1 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,840 Deep below London's streets, hidden from public view, 2 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,600 lies an almost forgotten royal relic. 3 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,320 A survival from the most shocking day in our history. 4 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,240 This is a kind of jacket with long sleeves. 5 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,640 It was called a waistcoat at the time. 6 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,160 It's made of the finest knitted silk. 7 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,320 Beautiful patterns on the sleeves and all over the front. 8 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:11,920 Very fine buttons up here. 9 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,120 But the significance of this waistcoat is here - 10 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:24,440 these great splodges of brown, which are thought to be blood. 11 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,960 Because it's said that this is the waistcoat 12 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:33,760 that King Charles I wore when he knelt for the executioner's axe 13 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,840 on 30th January 1649, 14 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,600 the day this country killed its king. 15 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,760 In the same vault is this extraordinary painting. 16 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,920 It shows the dead Charles, his eyes closed, 17 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,160 his skin a ghostly pallor. 18 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,160 And beside him, three female figures, 19 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:08,880 England, Scotland and Ireland, all distraught in misery, 20 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,560 their crowns actually in the act of falling off their heads. 21 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:15,800 And if you look very closely, 22 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:20,440 you can see that the painter has turned the king into a martyr. 23 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,160 He has rejoined the royal head to the royal body, 24 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,640 and the stitching round the neck shows, 25 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,200 with blood trickling down. 26 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:35,080 This is an artist in turmoil over something unimaginable 27 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:36,560 that's happened to him. 28 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,520 It's a time when art was used as a weapon 29 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:44,360 on the battlefield of a world turned upside down. 30 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,680 CROWD BOOS 31 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,480 The early years of the 17th century 32 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,880 gave the first signs of trouble to come. 33 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,680 A new dynasty had inherited the English throne - 34 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,960 the Stuarts of Scotland. 35 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,280 The pretensions of Charles I reached unprecedented heights, 36 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,840 which were unashamedly displayed in his capital. 37 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,600 This magnificent hall, unique in Britain at the time, 38 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,240 is where Charles I, when he ascended the throne, 39 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,240 did all his grand entertaining. 40 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,560 This was a place of dances, of receptions, 41 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,880 thronging with politicians and diplomats. 42 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,400 And to make it all the more impressive, 43 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,880 Charles commissioned this stupendous ceiling. 44 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:13,600 He turned for that to perhaps the greatest European painter of his age, 45 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,000 Peter Paul Rubens from the Netherlands. 46 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,280 If you don't want to get a permanent crick in your neck, 47 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:26,480 there's only one way to enjoy this painting, 48 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,640 and that's by lying flat on the floor... 49 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,680 ..and seeing it as it should be seen. 50 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,400 Ah, that's better! 51 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:46,320 What Rubens has done is to show Charles's vision of kingship 52 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:51,040 by telling the story of Charles's father, James I, 53 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:56,440 and what this shows is the apotheosis of James. 54 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,760 That's to say, James I ascending to heaven as a god. 55 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,560 It's the most extraordinary claim. 56 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:12,000 James actually believed that he was as a god. 57 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,800 He told his Parliament, "Even God calls kings "God"." 58 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,920 And he told his children that they were little gods, 59 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,440 set on Earth to rule over men. 60 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:30,080 Not with hindsight the wisest advice, perhaps, that a father might give. 61 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:50,720 It wasn't long before Charles's behaviour 62 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,440 and his claims to divine kingship 63 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:58,520 had upset his subjects and, more dangerously, his Parliament. 64 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,160 With protests growing throughout the 1630s, 65 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,000 another great painter arrived from the Netherlands. 66 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,240 His name was Anthony van Dyck. 67 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:18,280 The portraits he produced are a snapshot of a doomed generation. 68 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,440 You'd never guess looking at these pictures 69 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,720 that we were going through the most turbulent period in our history. 70 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:50,320 Instead, van Dyck came here as a painter of fantasy land, 71 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:57,360 making portraits of people with beautiful silks, wonderful faces, 72 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,840 full of life and colour and swirling movement. 73 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:07,800 Elegant...handsome...relaxed... 74 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:10,280 ..powerful. 75 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:42,680 This huge portrait was done by van Dyck to hang in the royal palace. 76 00:08:42,680 --> 00:08:46,280 Now, the King was quite a short man. Not here. 77 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,480 He looks like some great Roman emperor, some powerful warrior, 78 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:55,440 in his armour, long-legged, sitting on his great white charger. 