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Today, Britain stands at a fork
in its crossroads.

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And its people are asking questions.

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Now we've got our country back,
what actually is it?

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Who are we? And why?

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The best way to find out
where Britain's heading

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is to look behind us
<font color="

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A sort of "rear view mirror"
for time.

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So that's where I'm going.

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Back there.

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It's a journey that'll take me
the length

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and width of the country,
from the White Cliffs of Dovver

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<font color="
of the Scottish Highlands.

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From old stone circles
to modern stone circles.

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From the tranquil beauty
of Roman Bath to the

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Golden Wonder of Oxford Services.

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I'll discover how we went
<font color="

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why Elizabeth the First happened,

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and solving the mystery of just who
Winston Churchill was,

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and why he wound up helplessly
trapped inside this banknote.

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Along the way, I'll be
shouting at helicopters

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<font color="
events in British history,

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and asking people about them.

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In War II, why did the British
build bombers to attack
their own territory?

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How do you mean?

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Well, the Lancaster Bombers.

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<font color="
impressive with my mouth shut

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while my voice speaks anyway like
I'm talking aloud in my own head.

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All of it taking place in this
sceptered isle we call home.

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So join me, Philomena Cunk,
as I take you right up

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<font color="
of Great Kingdom.

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This is Cunk On Britain.

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This programme contains
some strong language

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In the last episode,
we saw how Britain

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was invaded by the Victorians,

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who fought and won
<font color="

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but not without losing their leader,
Queen Victoria,

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who stopped happening
just as the 20th century began.

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Now, as well as a new century,

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Britain had a new monarch,
King Edward,

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who, despite his name,
<font color="

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Edward's coronation was a grand
affair, celebrated with a song that

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was to become Britain's unofficial
theme tune - Land Of 'Ope And Glory.

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This melodic musical tune
<font color="

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British composers
this side of Ed Sheeran - El-Gar.

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Who was El-gar?
He sounds sort of rough.

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Was he a caveman or something?

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No, Elgar was a composer
in the late 19th century.

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<font color="
a new tune, how do they sort

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of convert it into orchestra mode
so it's being played by instruments?

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He probably, when he composed it
and notated it out and had

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the sound in his head, he would
then what's called orchestrate it.

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<font color="
for the different instruments

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and then he'd hand that over to
an orchestra and they would play it.

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How do the instruments know
what to play, though?

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Because it was all written out
for them. Their little part
<font color="

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and all the little parts
join together.

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So the instruments have
people attached to them? They do.

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So what's Land Of Hope And Glory
all about? What's its core message?

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Well, it's a patriotic song.

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<font color="
the drum for Britain, really.

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If you sang it in, like, Portuguese,
would it still feel British

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or would that just fucking ruin it?

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Well, it wouldn't have any meaning,
but you might get that it

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sounded like it was supposed to stir
<font color="

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Mm. ..or what it was about.

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So, it's sort of like Three Lions,
isn't it,

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by The Lightning Seeds with
Frank Skinner and David Baddiel?

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It is. But less catchy.

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<font color="
could save the new monarch

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from an early death, and in 1910
King Edward died, and was buried

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beneath the soil, to rule over his
fellow potatoes for all eternity.

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Little did he know it at the time,
but he'd narrowly avoided tragedy

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<font color="
just a few years later in 1914,

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Britain suffered the first
of many 20th century shocks.

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Nowadays, "first world" is something
you put in front of the word problem

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to show that it isn't really that
bad, like running out of couscous

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<font color="
in a tunnel.

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But back then, "first world"
was what they called the war.

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The First World War
had loads of nicknames -

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the war to end all wars, the Great
War, and, of course, World War I.

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<font color="
"World War I"?

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It's quite pessimistic numbering,
isn't it?

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Or did they just know it was
the start of a franchise?

