Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 6, Episode 6 - Amersham to Regent's Park - full transcript
[OPENING THEME MUSIC]
For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw
was a household name.
At a time when railways
were new...
Bradshaw's guidebook inspired
them to take to the tracks.
I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand
how trains transformed Britain.
Its landscape...
its industries, society...
and leisure time.
As I arias-cross the country a hundred
and fifty years later...
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
"London is the capital of
Great Britain."
"And, indeed, if its commercial and political
influence be considered..."
of the civilised world."
"The British metropolis contains
the largest mass..."
"of human life there ever has existed
in the annals of mankind."
I'm embarking on five itineraries
across our mighty capital.
To rediscover the Wonders - and the
horrors - of Victorian London.
All week, I'll use my usual
1860s Bradshaw's...
and dip into other editions to explore the
tracks along which Victorian London moved.
I'll begin outside the capital,
at Amersham...
following the footsteps of London's
early commuters.
Make a short detour via Hampstead Heath,
en route to my final stop at Regent's Park.
I'll scoop a cool treat
in suburbia.
It's sludging, yes.
"Sludging"..?
Not sure I Want to be known for
making sludgy ice-cream!
Learn how the railway age was also
a boom time for cemeteries.
Some wag had written "new graves
warmed by steam".
[LAUGHTER]
And visit an exotic 19th-century attraction
that still draws a crowd.
It's a great way for people to
get close to animals.
A bit too close, possibly!
[LAUGHTER]
I begin on London Underground's
Metropolitan line.
Which connects the city centre
with rural Buckinghamshire.
From the start of the 19th century until my
Bradshaw's guide was published...
the population of London grew from
one million to three million.
But it was still a city Without
extended suburbs.
They came with the trains. And as
this metropolitan railway...
was pushed out into the green fields
it created Metro-land.
The Metropolitan Line was London's
first underground railway.
But it's only towards the centre of the city
that its trains run in tunnels.
Of its thirty-four stations,
only nine are below ground.
The line's terminus at Amersham
is one of the furthest...
flung outposts of the capital's
underground system.
I've come to hear how, in the early 20th
century, this pioneering railway...
created the conditions for suburbia...
from author and transport historian, Oliver Green.
Now the Metropolitan Railway, it really has, er...
two personalities, doesn't it?
Because it was, was it not, the first
London underground railway...
what, from er... Paddington
to Farringdon?
It was - in 1863.
It was the first underground
railway in the World.
As you say, it linked up the mainline
stations in central London.
But very soon the railway company found
that actually it was...
proving very expensive to extend
the line Within central London.
So, their rather pushy chairman in the 1870s, Edward
Watkin, started to plan to extend the line...
out through the suburbs to
north, north-west London.
Initially underground and then overground
through the countryside...
and linking up with a chain of railways right
through to Manchester, which is Where he came from.
Watkins' grand plan didn't
come to pass.
But by the 1890s the Metropolitan Railway had
out a swathe through the rural Home Counties.
Making it viable for people to commute into the
capital from these formerly isolated areas.
In the early days, there was quite a
lot of concern about it.
The novelist Anthony Trollope
said that...
"The railways, instead of
enabling Londoners"...
"to live in the countryside, had brought
the city into the countryside."
The Metropolitan Railway Company soon lured more
customers to the rural areas served by its line.
It owned land around the stations, which it began
to develop with homes for middle-class commuters.
So, did this railway get into the business
of property speculation?
It did later on in the early
20th century, yes.
None of the other companies had done this before
and they christened the area "Metro-land".
So "Metro-land" was a name invented
by the railway itself?
Not a name applied
from outside?
Absolutely, yes -
they came up with it.
And the guy in the publicity department came up with
it in the middle of the First World War, oddly enough.
Apparently he was in bed with the flu and
suddenly thought of this publicity word...
and jumped out of bed and Went back into
work to tell everyone about it.
And they adopted it, and it was used throughout
the 1920s and '30s as a promotional tool.
And that's the "Metro-land" which is
then celebrated by John Betjeman.
Absolutely!
[VOICE OF JOHN BETJEMAN]
"We called you Metro-land."
"We laid our schemes,
lured by the lush brochure."
"Down byways beckoned, to build at
last the cottage of our dreams."
"A city clerk turned countryman again."
"And linked to the metropolis
by train."
George Bradshaw, dying in the 1850s..
Had glimpsed only the start of the
rail commuting phenomenon.
My next stop is Pinner, linked to the
Metropolitan Line in the 1880s.
"Pinner, with the trees scattered around it,
and the rich foliage of Pinner Park"...
"forms a landscape of very
considerable beauty."
"Metro-land" provided the setting for
middle-class domestic bliss.
And set up a requirement for middle
- class domestic goddesses!
The image of the perfect housewife was
popularised in Victorian times.
And one Woman who did much to promote it
was a Pinner resident, Mrs Beeton...
whose famous book of household management
was published in 1861.
But apparently she Wasn't the only celebrity
cook to be drawn to this peaceful village.
Food historian, Robin Weir, will tell
me the forgotten story...
of another culinary trailblazer
from the 19th century.
We're here to talk about
Mrs Marshall.
Who was, frankly, the most important Victorian
cook, and was actually a one-woman industry.
How is it, then, that I have heard
of Mrs Beeton...
but not of Mrs Marshall, who apparently
was well known in her day?
