Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,282
[Sombre instrumental music]
2
00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,006
[Announcer at railway station
chattering over P.A. system]
3
00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,091
NARRATOR: [Voiceover] Sitting comfortably,
I opened my copy...
4
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,646
of The Revolution of Everyday Life.
5
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,129
Reality, as it evolves, sweeps me with it.
6
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,570
I'm struck by everything, and though not
everything strikes me in the same way...
7
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,923
I'm always struck
by the same basic contradiction:
8
00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,965
although I can always see how
beautiful anything could be
if only I could change it...
9
00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,846
in practically every case,
there is nothing I can really do.
10
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,291
Everything is changed into something else
in my imagination.
11
00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,761
Then the dead weight of things changes it
back into what it was in the first place.
12
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,285
A bridge between imagination and reality
must be built.
13
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,165
[Sombre instrumental music continues]
14
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,447
After Robinson published the results
of his study of London...
15
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,040
I didn't see him again for a long time...
16
00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,926
but I heard that he'd been dismissed
from his university position.
17
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,442
And after a period in which he sank
into a deep depression...
18
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,122
had taken a part-time job teaching English
in a language school in Reading...
19
00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,163
where he was now living.
20
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,885
He wrote to me in the spring of 1995...
21
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,924
suggesting that I should
come down to Reading on a visit.
22
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,520
I was struck by the improvement
in his mood...
23
00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,450
and arranged to spend a few days with him.
24
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,249
Robinson met me at the station,
and took me immediately to Kings Road...
25
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,331
where he had identified the building which
had been the coaching establishment...
26
00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,570
where Rimbaud was employed
as a teacher of French in 1874.
27
00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:04,607
He was very excited by this and the other
literary associations of the town...
28
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:09,521
which he praised with the
euphoria reminiscent of
that of Nietzsche for Turin.
29
00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,168
So much so,
that I was concerned for his well-being...
30
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,410
and the extent of his commitment
to the derangement of the senses.
31
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,251
The Maiwand Lion
commemorates the battle...
32
00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,331
after which Dr. John Watson
was invalided out of the army...
33
00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,489
and into his acquaintance
with Sherlock Holmes.
34
00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,685
Jane Austen was educated
in two rooms above the abbey gateway...
35
00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,043
which is next to the jail
where Oscar Wilde was imprisoned...
36
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,640
for the last years of his sentence.
37
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,001
"It is only shallow people
who do not judge by appearances.
38
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,285
"The true mystery of the world is
the visible, not the invisible."
39
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,406
I did not think that Robinson's move
to Reading was a good one.
40
00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,446
Despite his vision that other people
could become fellows and neighbours...
41
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,927
the fact is, as Lefebvre says:
42
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,204
"The space which contains the realised
preconditions of another life...
43
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,609
"is the same one as prohibits
what those preconditions make possible.'
44
00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:34,326
He had been living in a single room
in a house in the northern suburbs.
45
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,410
His job was poorly paid and insecure.
46
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,842
He did not eat well,
he seemed to know no one in the town...
47
00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:42,564
and he had no telephone.
48
00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,411
His only reassurance was the presence...
49
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,763
of 18 undeniably utopian
Routemaster buses...
50
00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,601
operated by enthusiasts
in a deregulated market.
51
00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,083
He could not keep up
the effort of his euphoria...
52
00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,683
nor hide his vulnerability,
his fear of provincial England.
53
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,243
He had been taunted
by groups of homophobic youths...
54
00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,170
when he ventured into town in the evening.
55
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,251
He had once told me
that he wished to become a spy...
56
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:14,761
but was not sure who to approach.
57
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,049
In the afternoon, he took me to
the Chatham Street car park...
58
00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,324
overlooking the Ramada Hotel,
where it turned out he was now living.
59
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,970
He told me that some weeks before,
he had received a letter...
60
00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,210
from a representative of a well-known
international advertising agency...
61
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,051
inviting him to a meeting at the hotel.
62
00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,726
These people had heard
of his study of London...
63
00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:40,083
and wished to commission him
to undertake a peripatetic study...
64
00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,248
of the problem of England.
65
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,366
He had accepted this
offer with alacrity...
66
00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,324
and insisted that I
join him as researcher.
67
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,048
Our first outing was to a record shop
in Friar Street...
68
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,243
where Adam Ant
was making a personal appearance.
69
00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,962
The music industry
is one of the UK's most successful...
70
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,607
and brings in more money from abroad
than motor manufacturing...
71
00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,964
its products often characterised
by sexual ambivalence...
72
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:15,005
and a traditional English contempt
for petty bourgeois England.
73
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,643
Robinson had once taught at the art school
where Adam Ant was a student.
74
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,925
The next day, we visited the house
at West Green...
75
00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,523
built by General Henry 'Hangman' Hawley
who commanded the cavalry at Culloden...
76
00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,928
the former home of
Allistair Lord McAlpine...
77
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,887
treasurer of the Conservative Party
between 1975 and 1990.
78
00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,883
The recent gateposts and the obelisk
are by the architect Quinlan Terry.
79
00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:48,170
The obelisk bears an inscription in Latin.
80
00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,244
This monument was built
with a large sum of money...
81
00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,761
which would have otherwise fallen,
sooner or later...
82
00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,406
into the hands of the tax gatherers.
83
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,848
"It is my belief, Watson," said Holmes...
84
00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:05,682
"founded upon my experience, that the
lowest and vilest alleys in London...
85
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,929
"do not present
a more dreadful record of sin...
86
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,289
"than does the smiling
and beautiful countryside."
87
00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:17,889
The Winnersh Triangle
Business and Distribution Park...
88
00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,402
is in the Wokingham constituency
of John Redwood...
89
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,087
admired by Gingrich Republicans
in the United States...
90
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,489
as the leader of the revolutionary wing
of Great Britain's Conservative Party.
91
00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,125
On Easter Monday, Greenpeace
activists blocked the outfall...
92
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,483
from the Atomic Weapons Establishment
at Aldermaston.
93
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,649
Robinson had read that
the growth of high technology industry...
94
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:55,888
in the M4 corridor was triggered...
95
00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,403
by the number of government research
establishments in the Reading area.
96
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,604
On the centenary of the Martian landing
on Horsell Common near Woking...
97
00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,291
which was so vividly described
by H.G. Wells...
98
00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,051
Robinson took me to see the crater.
99
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:17,281
He told me that there were more than
100 patents in microelectronics...
100
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:22,042
nanotechnology and other fields
for uses of Buckminsterfullerenes...
101
00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,561
the large, spherical carbon molecules...
102
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,571
discovered in cosmic dust
by British and other scientists...
103
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,808
but they are all held abroad.
104
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,207
[Solemn instrumental music]
105
00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,164
The Martians destroyed most of Surrey.
106
00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:41,642
500 tons of Mars is estimated
to land on Earth each year.
107
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,564
[Birds chirping]
108
00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:04,204
On St George's Day...
109
00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,723
a group of campaigners occupied land
at Wesley, near St George's Hill...
110
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,481
the private estate developed in 1911
on former common land...
111
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,683
where the diggers had set up camp in 1649.
112
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,129
"We are challenging
the government's whole philosophy...
113
00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,608
"about the pre-eminence of property
rights," said their spokesman...
114
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,121
an Oxford University Fellow.
115
00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,164
Robinson had not found
any Buckminsterfullerenes...
116
00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,931
in the crater at Horsell Common,
but he was impressed...
117
00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,084
by the technology of the
latter-day levellers.
118
00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,009
On the 28th, the eve
of World No Golf Day...
119
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,408
they occupied the golf course
at St George's Hill.
120
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,210
May the 4th was the day
of the local elections.
121
00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,291
Despite the poor air quality,
we set out for a walk...
122
00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,289
in the Bluebell Woods towards Henley...
123
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,926
and came across
a group of satellite dishes...
