Great British Railway Journeys (2010–…): Season 7, Episode 20 - Egham to Henley-on-Thames - full transcript
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 industry,
society and leisure time.
As I crisscross the country
150 years later,
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
I'm concluding my journey around
Southern England.
Today, sticking close to
the River Thames,
I'll find out how the aquatic
rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge
was institutionalised
and how women who were satisfied
with neither one of them,
by degrees gained
their own university.
But I'm looking forward to beginning
with all the fun of the fair.
Following my Bradshaw's guidebook,
I travelled through
the county of Kent,
took a route south of London,
through the picturesque
towns of Surrey,
and visited racetracks
and royal residences.
The final leg of my journey
will take me along the river
to Henley-on-Thames.
Today, I take a ride in Egham,
push the boundaries in Staines,
drink in the industrial
past of Slough
and cross the finishing line
in the home of rowing.
I attempt to pull my weight
on the River Thames...
Push and relax. Hands away.
Sorry, I've lost it completely.
Discover the radical implications
of one of the country's
first universities for women...
I think it really was
the starting point.
By having ah education, by having a
choice, they demanded other choices.
And let off some steam
at a vintage funfair.
[MICHAEL LAUGHS]
Oh, it's horrible!
Oh! Enough! Enough!
Stop!
Under each place name,
my Bradshaw's tends to give the
date of the annual fair.
Originally, these were important
gatherings for farmers
to trade with each other.
But overtime, they became
associated with amusements.
And those amusements were,
of course,
transformed by the coming of steam.
I'm travelling
on the South Western line
that links London Waterloo
to Reading.
And my first stop is Egham.
On the outskirts, I find
a vintage travelling steam fair-
custodian of rare
and beautiful Victorian machines.
I step back in time to Bradshaw's
day and put my mettle to the test.
Oh!
It looks as if my Herculean
strength hasn't quite hit the mark.
[BELL DINGS]
Well done to you,
that's how it's done.
Steam engines had been developed
for use in factories and railways.
And in time, Victorian
entrepreneurs
harnessed the new technology
for entertainment.
I'm meeting Joby Carter
whose father started the
steam fair in the 1970s,
collecting and restoring these
superb Victorian fairground rides.
Joby, this is a very fine
kind of antique ride.
When does that date from?
- Circa 1895.
That's amazing. And powered?
- By steam.
Before steam power,
how would the rides be driven?
Predominately,
rides were hand-powered.
So, you had a hand crank
in the middle of rides
and they had animals.
They may have had an animal in
the centre pulling the ride round.
The dawn of the steam engine
transformed the fairground industry
beyond all recognition.
One - because they could transport
the rides with heavy locomotives
and they could power the ride
with centre engines,
like the one in the galloper
and the one on the steam yachts
we have here.
Now, your steam yachts really
are a very elegant piece of work.
Tell me about them.
Well, the steam yacht
originally was designed
by William Cartwright in 1888.
And along came Frederick Savage,
who was a farm machinery
manufacturer,
got into the fairground game
and pilfered the idea, if you will,
changed a few things to
get round the copyright.
And it was Savage's
that built the most steam yachts.
Ours was built in 1921 and it was
the original White-knuckle ride.
Hah!
- It was areal, real thrill ride.
And how rare is it to have this
kind of example of a steam yacht?
It's incredibly rare
and, Without any shadow of a doubt,
it's the finest example left
in the world.
With these daring new rides,
came the great showman.
Tasked with luring thrill-seeking
Victorians onto the amusements.
Roll up, roll up, roll up
for the steam yachts!
You'll be mesmerisecl,
you'll be hypnotised!
You'll be swung from side to side!
Are you brave enough to
come on the steam yachts today?
You'll be scared out of your wits!
Having talked the talk,
it's now time for me to experience
this White-knuckle ride.
So, the seats are marked
yellow for cowards
and then brave and then very brave.
And no self-respecting
Briton could sit anywhere
except the very brave seat.
Come on, then.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
[HE LAUGHS]
Oh, this is horrible. No, no.
Oh, the swing is appalling
and in a Victorian device,
you're only held in
by your own arms.
Oh, oh, oh!
I'm going vertical!
I can't believe...
Oh, enough!
Enough! Stop!
Oh, thank goodness
we're slowing down.
Those Victorians really knew
how to scare you.
Glad to be back on solid ground,
I remain in Egham
and I'm heading up the hill
as I hope to learn a thing or two.
Fortunately for us, some Victorians
who made a tremendous fortune
were interested in philanthropy
and their own posterity.
And so it is that there is a corner
of Surrey that is forever Holloway.
Royal Holloway is a spectacular
university campus
now part of the
University of London.
Its grand and traditional
appearance perhaps belies
its radical pioneering origins.
Founded in 1886 by Thomas Holloway,
a Wealthy philanthropist,
it was one of Britain's first
colleges for women.
The current principal
is Professor Paul Layzell.
Paul, in order to found
this extraordinary institution,
Thomas Holloway must have had a lot
of money. Where did he make it?
