:50:20,580 --> 00:50:24,660
One evening, he and his small band
of conspirators met in a hayloft
826
00:50:24,660 --> 00:50:26,900
on a narrow lane
just off London's Edgware Road.
827
00:50:29,780 --> 00:50:34,580
But, unfortunately for the
conspirators, the government got
wind of what was going on
828
00:50:34,580 --> 00:50:37,420
at the point
when the conspirators gathered here.
829
00:50:37,420 --> 00:50:41,540
This is the scene of the crime.
It's a hayloft in Cato Street.
830
00:50:41,540 --> 00:50:43,940
Here we've got exactly
how it was laid out.
831
00:50:43,940 --> 00:50:47,420
On the table here, the conspirators
had gathered their weapons,
832
00:50:47,420 --> 00:50:49,940
their swords, their grenades,
their guns.
833
00:50:49,940 --> 00:50:54,220
But this is the ladder up which
the police officers came barging in.
834
00:50:54,220 --> 00:50:56,860
There was a big fight,
a confrontation.
835
00:50:56,860 --> 00:51:02,620
And Arthur Thistlewood himself
ran through one of the
police officers with a sword.
836
00:51:02,620 --> 00:51:05,660
This is the spot
here where the body fell.
837
00:51:05,660 --> 00:51:09,140
In the darkness and confusion,
the conspirators ran away.
838
00:51:09,140 --> 00:51:13,820
They are climbing out through
holes in the building, some,
it's said, went down the hay chutes.
839
00:51:13,820 --> 00:51:18,660
But, the next morning,
the ringleaders were rounded up
and captured.
840
00:51:18,660 --> 00:51:23,140
They included the Thistlewood,
a couple of shoemakers,
841
00:51:23,140 --> 00:51:28,020
a coffee-house owner,
a failed law student from Jamaica
842
00:51:28,020 --> 00:51:31,220
and this rather mysterious
character, George Edwards,
843
00:51:31,220 --> 00:51:35,260
who was probably a government agent
inciting the whole thing.
844
00:51:35,260 --> 00:51:37,860
Now this caused problems
when it came to the trial.
845
00:51:37,860 --> 00:51:41,460
Would the case collapse
because of the presence
of the government agent?
846
00:51:41,460 --> 00:51:45,860
Well, it didn't because
this conspirator, John Monument,
847
00:51:45,860 --> 00:51:49,540
he turned evidence
against his colleagues.
848
00:51:49,540 --> 00:51:53,260
So they were condemned.
John Monument was let off
for being a snitch.
849
00:51:53,260 --> 00:51:56,540
George Edwards was let off
for being a government agent.
850
00:51:56,540 --> 00:51:59,380
But the rest were all executed.
851
00:51:59,380 --> 00:52:03,940
Just at the point that the
Prince Regent was about
to become King George IV,
852
00:52:03,940 --> 00:52:08,100
it looks like Britain was just
on the brink of revolution.
853
00:52:09,460 --> 00:52:13,020
George continued his life of
idleness and excess.
854
00:52:13,020 --> 00:52:16,900
Yet he and his government
would next face an
opponent far more destructive
855
00:52:16,900 --> 00:52:19,020
than either Hunt of Thistlewood.
856
00:52:19,020 --> 00:52:23,060
The opposition would
come now in the form of his
estranged and reviled wife,
857
00:52:23,060 --> 00:52:25,700
the now Queen Caroline.
858
00:52:28,140 --> 00:52:33,060
In the country, Caroline was
seen as the wronged and abused wife.
859
00:52:33,060 --> 00:52:35,660
All the more so when George tried,
unsuccessfully,
860
00:52:35,660 --> 00:52:38,460
to divorce her by act of Parliament.
861
00:52:38,460 --> 00:52:41,980
His pretext was her rumoured
scandalous behaviour.
862
00:52:41,980 --> 00:52:46,900
Caroline had got a bit too close
to her Italian servant,
Bartolomeo Pergami.