124
00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,611
at a location
we've been asked not to name...
125
00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,691
which are the television receivers
for the BBC's World Monitoring Service...
126
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,044
a few miles away at Caversham Park,
established during World War ll.
127
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,403
With the coincidence of the Tory election
defeat and the V-E Day anniversary...
128
00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,763
there was a lot of talk
about the 1945 election...
129
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,448
and how laissez-faire
had been kept off the political agenda...
130
00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:33,087
until those who participated
in the war at decision-making level...
131
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,328
had departed from the scone.
132
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,722
Robinson says that unless
Labour wins a landslide victory
in the general election...
133
00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:45,162
there is always a Conservative majority
in England.
134
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,603
Henley is the constituency
of Michael Heseltine...
135
00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,121
then the president of the Board of Trade.
136
00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,801
It was twinned with
Baroma, Somalia in 1981.
137
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,049
As we walked back to Reading...
138
00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,482
we passed the preparations
for a celebration bonfire.
139
00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,641
Robinson told me that he'd received
instructions from our employer...
140
00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,446
and that the next day, we would begin
the first of seven journeys...
141
00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:16,370
that were to be the basis of our project.
142
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,924
This method had been suggested
by his reading...
143
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,408
Daniel Defoe's Tour Through
the Whole Island of Great Britain...
144
00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:28,650
which is based on Defoe's travels
as a spy for Robert Harley...
145
00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,048
the government minister
in the reign of Queen Anne.
146
00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:36,163
The narrative of Britain
since Defoe's time...
147
00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,330
is the result of a particularly English
kind of capitalism.
148
00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,050
With our contracts
and expense account agreed...
149
00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:48,687
we set out to follow the Thames
downstream to the sea.
150
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,842
Passing Fawley Court,
a work of Sir Christopher Wren...
151
00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,931
and the nearby tunnels
that allow toads to cross the road...
152
00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,842
we came to the Henley Management College
and Research Centre at Greenlands...
153
00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:08,047
which offers degree and NVQ courses
for individuals and corporate groups.
154
00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,769
The village of Medmenham
is near the abbey ruins...
155
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,009
where the Hellfire Club
held their nocturnal revels.
156
00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,370
The Shelleys moved to Albion House
in Marlow In 1817...
157
00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:25,325
where she transcribed
his Revolt of Islam...
158
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,284
and prepared Frankenstein for publication.
159
00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,962
Marlow is also home
to the UK headquarters...
160
00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,526
of Volvo, Saab and Rank Xerox.
161
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,445
And at Cookham,
near the home of Stanley Spencer...
162
00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:43,281
is the headquarters
of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
163
00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,960
The Fountain of Love at Cliveden
was bought in Rome by William Waldorf...
164
00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,845
the first Lord Astor, In 1897.
165
00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,840
It was at Cliveden that John Profumo
first met Christine Keeler...
166
00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,440
who was staying at a
cottage in the grounds.
167
00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,245
She was naked beside the swimming pool.
168
00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,770
The Astor's pro-appeasement stance...
169
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,407
and their entertainment of von Ribbentrop
and Oswald Mosley...
170
00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,922
led to belief in the existence
of the Cliveden Set...
171
00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:20,648
a conspiracy giving tacit support
to Hitler's conquest of Europe.
172
00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,845
Cliveden's prominence has always rested...
173
00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,645
on its proximity to London and its views.
174
00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,889
The present house
is the work of Sir Charles Barry...
175
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,526
the architect of the
Palace of Westminster.
176
00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,008
And the view along the river
was compared by Garibaldi...
177
00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,363
with the mighty river prospects
of South America.
178
00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:47,329
At Maidenhead, we passed beneath
Brunel's Bridge of 1837...
179
00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,763
the longest-spanning brickbuilt arches
in Europe...
180
00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,248
and the scene of Turner's
Rain, Steam, and Speed.
181
00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:57,765
In a letter from Ethiopia...
182
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,407
Rimbaud imagined a son
who would become a famous engineer...
183
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,330
a man rich and powerful through science.
184
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,405
With the departure of Douglas Hurd
for the NatWest...
185
00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,525
there remained three Old Etonians
in a Cabinet of 23.
186
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:16,844
About an eighth.
187
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,486
Between 1868 and 1955...
188
00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,047
of the 294 Cabinet ministers
who held office...
189
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,242
over a quarter attended Eton...
190
00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,331
so, either Eton is no longer what it was,
or more likely...
191
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,649
government is no longer an occupation
that is so necessary...
192
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:35,161
for Etonians to be concerned with.
193
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,249
We left the river bank at Windsor...
194
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,207
where the 180 mile riverside
park is blocked because it
passes through the Royal Estate.
195
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,681
The riverbank was enclosed
by Queen Victoria...
196
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,167
with an Act of Parliament in 1860...
197
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,011
despite the prohibition
of the Magna Carta...
198
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,805
which is displayed
at the memorial at Runnymede...
199
00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,164
erected by the American Bar Association
in 1930.
200
00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,727
Nearing Heathrow,
we came across a factory...
201
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,525
the first we'd seen since leaving Reading.
202
00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,486
All the more unusual,
since most toys are made in China.
203
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,443
Bendy products are made in natural rubber.
204
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,450
Heathrow Airport, where the first
commercial flight took off in 1946...
205
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,643
is the busiest international airport
in the world.
206
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,491
Robinson didn't like to continue
into London...
207
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,251
fearing reprisals for his earlier study.
208
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,769
So, after a journey on the Underground and
many hours wandering lost in tunnels...
209
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,963
we emerged from the workings
of the Jubilee Line Extension...
210
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:47,165
near the site subsequently chosen
for the Millennium Exhibition...
211
00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,131
and didn't stop until we reached Becton.
212
00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,883
East Ham Churchyard,
opposite the Becton ski slope...
213
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,571
is the largest churchyard in England.
214
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,403
Robinson was hoping to find
some trace of the opium den...
215
00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,889
frequented by Dorian Gray by following
the route described in the story...
216
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,446
but he couldn't find anyone to ask.
217
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,406
Coming soon on this site...
218
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,883
a Warner Brothers nine screen
multiplex cinema...
219
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,321
opening Easter, 1996.
220
00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,044
We had read that Ford
was seeking government aid...
221
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,766
to build a new small car for Mazda...
222
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:45,448
but that their Dagenham plant was facing
competition from Valencia in Spain.
223
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:51,250
The development of Rainham Marshes
was, for the time being, unlikely...
224
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,840
as the Channel Tunnel
Rail Link Terminal...
225
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,931
had been confirmed at Ebbsfleet
on the south side of the estuary.
226
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:03,324
Robinson thought he'd discovered
Dracula's house, Carfax at Purfleet...
227
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,489
until I pointed out
that we were still in Rainham.
228
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:08,365
When we reached Purfleet...
229
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,280
he was surprised to find the view of
London unchanged since he had left...
230
00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,210
despite both his predictions
of imminent ruin...
231
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,926
and various attempts
to link the Channel Tunnel...
232
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,841
with the regeneration of the
estuary, balancing the pull
of Heathrow in the west.
233
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,167
Robinson had purchased
a copy of Port Statistics...
234
00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,643
a publication
of the Government Statistical Service...
235
00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:35,604
and every night,
he pored over it with a calculator...
236
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,042
emerging from time to time
with some new revelation.
237
00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,046
Port traffic continues to increase...
238
00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,926
exports have increased
fivefold since 1965...
239
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:50,967
most rapidly in the late '70s,
when North Sea oil was first exploited.
240
00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:56,042
Imports have fluctuated, but overall,
have risen by more than a fifth.
241
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,324
The Thames estuary
from Teddington to Foulness...
242
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,886
is still the leading port in the UK...
243
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:06,445
though, in foreign traffic...
244
00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,770
the Humber ports outrank the total
for London and the Medway.