79 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,840 The setting - very grand and powerful. 80 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:07,000 This Roman arch, with curious green silk drapery hanging. 81 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,760 Behind, a turbulent sky. 82 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,400 A royal coat of arms looking as if it's just been dumped on the side there, 83 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,040 but vast. 84 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:21,520 But the key thing is the way that the King himself 85 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:23,960 is sitting on his white charger. 86 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:25,680 He's not just out for a ride. 87 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:29,480 He's actually doing quite a complicated dressage movement. 88 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,360 It's the horse trotting, slowly and deliberately. 89 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,720 Difficult to achieve, 90 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,560 but the King's doing it with consummate ease 91 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:41,520 just with his staff resting on the horse's withers. 92 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,120 And the idea is that he can control his horse 93 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:49,440 with the same calm as he holds the reins to his kingdom. 94 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,840 For my money, this is the most poignant painting here 95 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,360 because of the story it tells. 96 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:10,800 It shows two brothers - Lord John Stuart and his brother Bernard. 97 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:16,920 John, the elder one, looking a bit aloof out into the distance, 98 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:22,600 but Bernard - absolute picture of self-obsessed, rather arrogant, 99 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,320 rather carefree youth, 100 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:31,800 elegantly dressed in wonderful blue silks with absurd boots, 101 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,680 his hand on his hip, the other one holding his cloak 102 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:38,160 as though he hadn't got a care in the world, 103 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,720 all his future ahead of him. 104 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:46,720 But both these boys, seven years from the painting of this portrait, 105 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:51,640 would be dead - killed in bloody civil war. 106 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:55,760 (SIREN WAILS) 107 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,560 Events moved so quickly that few predicted the outcome. 108 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,880 It began with the protests of the Puritans - 109 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,720 extreme Protestants who set themselves 110 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,040 against the luxury of the court. 111 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,960 Their fear was that Charles was abandoning the Church of England 112 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,440 to flirt with Roman Catholicism, 113 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:27,120 and they pulled no punches in their pamphlets and sermons. 114 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:35,160 "All images, be they molten, carved or painted, 115 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:41,440 "are to God deceits, uncleanness, filthiness, dung, 116 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,440 "mischief and abomination. 117 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:57,480 "A dance is the devil's procession, and he that entereth into the dance 118 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:01,200 "entereth into his possession! 119 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,880 "The loathsome and odious sin of drunkenness 120 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:15,560 CROWD BOOS "is the root and foundation of many other enormous sins, 121 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:23,960 "as bloodshed, stabbing, murder, swearing, fornication, 122 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:30,720 "adultery and such like, to the great dishonour of God!" 123 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:32,800 CROWD BOOS 124 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:46,200 But the attack that really hit home was on the evils of the theatre. 125 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,160 William Prynne wrote, 126 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:53,120 "It hath evermore been the notorious badge of prostituted strumpets 127 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:54,920 "and the lewdest harlots 128 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,640 "to ramble abroad to plays and playhouses, 129 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:03,560 "whither only branded whores and infamous adulteresses 130 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:06,400 "did usually resort in ancient times." 131 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,920 It was a thinly veiled reference to the Queen herself, 132 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,120 who was well known to enjoy the theatre, 133 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:17,960 and by implying that the Queen of England was a whore, 134 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,320 Prynne landed himself in a load of trouble. 135 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,800 SIREN WAILS 136 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,880 He was fined £5,000, he was sentenced to life imprisonment 137 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,640 and ordered to have part of his ears cut off. 138 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,520 In prison, he went on writing the same kind of stuff 139 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,360 and they then ordered his ears to be cut off entirely, 140 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:46,960 and they branded the letters "SL" on his cheeks for "seditious libeller". 141 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,600 Many of the Puritans' objections to Charles 142 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,880 that were being heard across the country 143 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:10,880 were shared by Parliament, 144 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:14,720 which was already in a power struggle with the King. 145 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,600 It all came to a head in the winter of 1642. 146 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,920 A decade earlier, Charles had actually abolished Parliament, 147 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,920 thinking that he had the right and would rule by himself. 148 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,880 But then he ran out of money and had to summon them back to raise cash. 149 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:36,960 Instead of just agreeing, they returned with a long list of grievances - 150 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:41,440 about religious freedom, about his court, about taxation itself 151 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,160 and about their rights. 152 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,400 The King was so alarmed, and actually feared for his life, 153 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:49,680 that he fled the capital. 