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At the time they weren't
numbering the wars,

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although I think that in the
<font color="

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being a Great War denoting the sheer
scale of the conflict the, urm,

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the casualty rate was already
becoming used quite a lot.

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So it was called the Great War,
but not because it was great.

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The First World War was
<font color="

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Franz Ferdinand.

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You've probably never heard of him.

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Or the band named after him.

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But he was dead important.

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By which I mean he was only
important when he was dead.

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His assassination triggered
<font color="

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Soon it caught on,
and everyone wanted to be killed.

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It was a bigger craze than
fidget spinners.

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Eventually, Britain got sucked
into the fighting and men queued up

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to have their flat caps converted
<font color="

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Soon, hundreds of thousands
of Tommies were heading for battle.

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Why were all the British soldiers
in World War I called Tommy?

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Was that just a coincidence?

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No, it wasn't a coincidence, it's
just a general name that became

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<font color="
in the same way

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we talk of Fritz as being
a generic name for German soldiers.

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What happened in Norman's Land?

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Were only people that were called
Norman allowed in there?

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Well, it's not Norman's Land,
<font color="

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and the idea being that this is
particularly dangerous territory

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between the lines of the Germans
on one side and the British
on the other.

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This is essentially
just a killing zone,

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a very dangerous zone
<font color="

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Why did they fire shells
at each other?

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Cos shells wouldn't really hurt,
would they?

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Unless they were those
razor clam shells.

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Cos they're quite sharp,
aren't they?

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<font color="
were heavy pieces of ordinance.

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We're actually talking about bits
of metal in brass casing

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so that's where the name
shells comes from.

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Oh, right.

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Looking at footage from the time,
<font color="

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how brutal it must've been for Tommy
and Norman, because it's in black

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and white and everyone's moving too
fast, probably to avoid the shells.

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Even though it looks
a bit like Charlie Chaplin,

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it's actually not funny at all,
<font color="

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Just like with Charlie Chaplin.

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One man who vividly captured
the sheer horror of War One

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was the poet Wilfred Owen.

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If in some smothering dreams
you too could pace

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Behind the wagon
that we flung him in

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<font color="
in his face

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His hanging face,
like a devil's sick of sin;

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If you could hear,
at every jolt, the blood

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Come gargling from the
froth-corrupted lungs,

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Obscene as cancer,
<font color="

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Of vile, incurable sores
on innocent tongues...

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You get the gist.

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..My friend...

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As if the killing wasn't bad enough,

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the accommodation was scarcely worth
two stars on TripAdvisor.

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Soldiers had to live in trenches -
<font color="

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cramped corridors of filth and
squalor, without so much as a patio.

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The World War I trenches
weren't the right place for
conventional warfare, were they?

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But why did neither side
think about mud wrestling?

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<font color="
conditions, aren't they?

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Well, I mean, trench warfare
wasn't new.

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I think that whilst you will get
the occasional game of

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Christmas football, I don't think
that anyone actually ever thought

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<font color="
and having mud wrestling
competitions

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was ever going to sort anything out.

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I think they missed a trick,
don't you?

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Eventually, the war ended at
11 o'clock on the 11th hour

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<font color="
in the year

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11 19 11 18.

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Hence the term,
"stopping for elevenses".

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The soldiers came home to a Britain
they could hardly recognise,

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because it was wearing a skirt.

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While the Tommies had been
<font color="

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women had stepped
into their old jobs.

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There were women milkmen.

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Women postmen.

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Women bus driver men.

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Even women male prostitutes.

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What's more, the economy
was in a pickle.

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<font color="
found it almost impossible

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to sell their goods abroad,
because abroad was mainly rubble.

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There were strikes and marches
and a great depression.

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Things were shithouse bad.

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People needed escapism.

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<font color="
the age of mass entertainment
was just beginning.

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It was the Roaring Twenties.

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City streets were full of jazz
clubs, packed with

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Jeeveses and Woosters, and women
with Lego haircuts dancing like

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<font color="
their pants at a fancy dress party.