245
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:16,641
The docks at Tilbury, sold to its
employees in 1992 for £32 million...
246
00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:21,887
was bought recently by Forth Ports PLC
for £132 million.
247
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,563
There is a house nearby where Daniel Defoe
wrote part of Robinson Crusoe.
248
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,563
Having spent the night at Tilbury
in the manner of the pilgrims...
249
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,730
we spent the morning at the Lakeside
Shopping Centre at Thurrock...
250
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,366
before crossing the river to Dartford.
251
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,202
Robinson was anxious to see the town
which is the birthplace...
252
00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,120
of both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger
of The Rolling Stones.
253
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,960
It was Environment Week in Dartford.
254
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,927
We visited the landfill at Ebbsfleet...
255
00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,407
where Blue Circle
proposed to build a new town...
256
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,682
alongside the Channel Tunnel Station...
257
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,327
and Donald Trump
is rumoured to be planning casinos.
258
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,366
Marlowe, the narrator
of Conrad's Heart of Darkness...
259
00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,843
tells his story on a
ship lying off Gravesend.
260
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:23,767
On the following evening,
we reached the Isle of Sheppey.
261
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,602
The fully-automated plant at Windham...
262
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,202
produces 120 square metres
of plasterboard per minute...
263
00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,324
the fastest-running production line
in Europe.
264
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,282
Coast Steel Sheerness
recycles scrap into steel rod and bar.
265
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,885
The Canadian company
evangelises total team culture...
266
00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,968
in which overtime is unpaid
and union members fear identification.
267
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:53,085
The Port of Sheerness...
268
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,329
where 300 dockers
lost massive share profits...
269
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,410
through being made redundant
when they refused a pay cut...
270
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,888
is now owned by the
Mersey Dock and Harbour Company.
271
00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,286
This was the end of our first journey.
272
00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:09,647
The next day, we returned to Reading.
273
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,491
Two weeks later, we set off again
by the packhorse road...
274
00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,841
over the hills towards Oxford.
275
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,610
The Oratory is an independent,
selective secondary school for boys.
276
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,123
We were pleased to have an opportunity...
277
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,290
to study the authorship of appearances
in the English countryside.
278
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,811
As we began our descent, we could
see the power station at Didcot...
279
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,447
which generates about 5%
of peak demand in England.
280
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,491
Near the river,
we came across a break in the hedge...
281
00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,206
where an excavation crossed the road.
282
00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,844
From Wittenham clumps,
we could see that it led to Didcot...
283
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,770
a gas pipeline to supply
a new power nation...
284
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:03,362
being built next to the existing one,
which runs on coal.
285
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,491
Didcot is operated by National Power.
286
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,648
[Birds chirping]
287
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,246
[Machinery humming in the distance]
288
00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:18,365
The Wittenham Clumps were the magic
landscape of the painter Paul Nsah...
289
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,484
but we had to press on,
following the Thames upstream...
290
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,365
deeper into the interior of the country.
291
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,327
[Upbeat instrumental music]
292
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,489
On the evening of the 12th of June,
we arrived in Oxford...
293
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,001
the King's headquarters
in the Civil War...
294
00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,920
and Hitler's preferred capital
had he occupied England.
295
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,003
Most of what was once
the Morris Motor Works at Cowley...
296
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:57,122
was demolished in 1993...
297
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,604
and the site is now a business perk
owned by British Aerospace...
298
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,167
who sold the Rover Group to BMW in 1994.
299
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:10,403
There's been little made of the fact...
300
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,000
that Bernd Pischetsrieder,
the chairman of BMW...
301
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,169
is the great-nephew
of the late Alec Issigonis...
302
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,807
whose innovative designs for Morris
and its successors...
303
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,208
could probably have given the company
a 10-year lead over Volkswagen...
304
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,641
in the European mass market.
305
00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:29,771
At Magdalene,
pronounced "maudlin," College...
306
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,089
we visited the rooms once occupied
by Oscar Wilde...
307
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,407
who apparently enjoyed Oxford...
308
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,126
though its atmosphere
of stifled sexuality...
309
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,722
must have been even more striking than
than it is today.
310
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,487
The Fellows were not allowed to marry
until 1877...
311
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:49,167
and despite, or perhaps
because of the small numbers of women...
312
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,602
open homoeroticism is still most unusual.
313
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,971
The President showed us the new buildings
by Demetri Porphyrios...
314
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:02,130
which he described as examples
of the architecture of the future.
315
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,643
Our employer has suggested
we should buy a car.
316
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,170
While I was impressed by the favourable
reports of the current local product...
317
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,762
Robinson preferred the older 1100
we'd seen earlier.
318
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,731
I was sent to make the purchase,
and he went off to the Bodleian.
319
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,040
We visited Christ Church,
where as librarian...
320
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,404
Robert Burton lived a silent, sedentary,
solitary, private life.
321
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,050
The Anatomy of Melancholy
appeared In 1621...
322
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,925
under the pseudonym Democritus, Junior.
323
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,404
"The Jacobean melancholy, like our own,"
said Robinson...
324
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,046
"was the result of a disorientation.
325
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,323
"You and I are deeply
disillusioned people."
326
00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:57,045
Burton was vicar of St
Thomas the Martyr...
327
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,482
between 1616 and his death in 1639.
328
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,242
The porch is his addition.
329
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,363
I think we were never so happy
as on the day of our pilgrimage...
330
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,960
to the memorials of Robert Burton.
331
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:16,889
The car was fitted with a radio.
332
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,207
It turned out
that it had belonged to a member...
333
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,561
of a successful Oxford pop group.
334
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,682
[Aeroplane engine humming]
335
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,481
Opposite the airport
is Campsfield House...
336
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,366
the privately-run detention centre
where up to 200 asylum seekers...
337
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,960
are held in prison-like conditions.
338
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,563
In April, the inexperience
of its management and staff...
339
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,924
had been severely criticised
by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
340
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,763
Campsfield House is run
by Group 4 Security.
341
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:47,011
[Rock music]
342
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,566
"Whatever is fitted in any sort...
343
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,610
"to excite the idea of pain and danger...
344
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,805
"that is to say, whatever is
in any sort terrible," says Burke...
345
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,241
"is a source of the sublime."
346
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:01,488
[Rock music continues]
347
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,926
We had arranged to visit
the new Aston Martin works at Bloxham.
348
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,404
The literary stereotype
of the sadistic Englishmen...
349
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,241
endures in the drug excesses
of contemporary aristocrats...
350
00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,283
and as James Bond.
351
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,605
Robinson had never paid much attention
to James Bond...
352
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,769
but he wondered
if we shouldn't have bought a faster car.
353
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,888
We passed the United States Air Force's
603 Communications Squadron...
354
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:29,604
at RAF Croughton...
355
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,202
and the Defence Clothing
and Textile Agency at Bicester.
356
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,842
In the afternoon, we came to Stowe...
357
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,726
described by the National Trust
as "Britain's largest work of art."
358
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,969
The house has been a public school
since 1923.
359
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:47,611
In the landscaped gardens...
360
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,530
based on Milton's description
in Paradise Lost...
361
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,291
is Kent's Temple of British Worthies...
362
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,529
where we paid our respects
to Milton for Pandemonium...
363
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,165
Shakespeare for Yorick...
364
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,204
and Locke
for Duration and its Simple Modes...
365
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,448
and the Succession of Ideas.
366
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:08,006
"For whilst we receive successively
ideas in our minds...
367
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,408
"we know that we do exist...
368
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,166
"and so we animate the existence...
369
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,121
"or the continuation of the existence
of ourselves."
370
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,721
At Bletchley Park,
Alan Turing built the machine...
371
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:26,287
that cracked the Enigma naval codes
In 1942.
372
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,209
On June the 10th,
we arrived in Milton Keynes...
373
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,166
visiting the multi-denominational
cathedral in Silbury Boulevard...
374
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,442
opposite the shopping centre.