Well, Thomas and Jane Holloway
were very Wealthy.
They produced pills and potions that
they claimed cured a
variety of ailments.
But his secret to success was
he was a brilliant marketeer,
he understood
the power of advertising
and that's what sold the pills.
Do we think the pills
were efficacious?
I'm told that they did you no harm.
I think they were a mild laxative.
What turned his mind
towards philanthropy?
Well, the Holloways had no children
and it was his wife, Jane,
who thought about creating a college
for the education of women.
How undersupplied were women
at that time with higher education?
There weren't many opportunities.
There was Bedford College, which was
founded in 1849 in Central London.
And you certainly couldn't
get a degree until about 1900,
when both Bedford College and
Royal Holloway College
joined the University of London.
Thomas and Jane
had been a devoted couple
and following her death in 1875,
he resolved to build the college
for women in her memory.
Holloway employed the architect
William Crossland
to design this building.
It's based on
the Chateau de Chambord
in the Loire Valley.
There it's white limestone,
here it's red Victorian brick.
I notice that there's a
statue of Queen Victoria
in your first court
and you're known as Royal Holloway.
So did the Queen attach
herself to the college?
Yes, the Queen was invited to come
for the opening in 1886,
she liked it so much she granted
the use of the royal title,
which is quite unusual
in higher education institutions.
In the late 19th century,
higher education for women
was controversial.
Many saw it as fraught with danger.
Care was taken to guard
against ill health,
brought on by "strong brainwork."
There was a strict timetable,
and rules to keep women respectable.
The first year's intake
was just 28 students,
but numbers grew rapidly.
Facilities included
a beautiful gilded chapel.
As well as an art gallery,
filled with works
from the leading
painters of the day.
I'm meeting its curator,
Laura McCulloch.
So, how did it come about
that a university college
had an art collection?
It was all down to Thomas Holloway,
the founder.
And I think the idea was
that he needed something
to lure people to the college.
So he thought having ah art gallery
would mean they'd come
and then, of course,
once they're here,
they couldn't help but see
how amazing the college was.
So I'm sure it was advertising.
But he was a 19th-century man so,
of course,
he would have understood the idea
of art for education as well.
So, I think it's a kind of
dual purpose.
This painting here with its range
of female beauties,
what's that about?
Well, what you have are women
who have not had enough money
for a dowry
and they're being sold off
at auction,
a marriage auction in
ancient Babylon.
Really, I think the artist
is trying to get his viewers
to compare ancient Babylon
to Victorian Britain,
saying, "Have we really moved
that far away?"
And I think the implied answer is,
"No, we are still not giving
our women any choice.
"They must marry
if they want to support themselves."
So, what role do you think
Royal Holloway College plays
in changing the world that's been
parodied in that painting?
I think it was one
of the first stepping stones
for women to get freedom.
One of our students, Emily Wilding
Davison, was a suffragette.
It allowed women to
congregate together,
to talk about their status,
and I think it really was
the starting point,
by having an education,
by having a choice,
they demanded other choices.
And there's a painting
that gladdens my heart -
a painting of a railway station.
It is. That's Paddington station.
And it was painted
by William Powell Frith,
who really made his name
with very large crowd scenes,
very complex scenes
with lots of little narratives
but showing all the classes
mixing together in these crowds.
And, really, it's a celebration
of the technology
of Victorian Britain.
Over half the painting is dedicated
to the architecture
of Paddington station.
Which, of course, you couldn't have
Without Victorian technology.
And then, the bottom half
with the crowd scene -
now that's a celebration
of Victorian society itself.
And it's quite a useful
document, isn't it,
to tell us about
what railway travel looked like
at the end of the 19th century?
- Absolutely.
Royal Holloway is today recognised
as one of the leading
research universities
in the country.
It has around 8,500 students.
And since 1945,
has generously admitted men.
Thomas Holloway might today
be considered a bit of a quack
and might be remembered
as rather a rogue.
But his fortune built a college
that changed women's
place in society
and an art collection that
provides a social commentary
on late 19th-century Britain.
And that has earned him a position
of honour in British history.
From Egham, I'm travelling
just one station along the main line
for my overnight stop.
I'm going to spend my
evening in Staines,
drawn by this reference
in Bradshaw's
to the city boundary stone
on which is inscribed,
“God preserve the city of
London AD 1280.'
"It marks the limit
of the Lord Mayor's jurisdiction
"over the River Thames.
"When the civic authorities
make their tour of inspection,
"they disembark here and wine
is placed for them oh the stone."
And that seems like a ritual
that's worth re-enacting.
To pay off debts incurred fighting
the Third Crusade, in 1197,
King Richard I sold the rights
and revenues of the Lower Thames
to the Corporation
of the City of London.
Staines stood at the title
limit of the river
so it was an obvious place
to mark the boundary.
Between the 12th
and the 19th century,
the City of London
could charge tolls
and levy taxes on fishing
along great stretches
of the River Thames.
And they would visit
each of their boundary stones
on three-day tours of inspection.