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And people who couldn't afford
to enjoy a roaring twenties

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for themselves could still watch
films of other people doing it,
at the newly-invented cinema.

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The cinema was a cross
<font color="

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Despite this, it was popular,
and people queued to get in.

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They showed Charlie Chaplin films,

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but even that couldn't keep them
away.

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The whole country went films
bonkers.

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Going to the cinema in those days
<font color="

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Because there was no sound,
the story was

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explained by words on the screen -
a bit like spoilers, but happening

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at the same time as you were
watching it, so not as annoying.

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And if you couldn't make it
<font color="

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you could still enjoy the jazz age,
because scientists had worked out

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a way to force jazz into your house,
using a magic called radio.

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Radio was an exciting new invention
that made it possible to hear

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other people's voices
<font color="

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without the use of thin walls
or a devastating mental condition.

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To help keep the early airwaves
in check, the Government created

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something called the British
Broadcasting Corporation - the BBC.

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How come the BBC started with radio,

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00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,320
<font color="
than television, isn't it?

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There are people in radio who would
get very angry about that.

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It's... I mean, radio still
performs tremendously well...

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There's still radio?

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00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:00,000
There is still radio.

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00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,520
<font color="
there wasn't a choice

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because there was no TV.

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00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:08,000
Luckily, a man called John Logie
Baird was about to give birth

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00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,880
to television -
not literally out of his vagina,

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00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,160
but metaphorically, out of his shed.

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00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:18,960
<font color="
like something out of Wallace and
Gromit, Baird's TV was finalised,

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00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,160
although idiotically, he'd
gone to the trouble of inventing it

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00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,120
without checking whether there were
any programmes on yet.

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00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,240
It took a while before there was
<font color="

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00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:28,840
putting your iPhone down for.

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00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,960
The earliest transmissions
looked like Abraham Lincoln

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00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,360
looming through a glass door,
and weren't very exciting.

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00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,360
Luckily, it was a short step from
there to the BBC's first

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00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:44,400
<font color="
TV's opening night ceremony.

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00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:46,120
Vision and sound are on.

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00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,200
The station goes on the air.

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00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:59,680
SHE SINGS

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00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,960
The show got a record audience
of 400 -

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the sort of viewing
figures BBC Four still dreams of.

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00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,600
<font color="
was causing controversy

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00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,960
from the start, and the powers
that be were suspicious of it.

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00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,720
Why did the Government
start the BBC in the first place?

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00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,640
It seems like these days they're
always trying to close it down.

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00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:25,360
<font color="
they made, like Brexit?

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00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,320
The Government
didn't strictly start the BBC.

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00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,000
The BBC was originally
a private company in 1922.

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00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,320
It employed a rather fierce
Scottish guy called John Reith.

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00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,840
<font color="
values and Reithian broadcasting.

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00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,040
Reithian values were to inform,
educate and entertain.

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00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:49,320
What, all at the same time?

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00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:50,400
Yeah.

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00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,600
Since those early days of black
and white tat,

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00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,080
the BBC has grown
<font color="

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00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,480
one of biggest programme-shitting
machines in the world,

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00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,320
making ground-breaking,
iconic programmes which still try to

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00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,880
inform, educate or entertain.

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00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,640
So the BBC's supposed to inform,
educate or entertain.

239
00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,240
<font color="

240
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:13,720
I'm going to list some BBC things
and I want you to say

241
00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:18,360
whether they inform, educate
or entertain.

242
00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:20,960
OK. News At Ten?

243
00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:22,760
Inform.

244
00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:24,480
Open University?

245
00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:25,600
Educate.

246
00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:26,720
Doctor Who?

247
00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:27,880
<font color="

248
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:29,680
Strictly Come Dancing?

249
00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:30,920
Entertain.

250
00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:32,240
Homes Under the Hammer?

251
00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:33,320
Entertain.