375
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:43,443
We stayed in Milton Keynes for a
fortnight, leaving on July the second.
376
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:48,168
We couldn't find the site where the
Wiccans worship, which we'd read about...
377
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,126
but there is a holy wall at Stevington
which was easy to find.
378
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,761
That night, we slept in a shed.
379
00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,850
It was never easy
to find a decent place to stay...
380
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:02,531
but we generally took whet was offered,
imagining that...
381
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,929
the problem of hotels in England
would be of interest to our employer.
382
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,011
We woke up outside what we thought
must be the biggest...
383
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:13,408
and is, apparently,
the busiest landfill in the country:
384
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,285
one of several sites
which had previously been exploited...
385
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,528
by the London Brick Company.
386
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,010
The next day's pilgrimages
were to the airship hangers...
387
00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,361
at Carlington, and to Bedford.
388
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,481
[Bell tolling in the distance]
389
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:52,769
At a garage near St Neots...
390
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,406
as we were thinking of
trading in the 1100...
391
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,330
for an old Volvo
full of second-hand books...
392
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,649
we heard on the radio that John Major
had been re-elected...
393
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,524
leader of the Tory Party.
394
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,329
That evening, we reached Cambridge...
395
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,047
which we had thought
might be more congenial than Oxford.
396
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:15,210
Our employer had been unable to secure us
an invitation to dine at Peterhouse...
397
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,527
the oldest, the nastiest college...
398
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,440
so we couldn't confirm its reputation
for orgiastic revelry...
399
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,121
or gauge any lingering influence
of Maurice Cowling...
400
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,883
the unusually right-wing historian
who was Michael Portillo's tutor.
401
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,049
[Bell tolling]
402
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,525
In the morning,
we had a look at Jesus College...
403
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,007
where Laurence Sterne
was an undergraduate...
404
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:42,771
and where the patrons of architecture
of the future...
405
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,090
were, in our opinion, at least
better advised than those in Oxford.
406
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,720
After lunch
and several games of table football...
407
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,002
we drove off towards Felixstowe.
408
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,845
The Devil's Dyke marks the boundary
of Cambridge here in Suffolk...
409
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,760
soon after which we joined
the newly renamed A14 trunk road...
410
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:09,363
European Route E28,
which has cut journey time to the port.
411
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,407
St Edmundsbury is the town
of all this part of England...
412
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,888
in proportion to its bigness,
most thronged with gentry.
413
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,209
People of the best fashion
and the most polite conversation...
414
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:24,687
of which other writers
have talked very largely...
415
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,041
and perhaps a little too much.
416
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,289
Ipswich is still a considerable port,
probably more so than in Defoe's time...
417
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,688
with large tonnages
of cereals and animal feed.
418
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,964
But our destination
was the Port of Felixstowe...
419
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,926
which is owned by Hutchinson Whampoa,
tho Hong Kong group...
420
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:48,523
who, with British Aerospace
own the Orange Mobile Telephone network.
421
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,364
Felixstowe handles half of all
UK deep sea container traffic...
422
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,570
in which imports slightly
outweigh exports.
423
00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,729
It is the fourth largest container port
in Europe, 15th in the world.
424
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,171
[Machine beeping]
425
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,843
We were booked on the 11:00 ferry
to Zeebrugge...
426
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,885
Robinson said that he had to meet
our employer at a conference in Lille.
427
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,844
I spent a few days resting...
428
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,960
then set off to walk along the
coast of Calais where we had
arranged to meet at the ferry.
429
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,010
I visited some friends I hadn't seen
for several years...
430
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:38,489
and spent a weekend with Bray-Dunes,
where I lived In the early 1970s.
431
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,490
Freight through Dover has increased
tenfold since 1965.
432
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:17,164
Despite the tunnel, over half the UK's
international goods vehicle traffic...
433
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,365
still runs through the port.
One million vehicles per year.
434
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,329
Nationally, roll-on roll-off traffic
is about equal to that in containers...
435
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,444
but the rate of increase
has been much greater.
436
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,010
It's always difficult
coming back to England.
437
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:47,842
But we were expected in Brighton,
and soon forgot our bad thoughts.
438
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,921
The Victory, Nelson's flagship
is preserved at Portsmouth...
439
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,647
and is the principal monument
of the 18th century British Navy...
440
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,446
the largest industrial unlit of its day
in the western world...
441
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,565
on whose supremacy was built
the capitalism of land...
442
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:32,169
finance and commercial services
centred on the city of London...
443
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,523
which dominates the economy
of the south of England.
444
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:38,765
Those of us aesthetes
445
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,771
who view the passing of the visible
industrial economy with regret...
446
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,770
and who longed for
an authenticity of appearance...
447
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,441
based on manufacturing
and innovative modern design...
448
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,881
are inclined to view
this English culture...
449
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,890
as a bizarre and damaging anachronism.
450
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,050
But if so, it is not an unsuccessful one.
451
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,849
Our visit to Portsmouth coincided with
that of a group of Sandhurst cadets.
452
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,527
In the afternoon, we visited Southampton,
home port of the Titanic...
453
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,449
where the Spitfire was developed...
454
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,451
and the new dark fibre optic
were invented at the University.
455
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,731
"A sea port ls a pleasant
place for a soul...
456
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:37,128
"worn out with life's struggles,"
says Baudelaire.
457
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:41,281
"The wide expanse of the sky,
the mobile clouds...
458
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,730
"the ever-changing colours of the sea..."
459
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,688
A ship like the P&O's Colombo Bay
has a crew of 20...
460
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,770
and carries up to 4,200 containers...
461
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,726
each one of which may be
the full load of an articulated lorry.
462
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:07,567
The M3 at Twyford Down had opened
in the previous October.
463
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,407
At Newbury, the bypass
had been confirmed...
464
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,444
a few days after
the Tory leadership election...
465
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,325
and people were already
living in the trees.
466
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,041
Towards Dorchester,
we passed Charborough Park.
467
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,841
Col Henry Drax left Yorkshire after
the Civil War and settled in Barbados...
468
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:32,126
where, in a few years,
from £300 in sugar plantations...
469
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,246
he acquired an estate
of £8,000 to £9,000 a year.
470
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,001
His successor married the heiress
of the Earls of Charborough.
471
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,004
Following the Enclosure Acts...
472
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,920
agricultural wages in Dorset had dropped
to nine shillings a week.
473
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:52,931
George Loveless and others tried
to get the wages increased...
474
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,646
but they were lowered to six shillings.
475
00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,210
"We have injured no man's reputation,
character, person or property.
476
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,605
'"We were uniting together to protect
ourselves, our wives and our children...
477
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,530
"from utter degradation and starvation."
478
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,171
In England, 1.1% of employees
work in agriculture.
479
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,771
A coffee shop assistant at Tesco
eans £3.53 an hour.
480
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,407
We very often ate in supermarkets.
481
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,000
For the provincial spy
or anyone in a hurry...
482
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:26,363
who needs petrol, parking,
telephone, postal services...
483
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:31,247
clean toilets and palatable food,
there's really no practical alternative.
484
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,604
On the other side of Dorchester
is Poundbury...
485
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:42,922
the project of the Prince of Wales...
486
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,726
which with the magazine Perspectives
and the Institute of Architecture...
487
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:51,482
is the outcome of his 10-year opposition
to contemporary architecture.
488
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,325
The project was planned,
apparently with some difficulties...
489
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:57,408
by the architect Leon Krier...
490
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,411
and has been executed by the Percy Thomas
Partnership of Cardiff.
491
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:23,087
Our arrival in Yeovil
coincided with that of Tim Eggar...
492
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,443
the Trade and Industry minister,
who was to announce that...
493
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,769
Westland had been awarded
a £25 billion order...
494
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,009
to build American attack helicopters
for the Army...
495
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:38,001
in preference to the domestic options
offered by British Aerospace and GEC.