Well, she was very well known
in her day.
But, unfortunately, she died just
before her fiftieth birthday.
After her untimely death, Mrs Marshall's
cookbooks Went out of print...
and she soon faded into
obscurity.
But in her time she'd been a
formidable businesswoman.
She used the railway to commute from Pinner to her
thriving cookery school in central London.
And she gained a place in gastronomic history
by developing a Victorian delicacy.
And What is it you're clutching, Where
I'm clutching my Bradshaw?
Well, yes, this - this is a copy
of "Fancy Ices".
Which is one of the most important books
on ice-cream ever produced.
What she was so clever with,
she used to sell you the book.
Then she'd sell you the machine
to make it in.
Then she'd sell you the ice cave,
which was an early freezer.
Then she'd sell you the moulds to
put in the ice cave.
So she was a complete, sort of,
one-woman industry.
This Mrs Marshall is my
kind of Victorian!
The 19th century brought ice-cream
to the masses.
Imported ice became available - shipped in
from as far afield as North America.
While new devices simplified the
process of making ices.
Mrs Marshall patented a churning machine -
still used by enthusiasts like Annie Squire.
Who's demonstrating a Victorian recipe
with a surprising main ingredient.
We're going to mix some cream -
about a pint of cream.
With this cucumber mixture!
It's cooked cucumber with sugar,
ginger wine and some lemon juice.
The cucumber mixture and cream are poured into
the pan, which is cooled over ice and salt.
- Now, this is Where the hard work begins, is it?
- That's Where the hard work begins.
The paddle steadily churns the mixture, keeping
the texture lovely and smooth - in theory!
Gentle, yes.
Gentle.
Well, as fast as you think you can Without it
going off into outer space, you know?
- "As fast as I can, Without it going into outer space."
- Turning it into a flying saucer!
I mean, I can feel it stiffening a
little bit already, I think.
Well, according to Mrs Marshall, you should be able
to make a pit of ice-cream in about five minutes.
Can I have a look?
Yeah.
It's sludging, yes.
"Sludging"...? Not sure I Want to be known
for making sludgy ice-cream!
It's getting quite stiff to the touch,
so... shall we have a look?
Whoa, What do we think
of that?!
Really good.
- So now we set it out.
- Yes.
Look at that!
Mmm.
- That's really good, isn't it?
- That's very nice.
The sweetness and the
cucumber go very well.
- Yep.
- Mmm.
"Portillo's Ice-Cream", penny a lump.
Guaranteed to make you jump!
[LAUGHTER]
Having experienced the sweet taste
of Victorian suburbia...
I'm now continuing my journey towards the
heart of the city, on the Metropolitan line.
- Hello.
- Hello.
Do you live on the Metropolitan line?
Do you live in Metro-land?
We do - Pinner. Yes.
And is it important to you to have
the access to the centre?
Oh, yes, yes, it's amazing. I mean, you can get
to Baker Street in about fifteen minutes.
I think it's the best line oh the Underground,
the Metropolitan line.
Why so?
Well, because the trains are fast. Easy to
get to Finchley Road for Hampstead.
Our grandchildren are in school in
Hampstead, so it's very handy.
Sounds like you're quite good
fans of rail transport.
Oh, especially as it doesn't
cost us anything!
Got our rail cards!
[LAUGHTER]
While in Bradshaw's day suburban routes
were in their infancy...
the modern commuter has a Wealth of
tracks to choose from.
I'm now swapping the
Underground system...
for the lines recently reconfigured and
re-branded as the Overground.
Which will carry me from West
Hampstead to my next stop.
"Hampstead Heath," says Bradshaw's, "is situated
in the midst of a fine open country."
"Which, from its elevated character, provides
many beautiful views of the city."
It's one of my favourite
open spaces.
And the point for that panorama has a name
that appeals to me - Parliament Hill.
Even at the time of my guidebook, the
countryside around the capital...
was gradually being eaten
up by urban sprawl.
But, thankfully, the heath itself has
survived almost unchanged.
The vista is, as promised, superb!
And Bradshaw's comments that "The air
is remarkably salubrious."
That would be in contrast, I suppose,
to the miasma...
of sulphurous fumes and the smoke from a
hundred thousand domestic hearths...
that would have shrouded
the city.
It Wasn't just the living who sought to
escape to green slopes.
My guide book comments, "Cemeteries have
been established Within the last few years..."
under the 'Burial Acts', which compel
metropolitan districts..."
"to provide suitable space for the
interment of the dead."
And then it comments...
"The entry to Highgate Cemetery is free." But that
would be for the quick, I think - hot the dead!
As 19th-century London's population
mushroomed, the problem...
of Where to bury the dead
reached crisis point.
In 1836, an act of Parliament
legislated for the...
creation of vast new
cemeteries on the city's outskirts.
My guide to Highgate is
Ian Dungervell.
What made them build cemeteries in
places like Highgate?
Normally you'd be buried in your local parish
churchyard, but those had got very, very crowded.
So the sexton would have to go round prodding
- looking for space for a grave.
And often times that Wasn't available.
A shocking situation.
It really was, it was absolutely terrible.
And on top of that...
there were a fear of graverobbers
or bodysnatchers...
who were looking for corpses to sell
to the anatomy schools.
So, all in all, people didn't want to be buried
in parish churchyards anymore.
Here lies some of Victorian Britain's
most notable figures.