When the authorities
lost that right in 1857,
they return from their last
inspection symbolically by train
back to the city of London
to drown their sorrows.
It's the start of my second day.
I'm rejoining the railway
at Staines and heading to Slough.
But I need to change
at Windsor and Eton Riverside.
Windsor and Eton have two stations.
One by the riverside,
one called Central.
You can walk between the two.
But the existence of two stations
which are not joined together
is testimony to the railway mania
of the Victorian age
when lines were constructed
higgledy-piggledy.
In the shadow of the
11th-century Windsor Castle
and a stone's throw from
Eton College, established in 1440,
I'm taking the riverside path
for my seven-minute walk
between the stations
as I leave the South Western network
to join the trains
of the Great Western.
It's still early, misty morning.
Luckily, I slept well last night.
There are some people who believe that
they rely for a good
nocturnal rest
on a product made
at my next stop, Slough.
Slough is known as home
to one of the largest industrial
trading estates in Europe.
Just 20 miles west of London,
the town was bisected
by the old Great West Road
and the Great Western Railway -
factors which attracted businesses
from the mid-19th century.
In 1840, Slough was the closest
station to Windsor Castle
and so was built bigger and grander
than others along the line.
I'm to visit another local landmark
built with trains in mind -
the original
British Horlicks factory
which still produces
the drink today.
To find out about its history,
I'm meeting the company's
archivist, Jill Moretto.
Jill, how does this
product start life?
In the early 1870s,
James and William Horlick
emigrated to Chicago
in the United States
and went into business together.
James had done his apprenticeship
in a chemist in London
working with infant foods
and the two brothers decided
that this would be the product
that they would make
themselves and market.
So, what was the market opportunity
for this new infant food?
In the Victorian times,
milk could sometimes
take a long time to get from
the farms into the city, then
out to the people who heeded it.
By the time it got there,
it could cause illnesses
or it might even cause death.
So by putting the milk
in the product itself,
then you just needed to add water.
It was sterile,
it was much safer for the child.
This is a Horlicks feeder.
This is the predecessor
to a baby bottle.
So, before plastics.
So, it was stoppered at the one end.
You'd put your powder in,
your water and mix it all up.
Then, the baby would have
the teat oh the end.
In 1883, the Horlick brothers
had obtained a United States patent
for their dehydrated milk product
and were exporting it
to their homeland as a baby food
and later an energy drink.
Demand was such that they started
production in the United Kingdom.
Buying land from
Eton College in 1906,
to build a factory
alongside the railway line.
This is a card sleeve,
probably 1920s.
You can see on the front we have,
"For infants, invalids,
the aged and travellers."
"Infants, invalids, the aged..."
I understand that. "Travellers"?
It was used by explorers,
so, Roald Amundsen
and Admiral Byrd took it
on their polar expeditions
to sustain themselves.
It could replace a meal.
During one of their expeditions
in the 1930s,
they named a major mountain range
after their sponsor
and to this day they are
the Horlick Mountains in Antarctica.
So, I think of this product
being advertised
as being very good for sleep.
So how did it change?
As milk became more available,
it got pasteurisation,
the need to have this infant food
for children Wasn't as big.
They changed their marketing
to keep their product going,
so they marketed it as a sleep aid.
And this is the drink itself.
- Yes.
I think I may be a novice to this.
So, it's warm.
Ooh, very wheaty, isn't it?
Yes. And quite thick.
- And quite thick.
And...
Now revived, I'm off to see
how modern production is managed
in a facility
that's over 100 years old.
The site director of
the factory is Steve Smith.
Steve, a powerful,
almost heady smell
which is very distinctive
of the product.
What makes it smell like that?
So, you're right at the front end
of the process, Michael,
here at Slough.
And that's Where we mash
the product together
with the malted barley
and the Wheat flour.
And that, with hot water,
that provides us with that smell.
But I'm quite pleased
that you've got, excuse me,
what appear like some quite antique
pieces of machinery here.
This is one of our evaporators.
This equipment itself is 1929.
That said, if we remove the stuff,
the equipment,
we actually change the
flavour of the product
and therefore lose some
of its traditional flavour.
This factory produces
up to 14,000 tonnes a year
for domestic consumption
and to supply growing markets
in Malaysia and Africa.
And Where else is the product
popular today?
So, in India.
38 million households
drink the product
where, I guess, 190 cups of Horlicks
every second are consumed every day.
And why is that such
a strong market, do you think?
I think it's about helping support
the malnutrition agenda.
So, really, the way the product's
being used in India today
is not dissimilar
for the way it was used in
the United Kingdom
a century and a half ago?
Absolutely right.
I'm heading back to Slough station
for the last leg of my journey
which takes me along the mainline
westwards to Twyford station.
This will be my interchange
for the branch line
to my final destination
of Henley-on-Thames.
Hello, are you the
station master of this...
Hello. Yeah.
- Of this lovely station?
Yes. Welcome to Twyford.
- Thank you very much indeed.
So, you're changing over now,
you're going back to being called
the Great Western Railway?
We are, yes, yes.
How does that feel to you?