496
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,091
Westland is new owned by GKN.
497
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,845
For the rest of the day, we looked
at some non-agricultural land uses.
498
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:55,003
We knew of six Jane Austen
film or television adaptations underway...
499
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:58,966
all involving country houses,
mostly in the west of England.
500
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:03,042
Sense and Sensibility was made
at Montacute.
501
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:09,767
We called at Worthy Farm near
Glastonbury where the festival
site was being cleared...
502
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,084
and Halecombe Quarry at Leigh-on-Mendip.
503
00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,005
The DOE believes that
the demand for aggregates...
504
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,010
could more than double
in the next 20 years.
505
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,649
On the 14th July,
we reached the Bristol Channel.
506
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,725
We were expected at the Portbury Dock.
507
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:56,406
Bristol imports more cars
than any other port in the UK...
508
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,644
and had the best PR of
any port we visited.
509
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:04,325
Bristol is closer to the enormous markets
of the Americas, Australia...
510
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,683
and the Pacific rim
than any other port in the UK.
511
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:12,681
The port of Bristol is the only major
UK port to employ a permanent workforce.
512
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,926
There were 60,000 cars at Portbury...
513
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,409
ready for the new registration year
on August 1st...
514
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:27,048
including many Daewoos from South Korea,
new on the UK market.
515
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,971
Two weeks later, we came back
again to visit the automated
plasterboard factory...
516
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:42,449
on the coal stockyard to which material:
are conveyed directly from the ships.
517
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,890
The coal is mostly
from Richard's Bay in South Africa...
518
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,651
and is carried to power stations by train.
519
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,086
In Bristol, we visited
the LLandoger Trow...
520
00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:01,001
where Defoe is supposed to
have met Alexander Selkirk,
the real Robinson Crusoe.
521
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,648
LLandoger Trow was a boat that carried
coal to Bristol from South Wales
522
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,480
In Richard Jeffries' After London...
523
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,809
the red rocks of Bristol
are the western extremity...
524
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,129
of the lake that has covered
most of southern England...
525
00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:24,049
and the Severn is silted up.
526
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:27,887
Robinson had been
most affected by the book...
527
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,685
which we'd heard one night
being read on the radio...
528
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,882
and had mistaken for a documentary.
529
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:40,247
Although it was then the hottest day of
the year, we walked out onto the bridge.
530
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,081
In the afternoon, we visited Filton.
531
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,806
Our employer had given Robinson a copy...
532
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:07,369
of Capitalism, Culture and
Decline In Britain, 1750-1990...
533
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:09,688
by W.D. Rubinstein...
534
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:14,488
who notes the close and harmonious
connection before 1832...
535
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:19,641
between city finance, land,
the professions and the government...
536
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:24,722
as contractor, loan agent and originator
of old corruption...
537
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,322
the extraordinary system
of lucrative perquisites...
538
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,321
which came to fortunate aristocrats,
government employees and their relatives.
539
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:38,649
The British government itself acted
as the central matrix of this system...
540
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:43,528
directly through contracts and perquisite,
indirectly by maintaining...
541
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,645
British control of the seas,
the Empire and the balance of power.
542
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,205
"Britain's role as the world's
fifth largest trading nation...
543
00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,327
"is essential for its economic
well-being," said Lord
Mackey, the Lord Chancellor...
544
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:07,009
during the first reading
of the Intelligence Services Bill in 1993.
545
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:09,850
It was very hot.
546
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:21,323
The Defence Evaluation
and Research Agency at Malvern...
547
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:26,288
is a world centre for liquid crystal
and semiconductor research.
548
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,891
"They talk much of mines
of gold and silver," said Defoe...
549
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,766
"which are certainly to be found here,
if they were but looked for...
550
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,167
"and that Malvern would outdo Potosi."
551
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:43,727
It was the driest summer
since records began.
552
00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,803
We wanted to have a look
at Blakenhurst Prison near Redditch...
553
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,321
run by UK Detention Services...
554
00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:00,490
one of six Bullingdon type prisons
based on an original design...
555
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,001
by Building Design Partnership.
556
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:08,205
Merry Hill near Dudley
is the largest shopping centre in Europe.
557
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,650
More than four and a half million people
are within 65 minutes drlve.
558
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,011
It is connected to the nearby
waterfront development by a monorail...
559
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,283
though this was not operating
on the day of our visit.
560
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:25,564
At the top of the hill are the offices
of the Child Support Agency.
561
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,851
The waterfront and Merry Hill
were built on the site...
562
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,566
of the former Round Oak Steel Works.
563
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:39,281
Merry Hill attracts 25 million
shopping visits a year...
564
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,564
and its effects are felt
in towns 200 miles away.
565
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,531
Robinson wanted to visit Halesowen...
566
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:28,486
to see the factory where
the supergun parts have been produced.
567
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,121
We were both ill
from the cumulative effects...
568
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:36,244
of months of bad food
and living in hotels...
569
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,282
and were becoming seriously worried
about the weather.
570
00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:53,650
Robinson imagined
the entire landscape occupied...
571
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,969
in manufacturing goods for export
to the Middle East.
572
00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:04,084
The West Midlands are traditionally
the region where elections are decided.
573
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,051
In the Dudley West by-election
the previous December...
574
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:13,131
Labour's winning share of the vote had
been their biggest in any by-election...
575
00:43:13,240 --> 00:43:15,641
in a Tory seat since 1933.
576
00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:22,803
On August 11th,
we reached West Bromwich...
577
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,163
where we had come to see
the headquarters of Hyundai, UK...
578
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:30,126
which is part-owned by a company
called International Motors.
579
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,443
Their Phoenix International
Industrial Estate...
580
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,245
is next to the factory
of Phoenix Drawn Tube.
581
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,400
In an essay by the geographer
Doreen Massey, we had read:
582
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,611
"Amid the Ridley Scott visions
of world cities...
583
00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:50,647
"the writing about skyscraper fortresses,
Baudrillard visions of hyperspace...
584
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:55,045
"most people still live in places
like Halston or West Bromwich."
585
00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:01,569
Across the road is a chemical
manufacturing company
called Robinson Brothers.
586
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:07,129
Robinson introduced himself
to the managing director
and explained our project.
587
00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:12,087
We were very generously looked after for
the next two weeks while we convalesced.
588
00:44:15,720 --> 00:44:18,929
"Much of life, for many people,"
read Robinson...
589
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:21,441
"even in the heart of the first world...
590
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,609
"consists of waiting in a bus shelter
with your shopping...
591
00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:26,927
"for a bus that never comes."
592
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,205
The bus shelter was opposite the promises
of Smallmen Lubricants.
593
00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:36,883
When the bus finally arrived,
Robinson had disappeared...
594
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,846
to a sexual encounter with a stranger
he contacted through the internet...
595
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,531
while we were waiting at the bus stop.
596
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:48,045
Our employer had equipped us with
a notebook computer and a mobile phone.
597
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,729
We walked over to the Hiatt Works
in Great Barr.
598
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,970
Hiatt is one of the oldest firms
in Birmingham.
599
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,807
Established In 1780
in the era of the slave trade...
600
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,082
who make handcuffs and other items...
601
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:09,683
and whose name recently still appeared
on leg irons used in Saudi prisons.
602
00:45:10,720 --> 00:45:13,849
Robinson went in
and bought a pair of handcuffs.
603
00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:19,130
Beneath Spaghetti Junction,
we met a man with a dog...
604
00:45:19,240 --> 00:45:22,403
who said he'd been paid
for denouncing illegal immigrants...
605
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,603
who'd been working on repairs
to the structure.
606
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,769
We were very relieved to reach the
Jaguar body plant at Castle Bromwich...
607
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:35,647
where Ford had secured government
investment for X-200 small saloon.
608
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:41,164
This is the factory where thousands of
Spitfires were built during World War ll.
609
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:45,486
The next day, we left Birmingham.