Including scientist Michael Faraday, Writer
George Elliot and, most famously, Karl Marx.
Cemeteries like Highgate were
privately run...
and only those who could afford the
fees were buried in them.
The headstones and tombs are magnificent
pieces of art, ostentatious.
Absolutely! You had to show off
your social position...
and also the cemetery company Wanted to make
sure you knew this was a good place to be.
So if you had your tomb Within a certain
distance of the main path...
you had to spend a fair bit
of money on it.
This is all part of Victorian commercial
enterprises?
Absolutely! These were a
private speculation.
So if you look at the pages of the
newspapers in the 1830s..
You'll see ads for cemetery companies,
alongside ads for railway companies.
And they were both part of that growth in
infrastructure in the 1830s.
And, in fact, oh one new cemetery, they had the
billboards up saying "New cemetery coming soon".
And some wag had written:
"New graves, warmed by steam".
[LAUGHTER]
So it's quite clear people saw cemeteries and
railways as joint aspects of modern life.
- A bit macabre.
- Yeah.
What an extraordinary-looking building!
These are the terrace catacombs.
So they're Listed, because they're the oldest
asphalted structure in the country.
And the company that did it, the consulting
engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunei.
My goodness, it's like, um, a library of
corpses on their shelves.
That's right. There's 825 of these niches,
where coffins were placed.
And it's the most secure part
of the cemetery.
So you had three lines of defence.
The cemetery walls.
You would come up here with an
attendant, with a key.
And then your coffin would be
placed in here...
with a marble slab or a granite slab in front
with your name inscribed.
So here, you really were... oh
the shelf, weren't you!
I've retraced my steps to West Hampstead, to
rejoin the Underground network.
The Jubilee line's first stretch
opened in 1979.
Partly using these existing tracks.
And now they're carrying me
towards central London.
Bradshaw's suggests I visit "Tussaud's Wax
Exhibition at Baker Street."
"Summer, eleven to ten. Winter, eleven
to dusk. One shilling."
"See Napoleon, et cetera."
After the opening of this model attraction,
its popularity waxed.
Since its foundation in the early 19th century,
around five hundred million visitors...
have beaten a path to London's
famous waxworks.
In ah age before television and Twitter, here
Victorians managed to look their heroes in the eye.
Matthew Clarkson is introducing me to this
venerable institution's founder.
This is the lady herself. The story of
Madame Tussaud starts in 1770, Paris.
Where she learnt to model
wax likenesses.
Early 19th century she moved to London with
a travelling exhibition of death masks...
and relics from the
French Revolution
Death masks?
Yeah. So when she was seventeen she became
the art tutor to Louis XVI's daughter.
She then learnt her skill - then had to
prove her allegiance...
to the family during the
French Revolution.
Where she was forced to create
these death masks...
of the aristocracy who had been
sentenced to death.
Well, What a frightful beginning.
Yeah, it's kind of dark, but it's Where
she learned her craft.
In 1835 Madame Tussaud set up shop at
the Baker Street Bazaar.
Where Londoners could come face to face with
figures from Nelson to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Then, in 1884, thirty-four years
after her death...
the exhibition re-located to its present
position on the Marylebone Road.
Today's stars now stand alongside the great
and the good of Bradshaw's era.
I see here my old friend,
Isambard Kingdom Brunei.
Now, what did Queen Victoria make of this?
Was she keen on Madame Tussaud's?
She was fascinated by the process. In 1837
she was sculpted for the first time...
and it was What we call a
"live sitting".
Whereas now we take over hundreds of
measurements of facial features.
She had the moulding medium
poured on her face...
with straws in her nostrils
to breathe!
To tolerate such indignity of the
royal personage, she...
must have been highly
amused by the whole process.
Yes, I can imagine so.
If Queen Victoria could endure such hardship,
to be immortalised in wax...
then so can I!
- Hello, guys.
So What torture have you got
ready for me here?
Right, so What We're going to do is basically
dipping your hand into the Wax.
It is really, really hot... yeah?
You're going to dip my hand
in really hot Wax?
Yes. First of all What We're going to do is
to put some cream on your hand.
The cream helps to remove
the wax later...
while the cold water should make the
hot wax clip less painful - I hope!
Let's start by dipping five times.
One.
Two!
Three.
Four.
That's... five.
So, if you come here for me.
You might feel like I'm cutting you
a little bit... but I'm not.
Aaagh!
This man is taking a knife around
my arteries!
Okay, now comes the fun part!
Just relax your hand completely...
and let it slide off into the water.
It's not going to break.
And here we go.
Look at that!
Isn't that lovely?!
How's that looking?
I think that that is in the most
extraordinary good taste!
Now, do you think that can
carry my Bradshaw's?
Should hope so.
Oh, beautiful!
That's lovely.
Travelling with Bradshaw's -
a hands-off approach!
London's earliest underground railways were
just metres below the city's streets.
But towards the end of the 19th century,
the birth of electric trains...
made deep-level railways possible,
and the real "tube" was born.
In 1906 a new underground railway opened,
bored deep beneath the city streets...
running between Baker Street
and Waterloo.
And though after that it was extended to the
south and very much to the north...
it's still known today as
the Bakerloo.
The Bakerloo line is taking me to my final
destination on today's journey...
known as the jewel in the crown of the
eight Royal Parks of London.
The Regent's Park takes its name from Queen
Victoria's uncle, the Prince Regent...
later King George IV.