- It's great.
It's good, it's good. I remember
the Great Western, yeah.
What are your memories of it?
Oh, well,
I started on the railway in '62
and it was still very much
Great Western in name
although it was British Rail
then, of course,
but all the staff
were Great Western staff.
So you've been on the railway
since 1962?
Yes.
And how much longer
would you have to go, do you think,
working on the railways?
I retire at the end of this month.
- No!
Yes.
- My goodness, you'll miss the railway.
Yes, after 53 years,
but We've all got to
go sometime.
I'm now on the little shuttle
train to Henley.
Bradshaw's tells me that it's
"delightfully situated
on a sloping bank of the Thames
"over which there's
a handsome bridge of five arches
"connecting the counties of
Oxford and Berkshire."
The straight stretch of the river
in the early 19th century
attracted the eligible blades
of Oxford and Cambridge
to compete in boats,
with no messing.
40 miles from Central London
and beyond the last
of the capital's suburbs,
the River Thames winds through
more rural surroundings
to reach Henley-on-Thames.
Located in Oxfordshire,
it's a pretty and
affluent market town.
The river has always been key
to its fortunes.
I'm going to the River
and Rowing Museum to lap up
some of its watery history
with curator, Eloise Chapman.
Hello, Eloise.
- Hello, Michael.
This is a beautiful but, I must say,
very heavy-looking boat.
What's the history of this?
So, this was the boat that won
the first ever Oxford-Cambridge
Boat Race, won by Oxford in 1829.
And that race was actually
rode at Henley-on-Thames
rather than in London.
It was started by two students,
one went to Cambridge,
one went to Oxford.
And they met one summer holiday
and waged a bet against each other
as to who could win
a race on the Thames.
Why did they choose Henley?
They chose Henley because we have a
very straight stretch of river here.
There's a lot of boat builders in
the area. A lot of people came to
the area just to have fun oh the
river at the weekends.
So, it seemed like the ideal place,
I imagine, for them.
And then at some point,
the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race
moves away to London.
There was only one race
held in Henley-on-Thames.
And they went to London after that.
I think because it had proved
such a popular race
and they wanted to be somewhere
where, you know,
there was a bigger arena
for the competition.
The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
has become a sporting highlight
since that first occurrence in 1829.
And as of 2015, Cambridge has
won 81 races and Oxford 79.
The town lost the varsity race
but invented its own prestigious
rowing event - the Henley Regatta.
The regatta got going in 1839.
And to begin with,
it was really a social event,
a way of bringing people to the town
and making some money
for the town as well.
And then about 20 years later,
with the coming of the railway,
it became a much bigger social event
because people could come in from
London and all the surrounding area.
Crews race a course of
just over a mile.
And since 1851,
when Prince Albert became patron,
it's been known
as the Henley Royal Regatta.
They must've needed a lot of muscle
and expended a lot of
sweat rowing that boat.
Oh, yeah, I mean, a huge amount.
And they're not easy boats to row.
And to find out what it takes
to be an oarsman,
I'm heading to the Henley
Rowing Club to try my hand.
Under the tuition of
rowing coach Stan Admiraal.
Stan.
- Hello there, Michael.
Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Reporting for my training.
- Perfect.
Let me just introduce you
to the basics of rowing
and let me teach you in a quick
and brief way how we do that.
Just enough that I don't drown.
- Yeah. Perfect, no problem.
So, we grab the handle,
and we just push on our legs
and we stretch out.
It's what I call position one.
Then move the hands away first,
all the way.
Good. Position two.
Then we reach forwards,
but we keep the knees flat.
Call that position three.
Perfect. And then slide forwards.
We're going to take on
the next stroke
so I'm going to
push on my legs again.
Going to open up. Perfect.
It's one thing to learn
the technique on a rowing machine.
Time to put it to the test
on the river.
Where shall I sit?
You can have a seat here
in the middle of the boat.
Ah-ha.
And you're going behind?
- Then I'll sit behind.
I'm enlisting in a rowing eight
for my first rowing experience.
So, if we all sit backwards
and backstrokes -
so that's position number one.
Go. Push on the legs.
Hands away.
Push on the legs. Hands away.
Good. Push. Legs.
Michael, try to push on your legs.
Sorry, I've lost it completely.
I've got to get the rhythm back.
Arms straight. Push on
the legs. Up.
Better.
So, Michael,
keep thinking about those legs.
Really push your seat backwards
and keep your arms straight.
Going straight.
I don't think my old university
will be head-hunting me.
Whoa.
But it's been an
oar-some experience.
Keep it loose. Push on the legs.
In, out.
Since I embarked on
my rail journey in Kent,
I've dynamited a quarry,
been flung about in a
steam-powered fairground ride,
fought a duel, driven a Bentley
and rode on the River Thames.
Along the way, I discovered
that the pace of change
in Victorian social attitudes
matched the progress
in science and industry.
In our own digital age too,
we fundamentally changed our views
on the equality between the genders,
races and sexualities.
The continuing development
of our outlooks
is as unstoppable as
our technological inventiveness.