610
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,290
Neither of us knows
anything about Johnson...
611
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:53,530
except that The Anatomy of
Melancholy was the only book
that ever took him out of bed...
612
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,405
two hours earlier than he wanted to rise.
613
00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:02,208
We crossed the River Trent
to Burton where we stayed the
night and woke up very early.
614
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:05,201
[Fast-paced instrumental music]
615
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:43,410
The day we arrived in Derby...
616
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:48,003
Rolls Royce announced half year profits up
43% to £70 million...
617
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,762
though the chairman would not rule out
more job losses...
618
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:53,848
and the shares fell 8%.
619
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:59,881
"The English are acknowledged
world leaders in fetishism and S&M"'...
620
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,923
Robinson road in the paper.
621
00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,730
The only company in the world that makes
latex sheeting suitable for fetish wear...
622
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:08,922
is based in Derbyshire.
623
00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:12,644
We wanted to visit Robin Hood's Well,
near Eastwood...
624
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,730
but the Wood had been fenced off
by the owner.
625
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:19,244
We did not go any further
in this direction.
626
00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:21,802
We turned towards the northwest...
627
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:26,403
and the next morning set off towards
Liverpool, following the Derwent Valley.
628
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:29,245
[Fast-paced instrumental music resumes]
629
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:00,763
[Birds calling]
630
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:28,888
Tesco is still expanding
in the north of England.
631
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:33,409
The distribution centre at Middlewich
holds 43 million cases...
632
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:36,603
about 9 days' stock for 120 stores...
633
00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,445
and delivers as far away as Gateshead.
634
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:44,208
Six more superstores are scheduled to open
in the north by May 1997.
635
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:47,685
[Fast-paced instrumental music resumes]
636
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:05,650
On September 4th, we arrived in Liverpool.
637
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,931
In the statistics for 1993...
638
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:13,164
the Mersey Dock and Harbour Company
wee the most profitable...
639
00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:15,442
of any port authority listed.
640
00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:19,403
In the last 30 years,
Liverpool's traffic has fluctuated...
641
00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:21,727
more than that of any other UK port.
642
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,804
It is now about the same as in 1965...
643
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:27,321
three times more than in the early '80s...
644
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,887
and Liverpool is one of
the biggest ports in England.
645
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:59,084
Liverpool imports coal for Powergen
from the USA and Columbia...
646
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:02,170
and exports enormous tonnages of scrap...
647
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,681
mostly to the Far East and Spain.
648
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:37,608
The company did not want us
to photograph the scrap.
649
00:50:37,720 --> 00:50:41,805
Not long after our visit,
they sacked 329 dock workers...
650
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,491
for refusing to cross a picket line.
651
00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:47,763
When dockers in New York
began secondary protests...
652
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:49,848
the ACL container line...
653
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:54,085
said it would leave Liverpool
unless the lock-out there was ended.
654
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:58,524
And the Mersey Company's share value
dropped by £70 million.
655
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:04,122
The biggest shareholder
in the Mersey Dock and Harbour Company...
656
00:51:04,240 --> 00:51:05,844
is the Treasury.
657
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,245
Our next appointments were in Warrington.
658
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:15,761
The Thorn Cross
Young Offender institution...
659
00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:19,362
which had been chosen to become
the first US-style boot camp...
660
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:23,451
and the KinderCare Nursery,
the first to open in the UK.
661
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:28,804
KinderCare runs over a thousand centres
in 38 American states.
662
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,810
Warrington is near the crossing point
of two motorways...
663
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:37,129
and has attracted many
large distribution centres.
664
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,649
We stayed the night in a
Whitbread Travel Inn near Wigan...
665
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:43,081
that had opened the previous week.
666
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:44,964
Our rooms were quite new.
667
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:47,926
No one had ever stayed in them before.
668
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:58,362
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
opened on September 18th, 1830.
669
00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:02,687
Robinson took me to see the memorial
to William Huskisson...
670
00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:05,451
the Cabinet Minister
who was knocked down by the rocket...
671
00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:09,042
as it passed the dignitaries
gathered for the occasion.
672
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:15,729
British Coal closed
Parkside Colliery in 1993...
673
00:52:16,120 --> 00:52:20,409
and cleared the site after
an 18-month-long women's protest vigil.
674
00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:25,125
They proposed a massive distribution
centre for Morrison's Supermarket...
675
00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:27,925
with 5,000 vehicle movements daily.
676
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:32,441
The coal used to go by train
to Fiddler's' Ferry Power Station...
677
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:36,724
which is now supplied from the terminal
we'd seen in Liverpool Docks.
678
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:41,171
We had lunch in a brand new
Marks and Spencer...
679
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:43,362
on the edge of Warrington.
680
00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,328
Robinson told me he had a relative...
681
00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:02,728
who emigrated to Canada
from Warrington in 1935.
682
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:07,889
He walked to the locks at Latchford and
boarded one of the Manchester liners...
683
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,083
that sailed to the Great Lakes
until the late '70s.
684
00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:20,483
We arrived in Manchester
on September 19th.
685
00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:23,130
In 1937...
686
00:53:23,240 --> 00:53:26,767
Turing published his paper
on computable numbers.
687
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:31,127
Two years later, he joined the Code
and Cipher School at Bletchley Park...
688
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,528
in the team that cracked
the German Navy's Enigma Code...
689
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:38,201
so that convoys could dodge
U-boats in the North Atlantic.
690
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:42,128
He continued his computer work
at Manchester University...
691
00:53:42,240 --> 00:53:46,006
becoming Director of
the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine.
692
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:48,569
In 1954...
693
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:51,491
a police investigation
of a burglary at his home...
694
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:54,524
led to his being charged
with gross indecency.
695
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:58,246
He pleaded guilty
and was put on probation...
696
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:01,648
on condition that he submitted
to hormone treatment.
697
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:04,611
Shortly afterwards, he killed himself...
698
00:54:04,720 --> 00:54:07,485
by eating en apple
impregnated with cyanide.
699
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:09,885
He was 42.
700
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:13,370
[Solemn instrumental music]
701
00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:59,846
Murray's Mill in Ancoats
was built in 1798.
702
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,845
It is the world's oldest
steam-driven mill...
703
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:06,487
and as such,
is described as the first factory.
704
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:11,282
Engels visited Ancoats
frequently in 1842...
705
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:15,121
when working for the firm of
Erman and Engels in Manchester.
706
00:55:15,600 --> 00:55:18,444
His Condition of the Working Class
in England...
707
00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:21,325
was published in 1845 in Leipzig...
708
00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:24,046
but not in Britain until 1892.
709
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:29,930
We stayed in another Travel Inn
at Milnrow, near Rochdale...
710
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:32,202
which had been open for about a month.
711
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:36,882
These places always seem to be hosting
conferences for their own executives.
712
00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:41,851
John Milne was a civil engineer
with a passion for volcanoes.
713
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:44,403
He travelled overland to Tokyo...
714
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:47,330
where he was Professor
of Geology and Mining...
715
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:49,761
and developed the seismograph.
716
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:53,202
He wrote many books,
including some science fiction.
717
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,526
We had ascended the Pennines
at Blackstone Edge...
718
00:55:57,640 --> 00:55:59,927
by the route of Daniel Defoe.
719
00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:13,169
When we arrived at Yorkshire Waters
Reservoir near Ripponden...
720
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:17,365
there were 24 tankers waiting to
load water to be taken into Halifax.
721
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:21,611
At the time,
there were altogether 40 lorries...
722
00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:24,644
working from this
reservoir, 24 hours a day.
723
00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:56,928
Later in the year, there were
as many as 1,000 tankers...
724
00:56:57,240 --> 00:56:59,322
moving water in West Yorkshire.
725
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:03,849
Near the treatment works in Halifax...
726
00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:06,361
someone told us
where they'd just seen another leak.