He allowed elegant new homes, set in
ornamental landscaped grounds...
to be built on Crown lands formerly
used for farming.
"Regent's park..." says the Bradshaw's
guide to London...
and the surrounding crescents, were
laid out from a plan by John Nash."
"The zone of noble mansions is a rare
boon to the pedestrian..."
of which the Londoner may
well be proud."
Was there ever a more successful
design of park?
At first, only the residents of the exclusive
new villas and terraces...
were permitted to use the gardens.
But as 19th-century London's
population grew...
so did the need to provide
open spaces.
In 1835 the general public was
permitted to enter sections...
of the Regent's Park,
on two days of the week.
Today it's open all year round,
for everyone.
Hello, ladies.
Hello.
How are you? May I just join
you for a second?
Yes.
What are you drinking?
We're drinking a little
Pino Grigio.
Why do you think Regent's Park
works so Well?
I think it's because there are so
many interesting things in it.
You've got the lovely flowers, you've
got the gardens and you've got...
And the architecture?
Beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.
You're pleased it got
opened up?
Absolutely!
Who wouldn't be?
A park and a good book -
still a good recipe.
Great combination.
Yeah, we are clashing slightly, with the pink
and yellow. I think it works!
[LAUGHTER]
I'd love to linger with a drink...
but I'm just passing through this beautiful
park, en route to an attraction...
built to satisfy the 19th century's
unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
"The Zoological Gardens is perhaps the most
fashionable resort in the metropolis."
"An institution, which has its origins in that spirit of
association, which has achieved so much for England."
Specimens of rare, curious and beautiful
animals have been collected."
"A Walk through this garden is like a rapid
journey over the world."
Now, most Victorians were not able to travel the
globe - and photography was in its infancy.
So imagine the experience of wonder and
joy when they came to the zoo!
As in Bradshaw's day, London Zoo
continues to pull in the crowds.
With more than a million
visitors per year.
I'm meeting Zoological Director David Field, to
hear how it began as an exclusive club.
David, it's pretty hot for me in my summer plumage,
so I hate to think What it's like for the penguins!
When did the Zoological Society
of London begin?
The Society actually began
in 1826.
And it was the vision of a Wonderful man
call Sir Stamford Raffles.
And he had the foresight to bring together a range
of eminent scientists and politicians of the day...
to create the Society, that then grew into
the London Zoo as we see today.
Created so that researchers could study
exotic animals at close quarters...
when the zoo opened in 1828 it was the
first scientific zoo in the World.
Among those who benefited was Charles Darwin,
who reportedly saw his first ape here.
It was a members-only club
until 1847...
when public pressure forced the Society
to open its doors more widely.
Bradshaw's talks about it as being
a very fashionable place.
So it was treated by the well-to-do as a
place to promenade, was it?
Absolutely. In fact, a music hall artiste
called "The Great Vance"...
had a song which the lyrics talked about "The
okay thing to do, on a Sunday afternoon..."
"is promenade in the zoo." And in actual fact that
was the first time the word "zoo" was ever coined.
Some of the zoo's residents so captured
the Victorian imagination...
that they achieved celebrity status.
A great Victorian character, surely, was
Jumbo the elephant.
Oh, one of THE most iconic characters.
And his name has... just lives forever!
Because "jumbo" didn't actually
mean "elephantine".
No, not at all. And it certainly was Jumbo that's given
that, that phrase. But he was an enormous animal!
What happened to him?
He actually left the zoo. He was sold to Barnum
and Bailey circus, because of his size.
Phineas T. Barnum, he Wanted the biggest
elephant in the World.
But, there was ah outcry.
There were letters to the Press.
Even Queen Victoria made a request that
"Surely we should be able to keep Jumbo?"
What happened to Jumbo
in the end?
Well, one night when, in the States, the circus
was moving from one site to another...
Jumbo was getting onto the train...
and, unfortunately, another freight train
was coming the other way...
and hit Jumbo, and he died -
there and then.
It was end of the line
for Jumbo.
Jumbo's death sparked a public
outpouring of grief.
London Zoo had prompted Victorian
Britons to take to...
their hearts outlandish species
from distant shores.
And it's a great way for people
to get close to animals.
A bit too close possibly!
[LAUGHTER]
It must have been extraordinary
for Victorians...
for the first time, to come eye
to eye with a giraffe.
The Victorians couldn't get
enough of this.
But, the same as today, people love to get close
and are inspired to get this close to animals.
Whilst Jumbo's sad death was caused
by an American freight train...
life in London has become dependent
on railways.
This metropolitan railway was
opened in 1863.
And soon extended as far as
Mrs Marshall's Pinner.
London faced a population explosion...
and responded by perfecting its
recreations and its parks...
and by seeking nearby green spaces for
its citizens, both living and dead.
London was the first metropolis to struggle with
how to open up rural paradise...
without urbanising the
countryside.
And using the world's first
underground railway...
I think my city did it
pretty Well!
Next time, I'll see the celebrated ship that
supplied Victorian Britain with its national drink.
Every journey back from China she was
bringing six hundred tons of tea.
That's enough tea to make over two
hundred million cups.
Taste a by-product of 19th-century
global trade.
Deliciously warm. As if it's just come off
a hot sticky toffee pudding.
And learn about the nation's top
award for gallantry.
This one... is made from the barrel
you're leaning on.