[END THEME]
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 industry,
society and leisure time.
As I crisscross the country
150 years later,
it helps me to discover
the Britain of today.
I'm concluding my journey around
Southern England.
Today, sticking close to
the River Thames,
I'll find out how the aquatic
rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge
was institutionalised
and how women who were satisfied
with neither one of them,
by degrees gained
their own university.
But I'm looking forward to beginning
with all the fun of the fair.
Following my Bradshaw's guidebook,
I travelled through
the county of Kent,
took a route south of London,
through the picturesque
towns of Surrey,
and visited racetracks
and royal residences.
The final leg of my journey
will take me along the river
to Henley-on-Thames.
Today, I take a ride in Egham,
push the boundaries in Staines,
drink in the industrial
past of Slough
and cross the finishing line
in the home of rowing.
I attempt to pull my weight
on the River Thames...
Push and relax. Hands away.
Sorry, I've lost it completely.
Discover the radical implications
of one of the country's
first universities for women...
I think it really was
the starting point.
By having ah education, by having a
choice, they demanded other choices.
And let off some steam
at a vintage funfair.
[MICHAEL LAUGHS]
Oh, it's horrible!
Oh! Enough! Enough!
Stop!
Under each place name,
my Bradshaw's tends to give the
date of the annual fair.
Originally, these were important
gatherings for farmers
to trade with each other.
But overtime, they became
associated with amusements.
And those amusements were,
of course,
transformed by the coming of steam.
I'm travelling
on the South Western line
that links London Waterloo
to Reading.
And my first stop is Egham.
On the outskirts, I find
a vintage travelling steam fair-
custodian of rare
and beautiful Victorian machines.
I step back in time to Bradshaw's
day and put my mettle to the test.
Oh!
It looks as if my Herculean
strength hasn't quite hit the mark.
[BELL DINGS]
Well done to you,
that's how it's done.
Steam engines had been developed
for use in factories and railways.
And in time, Victorian
entrepreneurs
harnessed the new technology
for entertainment.
I'm meeting Joby Carter
whose father started the
steam fair in the 1970s,
collecting and restoring these
superb Victorian fairground rides.
Joby, this is a very fine
kind of antique ride.
When does that date from?
- Circa 1895.
That's amazing. And powered?
- By steam.
Before steam power,
how would the rides be driven?
Predominately,
rides were hand-powered.
So, you had a hand crank
in the middle of rides
and they had animals.
They may have had an animal in
the centre pulling the ride round.
The dawn of the steam engine
transformed the fairground industry
beyond all recognition.
One - because they could transport
the rides with heavy locomotives
and they could power the ride
with centre engines,
like the one in the galloper
and the one on the steam yachts
we have here.
Now, your steam yachts really
are a very elegant piece of work.
Tell me about them.
Well, the steam yacht
originally was designed
by William Cartwright in 1888.
And along came Frederick Savage,
who was a farm machinery
manufacturer,
got into the fairground game
and pilfered the idea, if you will,
changed a few things to
get round the copyright.
And it was Savage's
that built the most steam yachts.
Ours was built in 1921 and it was
the original White-knuckle ride.
Hah!
- It was areal, real thrill ride.
And how rare is it to have this
kind of example of a steam yacht?
It's incredibly rare
and, Without any shadow of a doubt,
it's the finest example left
in the world.
With these daring new rides,
came the great showman.
Tasked with luring thrill-seeking
Victorians onto the amusements.
Roll up, roll up, roll up
for the steam yachts!
You'll be mesmerisecl,
you'll be hypnotised!
You'll be swung from side to side!
Are you brave enough to
come on the steam yachts today?
You'll be scared out of your wits!
Having talked the talk,
it's now time for me to experience
this White-knuckle ride.
So, the seats are marked
yellow for cowards
and then brave and then very brave.
And no self-respecting
Briton could sit anywhere
except the very brave seat.
Come on, then.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
[HE LAUGHS]
Oh, this is horrible. No, no.
Oh, the swing is appalling
and in a Victorian device,
you're only held in
by your own arms.
Oh, oh, oh!
I'm going vertical!
I can't believe...
Oh, enough!
Enough! Stop!
Oh, thank goodness
we're slowing down.
Those Victorians really knew
how to scare you.
Glad to be back on solid ground,
I remain in Egham
and I'm heading up the hill
as I hope to learn a thing or two.
Fortunately for us, some Victorians
who made a tremendous fortune
were interested in philanthropy
and their own posterity.
And so it is that there is a corner
of Surrey that is forever Holloway.
Royal Holloway is a spectacular
university campus
now part of the
University of London.
Its grand and traditional
appearance perhaps belies
its radical pioneering origins.
Founded in 1886 by Thomas Holloway,
a Wealthy philanthropist,
it was one of Britain's first
colleges for women.
The current principal
is Professor Paul Layzell.
Paul, in order to found
this extraordinary institution,
Thomas Holloway must have had a lot
of money. Where did he make it?
Well, Thomas and Jane Holloway
were very Wealthy.