727
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:08,528
So we went and had a look.
728
00:57:29,280 --> 00:57:31,442
We had an appointment at the wind farm...
729
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:33,961
on Oxenhope Moor, above the town.
730
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:53,806
We're both very fond of Halifax.
731
00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:58,165
It was the first place
we'd had a decent cup of coffee in months.
732
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:28,768
At Saltaire, north of Bradford...
733
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:33,442
Pace Microtechnology make
digital television equipment for export...
734
00:58:33,720 --> 00:58:36,087
to the Far East and Australasia.
735
00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:41,441
The V&A never managed to
move their South Indian collection...
736
00:58:41,560 --> 00:58:45,246
to the Lister Mill in Bradford,
but the police station is new.
737
00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:50,726
In Leeds, the site of
the famous Quarry Hill flats...
738
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:53,923
is now occupied by
the Dept of Social Security.
739
00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:57,166
Junction 27 is a leisure park...
740
00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:01,968
Wakefield 41 is a distribution estate
where Morrison have their depots.
741
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:08,085
"On the threshold of our century,"
Henri Bergson wrote...
742
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:12,325
"If realty could immediately reach
our senses and our consciousness...
743
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:16,766
"if we could come into direct contact
with things and with each other...
744
00:59:16,920 --> 00:59:21,528
"probably art would be useless,
or rather, we should all be artists."
745
00:59:23,480 --> 00:59:26,962
While we were in Wakefield,
Robinson met someone who told him that...
746
00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:29,560
Bergson's mother came from Doncaster.
747
00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:33,201
There are three prisons in Doncaster.
748
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:37,848
The largest is run by a subsidiary of the
American Wackhut Corporation.
749
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:41,089
It has the cheapest cost per prisoner
in the UK...
750
00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:45,444
a non-union staff,
and a record of violence and chaos.
751
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:48,610
Doncaster prison was designed
by Seifert Limited.
752
00:59:50,880 --> 00:59:54,362
Bentley used to be one of the
most left-wing pits in Yorkshire.
753
00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:57,802
When it closed, it was producing
the UK's cheapest coal...
754
00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,651
undercutting oven Columbian imports.
755
01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:04,207
There were 600,000 tonnes
stock piled at the pit.
756
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:17,165
RJB owned 17 of the 31 surviving pits
and have contracts...
757
01:00:17,280 --> 01:00:20,523
with the power generators until 1998.
758
01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:25,364
There are 1,000 miners
still working in the industry...
759
01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:28,245
1% of the number in 1946.
760
01:00:29,840 --> 01:00:33,970
The advancement of Stella Remington,
MI5's former director...
761
01:00:34,120 --> 01:00:37,761
followed her role
directing sabotage of the miners' strike.
762
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:40,890
And the amateur interventions
of David Hart...
763
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:43,367
Old Etonian and former bankrupt...
764
01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:46,529
began with his funding
strike-breaking miners.
765
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:51,169
He is new unpaid advisor to Michael
Portillo at the Ministry of Defence.
766
01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:56,811
A third of all UK deep-mined coal
is burnt at Drax.
767
01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:00,926
Hugo Drax was James Bond's opponent
in Monnraker.
768
01:01:03,080 --> 01:01:05,845
On October 5th,
we entered the network area...
769
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:09,681
of Kingston Communications
on the north bank of the Humber.
770
01:01:19,360 --> 01:01:22,523
Kingston Communications
ls owned through the City Council...
771
01:01:22,640 --> 01:01:24,404
by the citizens of Hull.
772
01:01:25,360 --> 01:01:27,442
Robinson took me to the fish dock.
773
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:32,088
He had read how the Navy used to recruit
trawler men as unpaid spies.
774
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:37,525
Daniel Defoe was happy
to welcome William III to England.
775
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:42,330
This statue was erected
in the year 1734...
776
01:01:42,520 --> 01:01:46,002
to the memory of King William III,
our great deliverer.
777
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,562
Robinson and I are proud to recollect
our own experiences...
778
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:52,728
of the glorious revolution.
779
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:59,528
Robinson Crusoe sailed from Hull
on September 1st, 1651.
780
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:05,881
Kingston Communications
has invented in a satellite...
781
01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:08,651
and has a worker-director on its board.
782
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:13,606
William Wilberforce was
born in Hull In 1759.
783
01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:18,923
Hull is the eastern English port
on the Dublin to Berlin motorway.
784
01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:22,320
In the last century,
the traffic was the other way...
785
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:25,967
as more than a million emigrants
from Central and Eastern Europe...
786
01:02:26,080 --> 01:02:29,766
passed through the port on their way
to Liverpool in the new world.
787
01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:33,805
Many settled in Yorkshire,
including perhaps the Levisons...
788
01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:37,163
whose daughter Catherine
wee Henri Bergson's mother.
789
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:49,681
We crossed the estuary to Immingham.
790
01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:54,368
To materialists like us, lmmingham is
the second largest port in the UK.
791
01:02:54,600 --> 01:02:57,649
And yet, there are few ships
and we saw no seafarers.
792
01:02:57,760 --> 01:03:01,731
Ships come in and out on a single tide,
no one has time to get off.
793
01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:10,848
Volvo, Saab and BMW import cars...
794
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:13,964
but most of the traffic is in
bulk fuel and iron ore...
795
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:16,401
which involves very little labour.
796
01:03:16,560 --> 01:03:20,565
Three million tonnes of coal a year
are imported through Immingham.
797
01:04:40,200 --> 01:04:45,047
Hull's biggest private sector employer
is British Aerospace at Brough...
798
01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:48,364
where it builds Hawks
for export to Indonesia.
799
01:04:49,520 --> 01:04:53,923
We visited Scarborough to confirm the
details of Rimbaud's promontory palace.
800
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:57,403
Rimbaud was in Java in 1876.
801
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:03,089
In the afternoon, we sat on a bench
outside St Mary's Church, Whitby.
802
01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:10,524
It is about 100 years since the Demeter
arrived in Whitby Harbour...
803
01:05:10,880 --> 01:05:15,727
It's 50 great wooden boxes of earth
were consigned to Mr. Samuel Billington...
804
01:05:16,120 --> 01:05:20,091
a Whitby solicitor, who had them sent
on to Purfleet by train.
805
01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:26,448
Capt. James Cook began his career
as ship's boy on the Freelove.
806
01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:40,127
On the evening of the 11th of October,
we arrived in Redcar.
807
01:05:46,960 --> 01:05:51,807
British Steel's plant at Redcar is one of
the four major steel works in the country.
808
01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:54,844
It produces 70,000
tonnes of steel a week...
809
01:05:55,080 --> 01:05:58,607
70% of which is exported,
much of it to the Far East...
810
01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:00,802
and employs hardly any people.
811
01:06:01,240 --> 01:06:03,641
The steel industry's
current export surplus...
812
01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:06,445
is about three quarters
of a billion pounds.
813
01:06:07,600 --> 01:06:10,968
Wilton is one the biggest
chemical production sites in Europe.
814
01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:14,011
It produces about 40
intermediate products.
815
01:06:14,240 --> 01:06:18,609
The chemical industry's export surplus
is about £4 billion.
816
01:06:20,360 --> 01:06:25,207
The service sector's share of exports
has declined since 1960
817
01:06:25,360 --> 01:06:29,206
as a result of the mere extinction
of the merchant shipping fleet.
818
01:06:30,360 --> 01:06:33,489
The Tees is the UK's biggest single port.
819
01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:35,887
It imports iron ore and coal...
820
01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:39,129
and exports oil and petroleum products.
821
01:07:22,520 --> 01:07:27,003
Unemployment in Middlesbrough is 17%,
the highest in the country...
822
01:07:27,240 --> 01:07:31,245
which has the least regulated labour
market in the industrialised world...
823
01:07:31,360 --> 01:07:34,967
and the highest prison population
of any country in Europe.