252
00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:35,000
Inspector Phillips?

253
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,480
What is Inspector Phillips?

254
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:38,760
Ah, I made that one up.

255
00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,240
That was just a trick question.

256
00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,160
<font color="

257
00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,960
Sounds real, though, doesn't it -
Inspector Phillips?

258
00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,240
No, I instantly
knew that it wasn't a real one. Oh!

259
00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:48,800
Eat Well For Less?

260
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:50,360
It's where Gregg Wallace

261
00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,280
and another man see how much
<font color="

262
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,760
and then criticise them and make
them eat porridge from Lidl.

263
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:00,960
Inform.

264
00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:02,560
Well done.

265
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:05,360
Sorry, I wasn't totting up
the scores. Thank you.

266
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,240
But this golden future of television
<font color="

267
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:13,400
Because back in 1939 times, the TV
signals were suddenly switched off,

268
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:17,360
because someone decided to start
another war to end all wars.

269
00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,040
When he became leader of Germany,
Adolf Hitler what

270
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,960
a funny-looking character with silly
<font color="

271
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,280
But he turned out to be a hateful
maniac who would let nothing

272
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,560
get in the way of his ambition,
a bit like Boris Johnson.

273
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,880
Hitler believed the Germans were
an elite race, like the Grand Prix.

274
00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,760
He also thought he owned Poland,

275
00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,560
<font color="
it back, Britain cried war.

276
00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,120
This country is at war with Germany.

277
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,640
Luckily, Britain had
a hero on its side,

278
00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:50,840
a man whose name will never
be forgotten.

279
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,680
Win-ton Churchill.

280
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,360
Churchill's speeches were stirring
<font color="

281
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:58,240
We know it will be hard.

282
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,120
We expect it will be long...

283
00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,280
He was one of the greatest orators
of all time, and some of

284
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:07,720
the phrases he used still resonate
today - such as "finest hour",

285
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:12,360
"never surrender", and, of course,
<font color="

286
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,040
And we needed Churchill's
stirring mumbling,

287
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,720
because, at first, the war
didn't go well.

288
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,440
Within six months,
France was occupied by the Nazis,

289
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,160
who they didn't see coming, because
<font color="

290
00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,200
Hitler wanted to make Britain
German, to match its royal family.

291
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,360
But the RAF held Hitler's forces
back,

292
00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:34,200
in amazing dogfights in the sky -
that were done by aeroplanes,

293
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:35,680
not actual flying dogs,

294
00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,120
<font color="
still hasn't invented yet.

295
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:40,800
This was the Battle of Britain.

296
00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,000
It seems amazing that these young
men could fly and fight so well.

297
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,080
Although when you look, you'll see
the planes had tiny targets

298
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:51,920
and crosses drawn on the side,
<font color="

299
00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,640
But planes weren't only
used in dogfights.

300
00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:56,680
The Germans changed tactics.

301
00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,280
Instead of attacking planes,
which could move out the way,

302
00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:04,240
they attacked the ground,
which couldn't, in something called
the Blitz.

303
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:09,200
<font color="
German bombers rained fire

304
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,600
and high explosive bombs in their
most savage attack on London...

305
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,720
Hitler's pilots started dropping
bombs - sort of aeroplane poos -

306
00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,080
and people had to hide from them.

307
00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,600
They built big tin shelters in their
<font color="

308
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,880
tube station without a ticket
or a valid Oyster card.

309
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,760
Countless houses were reduced to
big piles of bricks and wood,

310
00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,960
which is sort of what houses are,
anyway, but in a different order.

311
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,080
Despite this,
<font color="

312
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,160
people weren't totally down in the
dumps, even if they lived in one.

313
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,640
People sang songs during World War
II to keep their spirits up,

314
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,880
didn't they? How loud did they have
to sing to be heard over the bombs?