Really?!
[END THEME]
For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw
was a household name.
At a time when railways
were new...
Bradshaw's guidebook inspired
them to take to the tracks.
I'm using a Bradshaw's guide to understand
how trains transformed Britain.
Its landscape...
its industries, society...
and leisure time.
As I arias-cross the country a hundred
and fifty years later...
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
"London is the capital of
Great Britain."
"And, indeed, if its commercial and political
influence be considered..."
of the civilised world."
"The British metropolis contains
the largest mass..."
"of human life there ever has existed
in the annals of mankind."
I'm embarking on five itineraries
across our mighty capital.
To rediscover the Wonders - and the
horrors - of Victorian London.
All week, I'll use my usual
1860s Bradshaw's...
and dip into other editions to explore the
tracks along which Victorian London moved.
I'll begin outside the capital,
at Amersham...
following the footsteps of London's
early commuters.
Make a short detour via Hampstead Heath,
en route to my final stop at Regent's Park.
I'll scoop a cool treat
in suburbia.
It's sludging, yes.
"Sludging"..?
Not sure I Want to be known for
making sludgy ice-cream!
Learn how the railway age was also
a boom time for cemeteries.
Some wag had written "new graves
warmed by steam".
[LAUGHTER]
And visit an exotic 19th-century attraction
that still draws a crowd.
It's a great way for people to
get close to animals.
A bit too close, possibly!
[LAUGHTER]
I begin on London Underground's
Metropolitan line.
Which connects the city centre
with rural Buckinghamshire.
From the start of the 19th century until my
Bradshaw's guide was published...
the population of London grew from
one million to three million.
But it was still a city Without
extended suburbs.
They came with the trains. And as
this metropolitan railway...
was pushed out into the green fields
it created Metro-land.
The Metropolitan Line was London's
first underground railway.
But it's only towards the centre of the city
that its trains run in tunnels.
Of its thirty-four stations,
only nine are below ground.
The line's terminus at Amersham
is one of the furthest...
flung outposts of the capital's
underground system.
I've come to hear how, in the early 20th
century, this pioneering railway...
created the conditions for suburbia...
from author and transport historian, Oliver Green.
Now the Metropolitan Railway, it really has, er...
two personalities, doesn't it?
Because it was, was it not, the first
London underground railway...
what, from er... Paddington
to Farringdon?
It was - in 1863.
It was the first underground
railway in the World.
As you say, it linked up the mainline
stations in central London.
But very soon the railway company found
that actually it was...
proving very expensive to extend
the line Within central London.
So, their rather pushy chairman in the 1870s, Edward
Watkin, started to plan to extend the line...
out through the suburbs to
north, north-west London.
Initially underground and then overground
through the countryside...
and linking up with a chain of railways right
through to Manchester, which is Where he came from.
Watkins' grand plan didn't
come to pass.
But by the 1890s the Metropolitan Railway had
out a swathe through the rural Home Counties.
Making it viable for people to commute into the
capital from these formerly isolated areas.
In the early days, there was quite a
lot of concern about it.
The novelist Anthony Trollope
said that...
"The railways, instead of
enabling Londoners"...
"to live in the countryside, had brought
the city into the countryside."
The Metropolitan Railway Company soon lured more
customers to the rural areas served by its line.
It owned land around the stations, which it began
to develop with homes for middle-class commuters.
So, did this railway get into the business
of property speculation?
It did later on in the early
20th century, yes.
None of the other companies had done this before
and they christened the area "Metro-land".
So "Metro-land" was a name invented
by the railway itself?
Not a name applied
from outside?
Absolutely, yes -
they came up with it.
And the guy in the publicity department came up with
it in the middle of the First World War, oddly enough.
Apparently he was in bed with the flu and
suddenly thought of this publicity word...
and jumped out of bed and Went back into
work to tell everyone about it.
And they adopted it, and it was used throughout
the 1920s and '30s as a promotional tool.
And that's the "Metro-land" which is
then celebrated by John Betjeman.
Absolutely!
[VOICE OF JOHN BETJEMAN]
"We called you Metro-land."
"We laid our schemes,
lured by the lush brochure."
"Down byways beckoned, to build at
last the cottage of our dreams."
"A city clerk turned countryman again."
"And linked to the metropolis
by train."
George Bradshaw, dying in the 1850s..
Had glimpsed only the start of the
rail commuting phenomenon.
My next stop is Pinner, linked to the
Metropolitan Line in the 1880s.
"Pinner, with the trees scattered around it,
and the rich foliage of Pinner Park"...
"forms a landscape of very
considerable beauty."
"Metro-land" provided the setting for
middle-class domestic bliss.
And set up a requirement for middle
- class domestic goddesses!
The image of the perfect housewife was
popularised in Victorian times.
And one Woman who did much to promote it
was a Pinner resident, Mrs Beeton...
whose famous book of household management
was published in 1861.
But apparently she Wasn't the only celebrity
cook to be drawn to this peaceful village.
Food historian, Robin Weir, will tell
me the forgotten story...
of another culinary trailblazer
from the 19th century.
We're here to talk about
Mrs Marshall.
Who was, frankly, the most important Victorian
cook, and was actually a one-woman industry.
How is it, then, that I have heard
of Mrs Beeton...
but not of Mrs Marshall, who apparently
was well known in her day?
Well, she was very well known
in her day.