154 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,360 It was a terrible mistake. Events were out of his control. 155 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,200 Within months, the unthinkable was happening. 156 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:08,960 The nation was at war with itself. 157 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,000 On one side, the King's army, 158 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,960 determined to restore royal authority. 159 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,320 On the other, a militia raised by Parliament 160 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,440 to assert its independence. 161 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,440 Each year in a Northamptonshire field, 162 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,640 enthusiasts stage a Civil War re-enactment. 163 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,160 How did it go? How did it go for you, that? 164 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,720 We had a good battle today. Did you have a good battle? 165 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:50,240 Yes, yeah. It was fun. 166 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,000 Can I see the pikes? You can. 167 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,080 Can I try one? You can indeed. 168 00:15:54,080 --> 00:16:00,440 Um, 16ft of ash, topped with about 2ft of metal, normally. 169 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,440 But when you... when you charged, it's... 170 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,880 Oh, my God, watch out! LAUGHTER 171 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:10,040 Well, the idea is that at the press of pike, you would lunge together, 172 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,240 gradually... It's all right, I can hold it. It's just heavy. 173 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,240 ...they would gradually come in towards each other and you would try and stab them. 174 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,000 When you got very close, you'd probably drop your pike, draw your sword 175 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:25,600 and set about each other in a very tightly packed close combat. 176 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,680 It's very unwieldy, though, isn't it? It is. 177 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,520 Did you run with the pike, or walk? You'd tend to walk. 178 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,720 As an individual weapon, it is, but if you've got 300 men 179 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,120 with these all pointed straight at you, 180 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,760 that's when it becomes frightening, and that's when people run away. 181 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,800 A lot of the power of the pike was psychological, in reality. 182 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,200 If you look at the records, there's not that many pike wounds, 183 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,080 but an awful lot of people ran away. 184 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:55,400 It makes for a lively day out. 185 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,360 But the reality of the Civil War was grim. 186 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,880 Proportionally, more British lives were lost 187 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:04,840 than in the First World War. 188 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:09,880 And 400 years later, people still know who they'd have supported. 189 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,440 How did you decide which army to belong to? 190 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,680 It's whether you want to fight with the King or the Parliament! 191 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:18,760 Is it? Yes. 192 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,960 It's where your loyalties lie. Which are you? Are you Parliament? 193 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:23,440 Or are you... ALL: Oooh! 194 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,480 We are the King's army, sir. 195 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,400 Are you a republican now? 196 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:32,360 Um...I'm Labour Party so, yes, I believe in the Levellers. 197 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,600 I think I'm a natural Royalist. HE LAUGHS 198 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:40,360 What side would you have been on? Royalist. I'd have been a Royalist. 199 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:43,200 I must admit, I've got republican leanings. 200 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,800 If you had a choice, would you be with Cromwell or with the King? 201 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,480 Er, with Cromwell. Why? 202 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,920 Because I, once again, vote Labour and such like, trade union... 203 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,560 You must be tempted to make it a real fight! Why, yes! 204 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:19,320 It's almost impossible to imagine this tranquil English countryside 205 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,000 ravaged by civil war. 206 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,840 The desolation of the battlefield... 207 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:33,360 ..bodies lying in the ditches and by the hedgerows, 208 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:36,160 towns divided against towns, 209 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,040 villages fighting villages, 210 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:43,400 and, worst of all, families divided against themselves. 211 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,920 Middle Claydon has been home to the Verney family 212 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:18,680 for five-and-a-half centuries. 213 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,240 The Verney story, typical of so many families during the Civil War, 214 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,520 is captured in a moving monument in the family church. 215 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:49,640 It was constructed by the eldest son, Sir Ralph, in the aftermath of the war. 216 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,960 This is the memorial to the Verney family. 217 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,080 Down here, Sir Ralph Verney and his wife 218 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,880 and above, his father Sir Edmund and his wife. 219 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,640 Now, Sir Edmund was a courtier to Charles I, 220 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:28,400 and when the trouble began, 221 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,640 he felt compelled by the years he'd spent in his service 222 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,640 to remain loyal to the King on the Royalist side. 223 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:40,560 The son, on the other hand, thought on principle that the King was wrong 224 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,640 and that he had to fight for the Parliamentary side. 225 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:48,680 So this family was torn apart by this decision. 