315
00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,960
<font color="
sometimes been in underground

316
00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,520
stations sheltering from the bombs,
it would have been loud in the

317
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,240
underground station - the singing -
if everybody was singing together,

318
00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,480
but it's true you wouldn't
have been...heard much.

319
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,680
<font color="
they used to time their singing
with the explosions?

320
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:04,880
That would be a fun thing to do.

321
00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:06,240
Difficult.

322
00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:07,760
Very difficult to time it.

323
00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:09,560
Quite random, the falling of bombs.

324
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,400
In the war, there were
<font color="

325
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:13,960
out of Hitler, weren't there?

326
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,680
How come they don't sing
those sorts of songs any more?

327
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,600
Well, he's not around any more,
so it's not so amusing.

328
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:21,760
Where is he?

329
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:22,880
Well, he's dead.

330
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:24,320
<font color="

331
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,160
Oh, right, so it would
be disrespectful to speak ill...

332
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,000
Well, not so much disrespectful
as pointless, really.

333
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:31,120
Pointless.

334
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:32,680
Bit pointless. Yeah.

335
00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,000
A lot of singing was needed
<font color="

336
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,120
the war was far from over.

337
00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:42,440
There were many huge battles
to come, most of which
will never be forgotten,

338
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,840
because they've since been
converted into blockbuster movies.

339
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,840
How was it we beat
<font color="

340
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:51,560
but still didn't win the whole war?

341
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,680
Well, first of all, I think
we've got to stop calling it War II,

342
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,240
I mean, it's the Second World War.

343
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,120
If you're American, and you have to
have it this way, it's World War II.

344
00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:01,440
<font color="
we tend to use.

345
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,000
But in terms of Dunkirk, I think
that's the wrong way round.

346
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,880
We actually lose at Dunkirk.

347
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:08,440
We lost at Dunkirk?

348
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:09,840
We lost at Dunkirk, I mean...

349
00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:11,040
I don't think so.

350
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,160
It turns out Dunkirk
<font color="

351
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,320
Like most sequels, War II
was proving less fun than War I.

352
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,720
What made the war harder

353
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,560
was that we didn't know
what the Germans were planning,

354
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,680
because they said it in a sort of
code language known as German.

355
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,040
<font color="
using a magic typewriter

356
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,440
called the Enigma machine
literally loads of time to crack it.

357
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,160
But crack it they did.

358
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,600
And with Germany's secrets twatted
wide open, Britain and its allies

359
00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:45,680
were able to organise D-Day and
<font color="

360
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,480
In gruelling and exciting scenes
like these, expertly depicted

361
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,800
in the pulse-quickening video game
Call of Duty 2, soldiers scrambled

362
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,000
out of their boats, looking
for power-ups and health kits,

363
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,960
terrified every second that a Nazi
<font color="

364
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,800
to respawn several feet away, and be
delayed by a number of seconds.

365
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,800
Eventually, the British won -
and immediately there was

366
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,560
widespread jubilation and people
dancing about in black and white

367
00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:16,120
and getting off with people
<font color="

368
00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:21,600
A new, hopeful era had dawned,
an era which 41 years later

369
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:27,520
included the BBC painting
and decorating sitcom Brush Strokes.

370
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,560


371
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,560


372
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,840


373
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:56,480
<font color="

374
00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,480
After the war, returning soldiers
rewarded national hero

375
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,960
Winton Churchill by voting him
out of office.

376
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,760
And the Britain that Britain
came home to was a smaller Britain

377
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,400
than the Britain Britain had left.

378
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,200
<font color="

379
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,960
Places like India decided
they weren't British after all.

380
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,960
Which was sad because those
countries had lots in common
with us.

381
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,200
They had the same person
on the stamps.

382
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:22,880
They spoke the same language.

383
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,920
<font color="

384
00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,200
But despite all that, they chose
to act as if they weren't

385
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,040
part of Britain, just because that
was geographically true.