They produced pills and potions that
they claimed cured a
variety of ailments.
But his secret to success was
he was a brilliant marketeer,
he understood
the power of advertising
and that's what sold the pills.
Do we think the pills
were efficacious?
I'm told that they did you no harm.
I think they were a mild laxative.
What turned his mind
towards philanthropy?
Well, the Holloways had no children
and it was his wife, Jane,
who thought about creating a college
for the education of women.
How undersupplied were women
at that time with higher education?
There weren't many opportunities.
There was Bedford College, which was
founded in 1849 in Central London.
And you certainly couldn't
get a degree until about 1900,
when both Bedford College and
Royal Holloway College
joined the University of London.
Thomas and Jane
had been a devoted couple
and following her death in 1875,
he resolved to build the college
for women in her memory.
Holloway employed the architect
William Crossland
to design this building.
It's based on
the Chateau de Chambord
in the Loire Valley.
There it's white limestone,
here it's red Victorian brick.
I notice that there's a
statue of Queen Victoria
in your first court
and you're known as Royal Holloway.
So did the Queen attach
herself to the college?
Yes, the Queen was invited to come
for the opening in 1886,
she liked it so much she granted
the use of the royal title,
which is quite unusual
in higher education institutions.
In the late 19th century,
higher education for women
was controversial.
Many saw it as fraught with danger.
Care was taken to guard
against ill health,
brought on by "strong brainwork."
There was a strict timetable,
and rules to keep women respectable.
The first year's intake
was just 28 students,
but numbers grew rapidly.
Facilities included
a beautiful gilded chapel.
As well as an art gallery,
filled with works
from the leading
painters of the day.
I'm meeting its curator,
Laura McCulloch.
So, how did it come about
that a university college
had an art collection?
It was all down to Thomas Holloway,
the founder.
And I think the idea was
that he needed something
to lure people to the college.
So he thought having ah art gallery
would mean they'd come
and then, of course,
once they're here,
they couldn't help but see
how amazing the college was.
So I'm sure it was advertising.
But he was a 19th-century man so,
of course,
he would have understood the idea
of art for education as well.
So, I think it's a kind of
dual purpose.
This painting here with its range
of female beauties,
what's that about?
Well, what you have are women
who have not had enough money
for a dowry
and they're being sold off
at auction,
a marriage auction in
ancient Babylon.
Really, I think the artist
is trying to get his viewers
to compare ancient Babylon
to Victorian Britain,
saying, "Have we really moved
that far away?"
And I think the implied answer is,
"No, we are still not giving
our women any choice.
"They must marry
if they want to support themselves."
So, what role do you think
Royal Holloway College plays
in changing the world that's been
parodied in that painting?
I think it was one
of the first stepping stones
for women to get freedom.
One of our students, Emily Wilding
Davison, was a suffragette.
It allowed women to
congregate together,
to talk about their status,
and I think it really was
the starting point,
by having an education,
by having a choice,
they demanded other choices.
And there's a painting
that gladdens my heart -
a painting of a railway station.
It is. That's Paddington station.
And it was painted
by William Powell Frith,
who really made his name
with very large crowd scenes,
very complex scenes
with lots of little narratives
but showing all the classes
mixing together in these crowds.
And, really, it's a celebration
of the technology
of Victorian Britain.
Over half the painting is dedicated
to the architecture
of Paddington station.
Which, of course, you couldn't have
Without Victorian technology.
And then, the bottom half
with the crowd scene -
now that's a celebration
of Victorian society itself.
And it's quite a useful
document, isn't it,
to tell us about
what railway travel looked like
at the end of the 19th century?
- Absolutely.
Royal Holloway is today recognised
as one of the leading
research universities
in the country.
It has around 8,500 students.
And since 1945,
has generously admitted men.
Thomas Holloway might today
be considered a bit of a quack
and might be remembered
as rather a rogue.
But his fortune built a college
that changed women's
place in society
and an art collection that
provides a social commentary
on late 19th-century Britain.
And that has earned him a position
of honour in British history.
From Egham, I'm travelling
just one station along the main line
for my overnight stop.
I'm going to spend my
evening in Staines,
drawn by this reference
in Bradshaw's
to the city boundary stone
on which is inscribed,
“God preserve the city of
London AD 1280.'
"It marks the limit
of the Lord Mayor's jurisdiction
"over the River Thames.
"When the civic authorities
make their tour of inspection,
"they disembark here and wine
is placed for them oh the stone."
And that seems like a ritual
that's worth re-enacting.
To pay off debts incurred fighting
the Third Crusade, in 1197,
King Richard I sold the rights
and revenues of the Lower Thames
to the Corporation
of the City of London.
Staines stood at the title
limit of the river
so it was an obvious place
to mark the boundary.
Between the 12th
and the 19th century,
the City of London
could charge tolls
and levy taxes on fishing
along great stretches
of the River Thames.
And they would visit
each of their boundary stones
on three-day tours of inspection.
When the authorities
lost that right in 1857,
they return from their last
inspection symbolically by train
back to the city of London
to drown their sorrows.