824
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:50,643
We stopped to watch the Queen arrive
at the Samsung site at Wynyard Perk.
825
01:08:02,760 --> 01:08:05,604
With £58 million of government aid...
826
01:08:05,880 --> 01:08:09,566
Samsung have invested
£450 million in a plant...
827
01:08:09,720 --> 01:08:12,690
which employs between
500 and 600 people...
828
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:15,969
producing microwave ovens
and computer monitors.
829
01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:19,367
There was a small demonstration
by their committee...
830
01:08:19,480 --> 01:08:22,006
to defend socialism in South Korea.
831
01:08:35,080 --> 01:08:37,845
Wynyard Park is the
estate of Sir John Hall...
832
01:08:37,960 --> 01:08:40,804
the developer of
the Gateshead Metro Centre.
833
01:08:41,200 --> 01:08:45,922
He bought it in 1981 for £3 million
from the Marquis of Londonderry...
834
01:08:46,200 --> 01:08:48,521
whose family were formerly coal owners...
835
01:08:48,640 --> 01:08:52,850
and has developed golf courses,
housing estates and a hotel...
836
01:08:53,120 --> 01:08:55,566
which was not the one we stayed in.
837
01:09:06,040 --> 01:09:09,328
In the morning,
we travelled south to Shandy Hall.
838
01:09:09,880 --> 01:09:14,807
Here dwelt Laurence Sterne,
many years incumbent of Coxwold.
839
01:09:15,200 --> 01:09:18,841
Here he wrote Tristram Shandy
and A Sentimental Journey.
840
01:09:19,400 --> 01:09:22,006
He died in London in 1768.
841
01:09:25,360 --> 01:09:26,964
Near Harrogate, we passed...
842
01:09:27,080 --> 01:09:31,130
the US National Security Agency's
installation at Menwith Hill.
843
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:35,241
This is the largest signals
intelligence base in the world...
844
01:09:35,360 --> 01:09:38,648
and eavesdrops telephone
and other communications.
845
01:09:38,880 --> 01:09:42,521
Some of the most sensitive of which
concern the exploitation...
846
01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:44,842
of Buckminsterfullerenes.
847
01:09:48,680 --> 01:09:51,411
Robinson is beginning to act strangely.
848
01:09:52,480 --> 01:09:55,689
As we came down from the Pennines,
we passed Samlesbury...
849
01:09:55,960 --> 01:09:58,406
and he tried to get past the security.
850
01:10:00,280 --> 01:10:03,409
In Preston, he went to
another British Aerospace plant...
851
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:05,529
but it had been demolished.
852
01:10:06,080 --> 01:10:08,651
He kept trying to tell
me about David Hart...
853
01:10:08,840 --> 01:10:11,844
and his attempts to get the MID
to abandon the Tornado...
854
01:10:11,960 --> 01:10:14,770
and lease second-hand F-16s...
855
01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:16,929
about Gothic cathedrals...
856
01:10:17,240 --> 01:10:21,962
and that Hollywood had overtaken
aerospace as the leading US export.
857
01:10:23,560 --> 01:10:26,131
On the evening of 23rd of October...
858
01:10:26,360 --> 01:10:29,443
he told me he was going out to steal
a piece of equipment...
859
01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,291
from one of the Saudi Arabian Tornadoes.
860
01:10:34,240 --> 01:10:36,766
Blackpool is Robinson's home town.
861
01:10:37,200 --> 01:10:39,043
His parents used to have a nursery...
862
01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:42,323
which specialised in
strains of giant vegetables.
863
01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:46,362
He explained that life on earth
evolved after the arrival...
864
01:10:46,480 --> 01:10:48,926
of Buckminsterfullerenes in meteorites.
865
01:10:58,080 --> 01:11:01,801
He showed me where the Wellington Bomber
was built with the geodetic structure...
866
01:11:01,920 --> 01:11:03,684
invented by Barnes Wallis.
867
01:11:05,760 --> 01:11:08,411
We arrived in Blackpool
on the second day of Diwali...
868
01:11:08,520 --> 01:11:11,091
and the last week of the illuminations.
869
01:11:12,520 --> 01:11:16,605
Robinson says that Blackpool
holds the key to his Utopia.
870
01:12:57,080 --> 01:13:00,129
He often repeated
Chamfort's favourite saying:
871
01:13:00,640 --> 01:13:03,086
"In each man's life,
there comes the moment...
872
01:13:03,200 --> 01:13:06,921
"when his heart must either burst
or turn to stone."
873
01:13:13,520 --> 01:13:17,127
Blackpool stands between us
and revolution.
874
01:13:22,960 --> 01:13:25,611
Radiation levels in the
Irish Sea are higher...
875
01:13:25,720 --> 01:13:28,451
than in any sea, anywhere in the world.
876
01:13:29,040 --> 01:13:30,883
We cross the lrish Sea to Barrow...
877
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:34,482
where the third Trident submarine
was nearing completion.
878
01:13:37,840 --> 01:13:41,322
Robinson said he had to be in Newcastle
by the end of the week.
879
01:13:41,440 --> 01:13:44,489
Then he said he needed a day off
to visit a relation.
880
01:13:58,520 --> 01:14:01,364
He took me to the dump at Drigg
where radioactive waste...
881
01:14:01,480 --> 01:14:04,051
is stored in deteriorating conditions...
882
01:14:04,400 --> 01:14:07,449
and to the site
whore Nirex is proposing to build...
883
01:14:07,560 --> 01:14:11,884
an underground repository for plutonium
and other high-level waste.
884
01:14:14,480 --> 01:14:18,963
At Sellafield, the 1963 reactors'
heat exchangers...
885
01:14:19,200 --> 01:14:23,410
were being removed as the first stage
of dismantling the reactor.
886
01:14:23,840 --> 01:14:27,003
The Thorpe reprocessing plant
had finally started up...
887
01:14:27,120 --> 01:14:29,361
In February 1995.
888
01:14:30,040 --> 01:14:34,090
He said it was unlikely ever
to be even an economic proposition.
889
01:14:35,320 --> 01:14:38,722
He told me that the plutonium aftermath
of the nuclear industry...
890
01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:42,083
will remain lethal
for quarter of a million years.
891
01:14:42,840 --> 01:14:44,524
At Wordsworth's birthplace...
892
01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:47,803
I thought he was going to go in
and register a complaint.
893
01:14:49,320 --> 01:14:51,482
On the 30th of October, without warning...
894
01:14:51,600 --> 01:14:54,285
we were told
our contracts had been terminated...
895
01:14:54,400 --> 01:14:59,088
and we heard on the car radio that
a Tornado had crashed in the North Sea.
896
01:15:01,720 --> 01:15:05,691
I cannot tell you where Robinson
finally found his Utopia.
897
01:15:10,320 --> 01:15:12,926
[Birds chirping]
898
01:16:19,600 --> 01:16:21,887
[Solemn instrumental music]
899
01:17:08,240 --> 01:17:10,447
[Music intensifies]
900
01:17:19,080 --> 01:17:21,970
[Solemn instrumental music continues]
82887
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.
Afrikaans
Akan
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bemba
Bengali
Bihari
Bosnian
Breton
Bulgarian
Cambodian
Catalan
Cebuano
Cherokee
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Faroese
Finnish
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Guarani
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Kazakh
Kinyarwanda
Kirundi
Kongo
Korean
Krio (Sierra Leone)
Kurdish
Kyrgyz
Laothian
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Luganda
Luo
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Maltese
Maori
Mauritian Creole
Moldavian
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Montenegrin
Nepali
Norwegian
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Quechua
Romanian
Romansh
Russian
Samoan
Scots Gaelic
Serbian
Sesotho
Setswana
Seychellois Creole
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhalese
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish (Latin American)
Swedish
Tajik
Thai
Tigrinya
Tonga
Turkish
Turkmen
Ukrainian
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Wolof