But, unfortunately, she died just
before her fiftieth birthday.
After her untimely death, Mrs Marshall's
cookbooks Went out of print...
and she soon faded into
obscurity.
But in her time she'd been a
formidable businesswoman.
She used the railway to commute from Pinner to her
thriving cookery school in central London.
And she gained a place in gastronomic history
by developing a Victorian delicacy.
And What is it you're clutching, Where
I'm clutching my Bradshaw?
Well, yes, this - this is a copy
of "Fancy Ices".
Which is one of the most important books
on ice-cream ever produced.
What she was so clever with,
she used to sell you the book.
Then she'd sell you the machine
to make it in.
Then she'd sell you the ice cave,
which was an early freezer.
Then she'd sell you the moulds to
put in the ice cave.
So she was a complete, sort of,
one-woman industry.
This Mrs Marshall is my
kind of Victorian!
The 19th century brought ice-cream
to the masses.
Imported ice became available - shipped in
from as far afield as North America.
While new devices simplified the
process of making ices.
Mrs Marshall patented a churning machine -
still used by enthusiasts like Annie Squire.
Who's demonstrating a Victorian recipe
with a surprising main ingredient.
We're going to mix some cream -
about a pint of cream.
With this cucumber mixture!
It's cooked cucumber with sugar,
ginger wine and some lemon juice.
The cucumber mixture and cream are poured into
the pan, which is cooled over ice and salt.
- Now, this is Where the hard work begins, is it?
- That's Where the hard work begins.
The paddle steadily churns the mixture, keeping
the texture lovely and smooth - in theory!
Gentle, yes.
Gentle.
Well, as fast as you think you can Without it
going off into outer space, you know?
- "As fast as I can, Without it going into outer space."
- Turning it into a flying saucer!
I mean, I can feel it stiffening a
little bit already, I think.
Well, according to Mrs Marshall, you should be able
to make a pit of ice-cream in about five minutes.
Can I have a look?
Yeah.
It's sludging, yes.
"Sludging"...? Not sure I Want to be known
for making sludgy ice-cream!
It's getting quite stiff to the touch,
so... shall we have a look?
Whoa, What do we think
of that?!
Really good.
- So now we set it out.
- Yes.
Look at that!
Mmm.
- That's really good, isn't it?
- That's very nice.
The sweetness and the
cucumber go very well.
- Yep.
- Mmm.
"Portillo's Ice-Cream", penny a lump.
Guaranteed to make you jump!
[LAUGHTER]
Having experienced the sweet taste
of Victorian suburbia...
I'm now continuing my journey towards the
heart of the city, on the Metropolitan line.
- Hello.
- Hello.
Do you live on the Metropolitan line?
Do you live in Metro-land?
We do - Pinner. Yes.
And is it important to you to have
the access to the centre?
Oh, yes, yes, it's amazing. I mean, you can get
to Baker Street in about fifteen minutes.
I think it's the best line oh the Underground,
the Metropolitan line.
Why so?
Well, because the trains are fast. Easy to
get to Finchley Road for Hampstead.
Our grandchildren are in school in
Hampstead, so it's very handy.
Sounds like you're quite good
fans of rail transport.
Oh, especially as it doesn't
cost us anything!
Got our rail cards!
[LAUGHTER]
While in Bradshaw's day suburban routes
were in their infancy...
the modern commuter has a Wealth of
tracks to choose from.
I'm now swapping the
Underground system...
for the lines recently reconfigured and
re-branded as the Overground.
Which will carry me from West
Hampstead to my next stop.
"Hampstead Heath," says Bradshaw's, "is situated
in the midst of a fine open country."
"Which, from its elevated character, provides
many beautiful views of the city."
It's one of my favourite
open spaces.
And the point for that panorama has a name
that appeals to me - Parliament Hill.
Even at the time of my guidebook, the
countryside around the capital...
was gradually being eaten
up by urban sprawl.
But, thankfully, the heath itself has
survived almost unchanged.
The vista is, as promised, superb!
And Bradshaw's comments that "The air
is remarkably salubrious."
That would be in contrast, I suppose,
to the miasma...
of sulphurous fumes and the smoke from a
hundred thousand domestic hearths...
that would have shrouded
the city.
It Wasn't just the living who sought to
escape to green slopes.
My guide book comments, "Cemeteries have
been established Within the last few years..."
under the 'Burial Acts', which compel
metropolitan districts..."
"to provide suitable space for the
interment of the dead."
And then it comments...
"The entry to Highgate Cemetery is free." But that
would be for the quick, I think - hot the dead!
As 19th-century London's population
mushroomed, the problem...
of Where to bury the dead
reached crisis point.
In 1836, an act of Parliament
legislated for the...
creation of vast new
cemeteries on the city's outskirts.
My guide to Highgate is
Ian Dungervell.
What made them build cemeteries in
places like Highgate?
Normally you'd be buried in your local parish
churchyard, but those had got very, very crowded.
So the sexton would have to go round prodding
- looking for space for a grave.
And often times that Wasn't available.
A shocking situation.
It really was, it was absolutely terrible.
And on top of that...
there were a fear of graverobbers
or bodysnatchers...
who were looking for corpses to sell
to the anatomy schools.
So, all in all, people didn't want to be buried
in parish churchyards anymore.
Here lies some of Victorian Britain's
most notable figures.
Including scientist Michael Faraday, Writer
George Elliot and, most famously, Karl Marx.