It's the start of my second day.
I'm rejoining the railway
at Staines and heading to Slough.
But I need to change
at Windsor and Eton Riverside.
Windsor and Eton have two stations.
One by the riverside,
one called Central.
You can walk between the two.
But the existence of two stations
which are not joined together
is testimony to the railway mania
of the Victorian age
when lines were constructed
higgledy-piggledy.
In the shadow of the
11th-century Windsor Castle
and a stone's throw from
Eton College, established in 1440,
I'm taking the riverside path
for my seven-minute walk
between the stations
as I leave the South Western network
to join the trains
of the Great Western.
It's still early, misty morning.
Luckily, I slept well last night.
There are some people who believe that
they rely for a good
nocturnal rest
on a product made
at my next stop, Slough.
Slough is known as home
to one of the largest industrial
trading estates in Europe.
Just 20 miles west of London,
the town was bisected
by the old Great West Road
and the Great Western Railway -
factors which attracted businesses
from the mid-19th century.
In 1840, Slough was the closest
station to Windsor Castle
and so was built bigger and grander
than others along the line.
I'm to visit another local landmark
built with trains in mind -
the original
British Horlicks factory
which still produces
the drink today.
To find out about its history,
I'm meeting the company's
archivist, Jill Moretto.
Jill, how does this
product start life?
In the early 1870s,
James and William Horlick
emigrated to Chicago
in the United States
and went into business together.
James had done his apprenticeship
in a chemist in London
working with infant foods
and the two brothers decided
that this would be the product
that they would make
themselves and market.
So, what was the market opportunity
for this new infant food?
In the Victorian times,
milk could sometimes
take a long time to get from
the farms into the city, then
out to the people who heeded it.
By the time it got there,
it could cause illnesses
or it might even cause death.
So by putting the milk
in the product itself,
then you just needed to add water.
It was sterile,
it was much safer for the child.
This is a Horlicks feeder.
This is the predecessor
to a baby bottle.
So, before plastics.
So, it was stoppered at the one end.
You'd put your powder in,
your water and mix it all up.
Then, the baby would have
the teat oh the end.
In 1883, the Horlick brothers
had obtained a United States patent
for their dehydrated milk product
and were exporting it
to their homeland as a baby food
and later an energy drink.
Demand was such that they started
production in the United Kingdom.
Buying land from
Eton College in 1906,
to build a factory
alongside the railway line.
This is a card sleeve,
probably 1920s.
You can see on the front we have,
"For infants, invalids,
the aged and travellers."
"Infants, invalids, the aged..."
I understand that. "Travellers"?
It was used by explorers,
so, Roald Amundsen
and Admiral Byrd took it
on their polar expeditions
to sustain themselves.
It could replace a meal.
During one of their expeditions
in the 1930s,
they named a major mountain range
after their sponsor
and to this day they are
the Horlick Mountains in Antarctica.
So, I think of this product
being advertised
as being very good for sleep.
So how did it change?
As milk became more available,
it got pasteurisation,
the need to have this infant food
for children Wasn't as big.
They changed their marketing
to keep their product going,
so they marketed it as a sleep aid.
And this is the drink itself.
- Yes.
I think I may be a novice to this.
So, it's warm.
Ooh, very wheaty, isn't it?
Yes. And quite thick.
- And quite thick.
And...
Now revived, I'm off to see
how modern production is managed
in a facility
that's over 100 years old.
The site director of
the factory is Steve Smith.
Steve, a powerful,
almost heady smell
which is very distinctive
of the product.
What makes it smell like that?
So, you're right at the front end
of the process, Michael,
here at Slough.
And that's Where we mash
the product together
with the malted barley
and the Wheat flour.
And that, with hot water,
that provides us with that smell.
But I'm quite pleased
that you've got, excuse me,
what appear like some quite antique
pieces of machinery here.
This is one of our evaporators.
This equipment itself is 1929.
That said, if we remove the stuff,
the equipment,
we actually change the
flavour of the product
and therefore lose some
of its traditional flavour.
This factory produces
up to 14,000 tonnes a year
for domestic consumption
and to supply growing markets
in Malaysia and Africa.
And Where else is the product
popular today?
So, in India.
38 million households
drink the product
where, I guess, 190 cups of Horlicks
every second are consumed every day.
And why is that such
a strong market, do you think?
I think it's about helping support
the malnutrition agenda.
So, really, the way the product's
being used in India today
is not dissimilar
for the way it was used in
the United Kingdom
a century and a half ago?
Absolutely right.
I'm heading back to Slough station
for the last leg of my journey
which takes me along the mainline
westwards to Twyford station.
This will be my interchange
for the branch line
to my final destination
of Henley-on-Thames.
Hello, are you the
station master of this...
Hello. Yeah.
- Of this lovely station?
Yes. Welcome to Twyford.
- Thank you very much indeed.
So, you're changing over now,
you're going back to being called
the Great Western Railway?
We are, yes, yes.
How does that feel to you?
- It's great.