386
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,160
What's more, around the world,
superpowers like Russia

387
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:36,920
and China were on the rise.

388
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,360
<font color="
than ever, and in 1948,

389
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:46,160
one man wrote a book full of
chilling predictions about just how
terrible that future might be.

390
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,400
This is the book -
George Orwell's chilling classic

391
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,400
One Nine Eight Four.

392
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,840
<font color="
but words,

393
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,800
Orwell depicts a world in which
people are manipulated

394
00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:01,320
by screens manipulated by the media
manipulated by the government -

395
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,040
something which thankfully didn't,
and couldn't, happen.

396
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,640
<font color="
is set in the year 1984,

397
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,080
it's not a 1984 anyone who lived
through it would recognise.

398
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,840
Orwell didn't predict Band Aid
or Ghostbusters.

399
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:19,360
Or Radio One's Mike Read banning
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
<font color="

400
00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,520
In fact, almost the only thing
he got right was that there'd be

401
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:24,720
a thing on the screens
called Big Brother.

402
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:29,200
And even then, he didn't predict
it would eventually be on Channel 5.

403
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,760
Orwell's scary vision
<font color="

404
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,800
it tried to avoid a nightmare future
by reinventing itself,

405
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,360
and the Government was going
to help.

406
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:41,880
The post-war Labour Government was
one of the most radical ever -

407
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,520
kind of a cross between
<font color="

408
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,800
A landslide swept Labour to power

409
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,080
with a majority unexpected
even by its own leaders.

410
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,560
They were seen as the biggest
archy-tects of something

411
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,800
called the welfare state.

412
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,800
Where is the welfare state?

413
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:57,840
<font color="

414
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,240
Yeah. Well, it's sort of all
around us.

415
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,240
Er... Yeah, but where
specifically in Britain?

416
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,400
The welfare state is a phrase

417
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,560
that refers to, broadly, the help

418
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,840
that government gives to all of us.

419
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:20,560
<font color="
people from the cradle to the grave.

420
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:21,600
Hm.

421
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:23,960
So is it just for people lying down?

422
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,600
It certainly helps people
lying down, er...

423
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,240
They help to, you know, they give
out bits and bobs, don't they?

424
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,880
<font color="
they, you know,

425
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,400
they provide a lot of help.

426
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,280
Schools and housing and...

427
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:41,760
And benefit payments...

428
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:43,000
Benefit payments.

429
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:44,480
..top-ups to your wages.

430
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,120
And how do they decide
what not to give for free?

431
00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:50,120
<font color="
to give out free crisps?

432
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:56,200
I don't think they've ever given out
or thought about giving out
free crisps.

433
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,400
Although I quite like crisps...

434
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:00,920
I love crisps.

435
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:08,320
..I don't think many people would
argue that you can't have
<font color="

436
00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,960
I think I'd kill myself
if I couldn't have crisps.

437
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,000
As part of its reforms,
the Government introduced

438
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,440
the National Health Service,
or NHS for less long.

439
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,720
On July 5th, the new National
<font color="

440
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:29,280
hospital and specialist services,
medicines, drugs and appliances.

441
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,680
Once the NHS arrived,
if you were poor and you got sick,

442
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,400
you weren't on your own any more.

443
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,040
You were in a crowded waiting room
full of other sick people.

444
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,960
<font color="
a doctor free of charge,

445
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,680
like you can every Saturday evening
on BBC One.

446
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,920
But staffing all those hospitals
wasn't going to be easy,

447
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,320
so Britain looked abroad for help.

448
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,800
In 1948, the Government granted
<font color="

449
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,560
to everyone living in Commonwealth
countries.

450
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,560
A sort of reverse Brexit, or Tixerb.

451
00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,840
And a few months later, 492 migrants

452
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,600
made the journey from the Caribbean
to Britain,

453
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:09,080
on board the Empire Windrush, which
<font color="

454
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:14,120
The newcomers soon discovered
life in Britain was very different
to Jamaica -

455
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:19,640
it was colder, wetter, we
had potatoes instead of posh fruits.