Cemeteries like Highgate were
privately run...
and only those who could afford the
fees were buried in them.
The headstones and tombs are magnificent
pieces of art, ostentatious.
Absolutely! You had to show off
your social position...
and also the cemetery company Wanted to make
sure you knew this was a good place to be.
So if you had your tomb Within a certain
distance of the main path...
you had to spend a fair bit
of money on it.
This is all part of Victorian commercial
enterprises?
Absolutely! These were a
private speculation.
So if you look at the pages of the
newspapers in the 1830s..
You'll see ads for cemetery companies,
alongside ads for railway companies.
And they were both part of that growth in
infrastructure in the 1830s.
And, in fact, oh one new cemetery, they had the
billboards up saying "New cemetery coming soon".
And some wag had written:
"New graves, warmed by steam".
[LAUGHTER]
So it's quite clear people saw cemeteries and
railways as joint aspects of modern life.
- A bit macabre.
- Yeah.
What an extraordinary-looking building!
These are the terrace catacombs.
So they're Listed, because they're the oldest
asphalted structure in the country.
And the company that did it, the consulting
engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunei.
My goodness, it's like, um, a library of
corpses on their shelves.
That's right. There's 825 of these niches,
where coffins were placed.
And it's the most secure part
of the cemetery.
So you had three lines of defence.
The cemetery walls.
You would come up here with an
attendant, with a key.
And then your coffin would be
placed in here...
with a marble slab or a granite slab in front
with your name inscribed.
So here, you really were... oh
the shelf, weren't you!
I've retraced my steps to West Hampstead, to
rejoin the Underground network.
The Jubilee line's first stretch
opened in 1979.
Partly using these existing tracks.
And now they're carrying me
towards central London.
Bradshaw's suggests I visit "Tussaud's Wax
Exhibition at Baker Street."
"Summer, eleven to ten. Winter, eleven
to dusk. One shilling."
"See Napoleon, et cetera."
After the opening of this model attraction,
its popularity waxed.
Since its foundation in the early 19th century,
around five hundred million visitors...
have beaten a path to London's
famous waxworks.
In ah age before television and Twitter, here
Victorians managed to look their heroes in the eye.
Matthew Clarkson is introducing me to this
venerable institution's founder.
This is the lady herself. The story of
Madame Tussaud starts in 1770, Paris.
Where she learnt to model
wax likenesses.
Early 19th century she moved to London with
a travelling exhibition of death masks...
and relics from the
French Revolution
Death masks?
Yeah. So when she was seventeen she became
the art tutor to Louis XVI's daughter.
She then learnt her skill - then had to
prove her allegiance...
to the family during the
French Revolution.
Where she was forced to create
these death masks...
of the aristocracy who had been
sentenced to death.
Well, What a frightful beginning.
Yeah, it's kind of dark, but it's Where
she learned her craft.
In 1835 Madame Tussaud set up shop at
the Baker Street Bazaar.
Where Londoners could come face to face with
figures from Nelson to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Then, in 1884, thirty-four years
after her death...
the exhibition re-located to its present
position on the Marylebone Road.
Today's stars now stand alongside the great
and the good of Bradshaw's era.
I see here my old friend,
Isambard Kingdom Brunei.
Now, what did Queen Victoria make of this?
Was she keen on Madame Tussaud's?
She was fascinated by the process. In 1837
she was sculpted for the first time...
and it was What we call a
"live sitting".
Whereas now we take over hundreds of
measurements of facial features.
She had the moulding medium
poured on her face...
with straws in her nostrils
to breathe!
To tolerate such indignity of the
royal personage, she...
must have been highly
amused by the whole process.
Yes, I can imagine so.
If Queen Victoria could endure such hardship,
to be immortalised in wax...
then so can I!
- Hello, guys.
So What torture have you got
ready for me here?
Right, so What We're going to do is basically
dipping your hand into the Wax.
It is really, really hot... yeah?
You're going to dip my hand
in really hot Wax?
Yes. First of all What We're going to do is
to put some cream on your hand.
The cream helps to remove
the wax later...
while the cold water should make the
hot wax clip less painful - I hope!
Let's start by dipping five times.
One.
Two!
Three.
Four.
That's... five.
So, if you come here for me.
You might feel like I'm cutting you
a little bit... but I'm not.
Aaagh!
This man is taking a knife around
my arteries!
Okay, now comes the fun part!
Just relax your hand completely...
and let it slide off into the water.
It's not going to break.
And here we go.
Look at that!
Isn't that lovely?!
How's that looking?
I think that that is in the most
extraordinary good taste!
Now, do you think that can
carry my Bradshaw's?
Should hope so.
Oh, beautiful!
That's lovely.
Travelling with Bradshaw's -
a hands-off approach!
London's earliest underground railways were
just metres below the city's streets.
But towards the end of the 19th century,
the birth of electric trains...
made deep-level railways possible,
and the real "tube" was born.
In 1906 a new underground railway opened,
bored deep beneath the city streets...
running between Baker Street
and Waterloo.
And though after that it was extended to the
south and very much to the north...
it's still known today as
the Bakerloo.
The Bakerloo line is taking me to my final
destination on today's journey...
known as the jewel in the crown of the
eight Royal Parks of London.
The Regent's Park takes its name from Queen
Victoria's uncle, the Prince Regent...
later King George IV.