It's good, it's good. I remember
the Great Western, yeah.
What are your memories of it?
Oh, well,
I started on the railway in '62
and it was still very much
Great Western in name
although it was British Rail
then, of course,
but all the staff
were Great Western staff.
So you've been on the railway
since 1962?
Yes.
And how much longer
would you have to go, do you think,
working on the railways?
I retire at the end of this month.
- No!
Yes.
- My goodness, you'll miss the railway.
Yes, after 53 years,
but We've all got to
go sometime.
I'm now on the little shuttle
train to Henley.
Bradshaw's tells me that it's
"delightfully situated
on a sloping bank of the Thames
"over which there's
a handsome bridge of five arches
"connecting the counties of
Oxford and Berkshire."
The straight stretch of the river
in the early 19th century
attracted the eligible blades
of Oxford and Cambridge
to compete in boats,
with no messing.
40 miles from Central London
and beyond the last
of the capital's suburbs,
the River Thames winds through
more rural surroundings
to reach Henley-on-Thames.
Located in Oxfordshire,
it's a pretty and
affluent market town.
The river has always been key
to its fortunes.
I'm going to the River
and Rowing Museum to lap up
some of its watery history
with curator, Eloise Chapman.
Hello, Eloise.
- Hello, Michael.
This is a beautiful but, I must say,
very heavy-looking boat.
What's the history of this?
So, this was the boat that won
the first ever Oxford-Cambridge
Boat Race, won by Oxford in 1829.
And that race was actually
rode at Henley-on-Thames
rather than in London.
It was started by two students,
one went to Cambridge,
one went to Oxford.
And they met one summer holiday
and waged a bet against each other
as to who could win
a race on the Thames.
Why did they choose Henley?
They chose Henley because we have a
very straight stretch of river here.
There's a lot of boat builders in
the area. A lot of people came to
the area just to have fun oh the
river at the weekends.
So, it seemed like the ideal place,
I imagine, for them.
And then at some point,
the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race
moves away to London.
There was only one race
held in Henley-on-Thames.
And they went to London after that.
I think because it had proved
such a popular race
and they wanted to be somewhere
where, you know,
there was a bigger arena
for the competition.
The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
has become a sporting highlight
since that first occurrence in 1829.
And as of 2015, Cambridge has
won 81 races and Oxford 79.
The town lost the varsity race
but invented its own prestigious
rowing event - the Henley Regatta.
The regatta got going in 1839.
And to begin with,
it was really a social event,
a way of bringing people to the town
and making some money
for the town as well.
And then about 20 years later,
with the coming of the railway,
it became a much bigger social event
because people could come in from
London and all the surrounding area.
Crews race a course of
just over a mile.
And since 1851,
when Prince Albert became patron,
it's been known
as the Henley Royal Regatta.
They must've needed a lot of muscle
and expended a lot of
sweat rowing that boat.
Oh, yeah, I mean, a huge amount.
And they're not easy boats to row.
And to find out what it takes
to be an oarsman,
I'm heading to the Henley
Rowing Club to try my hand.
Under the tuition of
rowing coach Stan Admiraal.
Stan.
- Hello there, Michael.
Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
Reporting for my training.
- Perfect.
Let me just introduce you
to the basics of rowing
and let me teach you in a quick
and brief way how we do that.
Just enough that I don't drown.
- Yeah. Perfect, no problem.
So, we grab the handle,
and we just push on our legs
and we stretch out.
It's what I call position one.
Then move the hands away first,
all the way.
Good. Position two.
Then we reach forwards,
but we keep the knees flat.
Call that position three.
Perfect. And then slide forwards.
We're going to take on
the next stroke
so I'm going to
push on my legs again.
Going to open up. Perfect.
It's one thing to learn
the technique on a rowing machine.
Time to put it to the test
on the river.
Where shall I sit?
You can have a seat here
in the middle of the boat.
Ah-ha.
And you're going behind?
- Then I'll sit behind.
I'm enlisting in a rowing eight
for my first rowing experience.
So, if we all sit backwards
and backstrokes -
so that's position number one.
Go. Push on the legs.
Hands away.
Push on the legs. Hands away.
Good. Push. Legs.
Michael, try to push on your legs.
Sorry, I've lost it completely.
I've got to get the rhythm back.
Arms straight. Push on
the legs. Up.
Better.
So, Michael,
keep thinking about those legs.
Really push your seat backwards
and keep your arms straight.
Going straight.
I don't think my old university
will be head-hunting me.
Whoa.
But it's been an
oar-some experience.
Keep it loose. Push on the legs.
In, out.
Since I embarked on
my rail journey in Kent,
I've dynamited a quarry,
been flung about in a
steam-powered fairground ride,
fought a duel, driven a Bentley
and rode on the River Thames.
Along the way, I discovered
that the pace of change
in Victorian social attitudes
matched the progress
in science and industry.
In our own digital age too,
we fundamentally changed our views
on the equality between the genders,
races and sexualities.
The continuing development
of our outlooks
is as unstoppable as
our technological inventiveness.
[END THEME]