863
00:52:46,900 --> 00:52:50,260
They'd been seen kissing, they'd
even been seen undressed together
864
00:52:50,260 --> 00:52:52,700
and there was talk about
an illegitimate child.
865
00:52:52,700 --> 00:52:55,060
The Bill got through
the House of Lords,
866
00:52:55,060 --> 00:52:57,980
but Caroline was so amazingly
popular in the country,
867
00:52:57,980 --> 00:53:00,820
it seemed unlikely it would get
through the House of Commons.
868
00:53:00,820 --> 00:53:04,660
So George had to give up. He could
not stop her from becoming Queen.
869
00:53:04,660 --> 00:53:08,500
All he could hope was that she
wouldn't show up at his coronation.
870
00:53:11,420 --> 00:53:16,340
Despite the distraction
of a wild and unwanted Queen,
George started to plan
871
00:53:16,340 --> 00:53:21,140
the most extravagant and expensive
coronation of all time.
872
00:53:21,140 --> 00:53:24,140
At Kensington Palace,
where I work as a curator,
873
00:53:24,140 --> 00:53:27,260
we look after the enormous
coronation robe
874
00:53:27,260 --> 00:53:31,100
that George chose
for the moment he truly became King.
875
00:53:31,100 --> 00:53:34,900
On three, OK? One, two, three.
876
00:53:34,900 --> 00:53:37,500
He may have been
King of a divided nation,
877
00:53:37,500 --> 00:53:42,100
but George always knew how
to put on a good show.
878
00:53:42,100 --> 00:53:47,740
You lift first off the table
and then one, two, three, up.
879
00:53:48,980 --> 00:53:50,060
Slowly, slowly.
880
00:53:52,020 --> 00:53:54,060
Well done. It's gone through.
881
00:53:56,300 --> 00:53:58,740
OK, let's go. Nearly there.
882
00:53:58,740 --> 00:54:01,860
Here it is, come on,
let's open it up. OK.
883
00:54:01,860 --> 00:54:05,860
Because of its fragile condition,
this robe
rarely sees the light of day
884
00:54:05,860 --> 00:54:10,100
and this is my first
full chance to see it unwrapped.
885
00:54:12,140 --> 00:54:15,380
OK. One, two, three.
886
00:54:25,940 --> 00:54:31,580
This is George IV's coronation
robe from his coronation in 1821.
887
00:54:31,580 --> 00:54:35,180
The whole event got delayed a year
because they needed
extra planning time
888
00:54:35,180 --> 00:54:38,660
to make it into
this huge extravaganza.
889
00:54:38,660 --> 00:54:43,540
Look how richly it's embroidered
with all this gold
and all these sequins.
890
00:54:43,540 --> 00:54:50,300
And this was purple,
imperial velvet. He's trying to
out-Napoleon Napoleon here.
891
00:54:50,300 --> 00:54:54,220
This is the one
he wore to come out at the end.
892
00:54:54,220 --> 00:54:58,940
When he arrived at the coronation,
he was wearing a red velvet robe,
very similar.
893
00:54:58,940 --> 00:55:01,100
He spent £24,000 on these robes.
894
00:55:01,100 --> 00:55:04,380
It needed nine people
to carry it for him.
895
00:55:04,380 --> 00:55:09,140
He turned up in this huge,
magnificent procession
that seemed to go on for miles.
896
00:55:09,140 --> 00:55:14,260
It was led by the herb women,
strewing herbs
for the King to walk over.
897
00:55:14,260 --> 00:55:18,780
He appeared with his robe bearers
and then all the peerage turned up
898
00:55:18,780 --> 00:55:22,220
and George had insisted the Peers,
many of whom were elderly men,
899
00:55:22,220 --> 00:55:25,260
dress up in Tudor outfits,
wearing tights.
900
00:55:25,260 --> 00:55:27,740
The peers were dubious about this.
901
00:55:27,740 --> 00:55:31,780
It is true there were
sniggers from their wives
when they arrived in the Abbey.