456
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,440
But they soon settled into a British
way of life - not smiling

457
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,080
<font color="

458
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,400
Britain was becoming multicultural,
although not everyone was happy.

459
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:33,560
Not even racists, who at long last
had someone new to hate apart from

460
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,240
Jews, Italians, Spaniards, women,
the Irish, the French and the poor.

461
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,560
<font color="
hadn't been invented yet,

462
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,200
the only way racists could
express their fury was to take part

463
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,440
in race riots, which are sort of
artisan pop-up festivals of hatred.

464
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:53,400
Today, racist bigotry has no place
in contemporary Britain,
<font color="

465
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,600
Britain was welcoming a new era.

466
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,520
And it was about to get
something mega-new.

467
00:24:58,520 --> 00:24:59,560
A new monarch.

468
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,880
The Royal Family had experienced
a rough few decades.

469
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,560
Before the war,
King Edward had abdicated,

470
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:07,760
<font color="
more time in his mistress.

471
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,560
His brother George also vacated
the throne unexpectedly early,

472
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,000
to spend more time in his coffin.

473
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,960
This meant his eldest daughter,
Elizabeth, was to be the new,

474
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,840
female king at the age of just 25.

475
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:26,800
<font color="
and loved returns amongst us
as our queen.

476
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,640
For centuries, the coronation
of a monarch was a sacred event

477
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,360
that took place behind closed doors
- just like a visit to the toilet,

478
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:36,720
but more dignified than that makes
<font color="

479
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,960
But, now, thanks to progress,

480
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,000
everyone was allowed to
peep behind those closed doors.

481
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,280
In 1953, millions of Britons
watched the Queen

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being coronationed on their new
televisions.

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It must've been like watching
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and actually happening,
like Britain's Got Talent,

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but more serious, like Game Of
Thrones, but set in the real world,

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and starring Queen Elizabeth,
like The Crown again.

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Afterwards, incredibly,
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when they found there weren't any
more coronations on.

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They kept them in their front rooms
and never went out again.

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As well as a new queen, the nation
had got itself a new prime minister.

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Britain was changing so fast
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what country it was was to keep
getting everyone to wave flags.

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The national mood was shifting.

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It's the 1950s, a time
of great change.

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The war's over,
the NHS has been founded,

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redefined the platform game

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for a new generation and
Anthony Eden's Prime Minister.

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How did Britain feel
about these things?

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Well, I don't think computer games
had been invented by the 1950s.

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00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,080
I mean, the population was pretty
positive about the Coronation.

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00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:51,920
That was a cause for excitement.

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00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,400
Anthony Eden, perhaps less
successful, with the Suez Crisis.

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00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:56,960
What was up with the sewers?

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Did someone try to flush
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No, the Suez Canal.

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00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,240
What, the canals used to be sewers?
That's disgusting.

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00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,160
No, no, Suez. It's a place.

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00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:08,880
Oh, right.

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00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,000
During this "Suez Crisis",
events in Suez reached crisis point.

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More research needed -

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before voiceover record.

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And it wasn't just grown men
who were causing trouble.

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00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,200
A new form of human being,
called the teenager, was evolving.

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Teenagers were creatures
that looked like adults,

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professional footballers do today.

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00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,000
And the young generation as a whole
was about to deliver Britain

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a series of shocks that would shock
it right up the shockbox.

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00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,040
On the next and final episode
of Cunk On Britain,

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<font color="
of the 1960s encouraged Britain

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to tune over, turn off and drop up.

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00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:53,160
And Britain experienced a golden age
that sadly couldn't last.

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In the 1960s, if you
switch your television on, you'd get

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Morecambe and Wise, Cilla Black,
<font color="

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But nowadays,
they're all dead - why is that?

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media