He allowed elegant new homes, set in
ornamental landscaped grounds...
to be built on Crown lands formerly
used for farming.
"Regent's park..." says the Bradshaw's
guide to London...
and the surrounding crescents, were
laid out from a plan by John Nash."
"The zone of noble mansions is a rare
boon to the pedestrian..."
of which the Londoner may
well be proud."
Was there ever a more successful
design of park?
At first, only the residents of the exclusive
new villas and terraces...
were permitted to use the gardens.
But as 19th-century London's
population grew...
so did the need to provide
open spaces.
In 1835 the general public was
permitted to enter sections...
of the Regent's Park,
on two days of the week.
Today it's open all year round,
for everyone.
Hello, ladies.
Hello.
How are you? May I just join
you for a second?
Yes.
What are you drinking?
We're drinking a little
Pino Grigio.
Why do you think Regent's Park
works so Well?
I think it's because there are so
many interesting things in it.
You've got the lovely flowers, you've
got the gardens and you've got...
And the architecture?
Beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.
You're pleased it got
opened up?
Absolutely!
Who wouldn't be?
A park and a good book -
still a good recipe.
Great combination.
Yeah, we are clashing slightly, with the pink
and yellow. I think it works!
[LAUGHTER]
I'd love to linger with a drink...
but I'm just passing through this beautiful
park, en route to an attraction...
built to satisfy the 19th century's
unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
"The Zoological Gardens is perhaps the most
fashionable resort in the metropolis."
"An institution, which has its origins in that spirit of
association, which has achieved so much for England."
Specimens of rare, curious and beautiful
animals have been collected."
"A Walk through this garden is like a rapid
journey over the world."
Now, most Victorians were not able to travel the
globe - and photography was in its infancy.
So imagine the experience of wonder and
joy when they came to the zoo!
As in Bradshaw's day, London Zoo
continues to pull in the crowds.
With more than a million
visitors per year.
I'm meeting Zoological Director David Field, to
hear how it began as an exclusive club.
David, it's pretty hot for me in my summer plumage,
so I hate to think What it's like for the penguins!
When did the Zoological Society
of London begin?
The Society actually began
in 1826.
And it was the vision of a Wonderful man
call Sir Stamford Raffles.
And he had the foresight to bring together a range
of eminent scientists and politicians of the day...
to create the Society, that then grew into
the London Zoo as we see today.
Created so that researchers could study
exotic animals at close quarters...
when the zoo opened in 1828 it was the
first scientific zoo in the World.
Among those who benefited was Charles Darwin,
who reportedly saw his first ape here.
It was a members-only club
until 1847...
when public pressure forced the Society
to open its doors more widely.
Bradshaw's talks about it as being
a very fashionable place.
So it was treated by the well-to-do as a
place to promenade, was it?
Absolutely. In fact, a music hall artiste
called "The Great Vance"...
had a song which the lyrics talked about "The
okay thing to do, on a Sunday afternoon..."
"is promenade in the zoo." And in actual fact that
was the first time the word "zoo" was ever coined.
Some of the zoo's residents so captured
the Victorian imagination...
that they achieved celebrity status.
A great Victorian character, surely, was
Jumbo the elephant.
Oh, one of THE most iconic characters.
And his name has... just lives forever!
Because "jumbo" didn't actually
mean "elephantine".
No, not at all. And it certainly was Jumbo that's given
that, that phrase. But he was an enormous animal!
What happened to him?
He actually left the zoo. He was sold to Barnum
and Bailey circus, because of his size.
Phineas T. Barnum, he Wanted the biggest
elephant in the World.
But, there was ah outcry.
There were letters to the Press.
Even Queen Victoria made a request that
"Surely we should be able to keep Jumbo?"
What happened to Jumbo
in the end?
Well, one night when, in the States, the circus
was moving from one site to another...
Jumbo was getting onto the train...
and, unfortunately, another freight train
was coming the other way...
and hit Jumbo, and he died -
there and then.
It was end of the line
for Jumbo.
Jumbo's death sparked a public
outpouring of grief.
London Zoo had prompted Victorian
Britons to take to...
their hearts outlandish species
from distant shores.
And it's a great way for people
to get close to animals.
A bit too close possibly!
[LAUGHTER]
It must have been extraordinary
for Victorians...
for the first time, to come eye
to eye with a giraffe.
The Victorians couldn't get
enough of this.
But, the same as today, people love to get close
and are inspired to get this close to animals.
Whilst Jumbo's sad death was caused
by an American freight train...
life in London has become dependent
on railways.
This metropolitan railway was
opened in 1863.
And soon extended as far as
Mrs Marshall's Pinner.
London faced a population explosion...
and responded by perfecting its
recreations and its parks...
and by seeking nearby green spaces for
its citizens, both living and dead.
London was the first metropolis to struggle with
how to open up rural paradise...
without urbanising the
countryside.
And using the world's first
underground railway...
I think my city did it
pretty Well!
Next time, I'll see the celebrated ship that
supplied Victorian Britain with its national drink.
Every journey back from China she was
bringing six hundred tons of tea.
That's enough tea to make over two
hundred million cups.
Taste a by-product of 19th-century
global trade.
Deliciously warm. As if it's just come off
a hot sticky toffee pudding.
And learn about the nation's top
award for gallantry.
This one... is made from the barrel
you're leaning on.
Really?!
[END THEME]