902
00:55:31,780 --> 00:55:33,980
But this was the greatest
show on Earth.
903
00:55:33,980 --> 00:55:36,980
George commissioned a special
new crown for himself.
904
00:55:36,980 --> 00:55:40,100
He hired 12,000 diamonds.
905
00:55:40,100 --> 00:55:41,700
It was a five-hour ceremony
906
00:55:41,700 --> 00:55:44,340
and at several points
he was seen to be sweating,
907
00:55:44,340 --> 00:55:47,740
he almost fainted and had
to be revived with smelling salts.
908
00:55:47,740 --> 00:55:52,540
But he kept up his spirits.
Everybody also noticed he was
nodding and winking to his mistress,
909
00:55:52,540 --> 00:55:53,780
who was in the audience.
910
00:55:53,780 --> 00:55:56,740
But it definitely left
an indelible mark
911
00:55:56,740 --> 00:55:59,580
on the memories of everybody
who was there.
912
00:55:59,580 --> 00:56:02,660
So five hours later,
this is the robe
913
00:56:02,660 --> 00:56:07,100
in which he made
his first appearance
as the crowned anointed King.
914
00:56:07,100 --> 00:56:10,060
MUSIC: "Zadok The Priest" by Handel
915
00:56:18,100 --> 00:56:23,140
But however meticulously
George had planned
his own anointing as King,
916
00:56:23,140 --> 00:56:26,220
there was still
one unresolved problem -
917
00:56:26,220 --> 00:56:30,660
Caroline, and she wasn't a woman
to take no for an answer.
918
00:56:35,700 --> 00:56:41,420
This is pretty much the only
view of the coronation
enjoyed by George's wife Caroline.
919
00:56:41,420 --> 00:56:44,460
She had been exiled from court
at the start of the Regency
920
00:56:44,460 --> 00:56:46,580
and she'd gone overseas.
921
00:56:46,580 --> 00:56:50,620
But when he became King,
she turned back up again,
wanting to be crowned.
922
00:56:50,620 --> 00:56:55,020
This is despite the fact she had
been offered £50,000 to stay away.
923
00:56:55,020 --> 00:56:59,100
So, on Coronation Day,
she arrived at Westminster Abbey
924
00:56:59,100 --> 00:57:03,780
and she flew at the doors
shouting, "I am the Queen, open!"
925
00:57:03,780 --> 00:57:06,820
"I am the Queen of Britain,
let me pass!"
926
00:57:06,820 --> 00:57:09,180
But the doors remained closed.
927
00:57:36,460 --> 00:57:39,900
The coronation was
the Prince Regent's final bow.
928
00:57:39,900 --> 00:57:42,780
Now the Regency was officially over.
929
00:57:42,780 --> 00:57:47,460
It had been a splendid ten years
for architecture, for poetry,
930
00:57:47,460 --> 00:57:50,260
for painting and for prose.
931
00:57:50,260 --> 00:57:55,340
But it had also been ten years
of waste and profligacy
932
00:57:55,340 --> 00:57:57,380
and Royal immorality.
933
00:57:57,380 --> 00:57:59,620
Britain may have won
the Battle of Waterloo,
934
00:57:59,620 --> 00:58:03,900
but it looked like the country
was at war with itself.
935
00:58:03,900 --> 00:58:08,460
Was there ever a decade of greater
contrasts? I don't think so.
936
00:58:08,460 --> 00:58:12,900
And what about and George IV
as King, how would he be remembered?
937
00:58:12,900 --> 00:58:16,300
Well, 200 years later,
English Heritage ran a poll
938
00:58:16,300 --> 00:58:20,540
and he was voted
Britain's worst monarch ever.
939
00:58:20,540 --> 00:58:23,780
So the Regency, for me,
is two things -
940
00:58:23,780 --> 00:58:28,660
untold elegance combined
with squalid decadence.
941
00:58:32,700 --> 00:58:34,740
Subtitling by Red Bee Media Ltd
942
00:58:34,740 --> 00:58:36,820
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk.
81405
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