226 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,000 The father, while they were still estranged, 227 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,400 went off to fight at the great Battle of Edgehill, 228 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,800 where he had the job of carrying the royal standard into battle, 229 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,000 and apparently fought very bravely, was said to have killed two people 230 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,360 and then was himself hacked to pieces, 231 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:09,600 and all that was left of him was the hand still holding the standard. 232 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:14,520 Now, years later, the war over, 233 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:18,640 Ralph had this great memorial commissioned. 234 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,920 And what does he do? Puts his father there at the top. 235 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,480 So despite all the divisions they had, 236 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,480 this great tribute to his father is made 237 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:32,280 with a plaque here recording his life. 238 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,320 In life, they may have been divided. 239 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,200 In death, they're reunited. 240 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:01,600 Which side do you think you'd have been on? 241 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,000 I think I would naturally be a Royalist. 242 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,360 I feel myself to be a Royalist, a monarchist. 243 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:12,760 But whether I would've approved of the way the King carried on 244 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:17,480 and would've allowed myself to be seduced by that, in a way, 245 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:18,960 I'm not sure. 246 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,880 And what would you think? 247 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:22,960 Well, I'd hate to tear the family apart 248 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,560 in such a way as it was torn apart all those years ago, 249 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,240 and at my age, I suppose, my emotional attachment 250 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,160 would be more towards keeping the family together. 251 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,400 So I might well decide to follow my father and go with the King. 252 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,720 Is there any evidence of what was going on in the family? 253 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,080 Well, yes, we've got a wonderful lot of letters in the archive from then, 254 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,640 and for instance, there's this one here, 255 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,080 which is written by Ralph's brother to him. 256 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:53,680 "Brother, 257 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:58,440 "what I feared is true, which is your being against the King. 258 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,680 "Give me leave to tell you in my opinion, 259 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,880 "'tis most unhandsomely done, 260 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:09,040 "and it grieves my heart to think that my father already, and I, 261 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,760 "who so dearly love and esteem you, 262 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,880 "should be bound in consequence, because it's in duty to our King, 263 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:17,520 "to be your enemy. 264 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,480 Very touching, isn't it? Yeah. 265 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,000 Ralph's younger brother is writing, saying, 266 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,360 "Your father and I love you, but we're going to be your enemies." 267 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,200 The story about his hand holding the standard. 268 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,880 Is that true? I mean, is there any evidence of that? 269 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:37,040 Oh, yes. The hand was found clutching the standard after Edmund was killed. 270 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,920 And his body was never found but the hand was brought back, 271 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,440 and indeed, on his hand was a ring, 272 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:49,200 and I have managed to obtain it for today and there it is. 273 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,440 His hand was buried in the tomb in the church. 274 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,080 Just his hand. 275 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,400 And there's the ring, which is still preserved. 276 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,000 My goodness! An enamel portrait. 277 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,120 It is identifiably Charles I. Yes, it is. 278 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:07,080 Like the van Dyck portraits. Mmm. 279 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,480 With all the turmoil it caused, 280 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:41,200 the Civil War forced people to question the way they led their lives. 281 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,440 The basement of the British Library. 282 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:55,080 They have 400 miles of books, many, many treasures among them, 283 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,720 and, in particular, a collection that tells us 284 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,560 about the most extraordinary moment in our history. 285 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:05,840 Because once people dared take up arms against God's anointed king, 286 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,760 they dared to think things they'd never thought before, 287 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:13,160 and what's more, they dared to publish them. 288 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,200 Down this alleyway are 2,000 volumes 289 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:36,160 containing 22,000 different tracts and pamphlets and newsletters - 290 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,120 a great explosion of ideas, 291 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:44,280 everybody speaking their mind and arguing with each other. 292 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:48,920 And these individual books contain an invaluable story - 293 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,320 the story of a great experiment in living. 294 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,960 This is a pamphlet from the Levellers, 295 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,840 people who believed in universal franchise - 296 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,000 that all men should have the vote. 297 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,440 And here, a document from the Diggers, 298 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,720 whose idea was that all land should be held in common. 299 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,080 It was a sort of very early version of communism. 300 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,560 But what they are specifically going against here 301 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,280 is another group - the Ranters. 302 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:34,160 Now, the Ranters believed that they were saved 303 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,000 and therefore would go to heaven, 304 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,360 and therefore could behave as they liked on Earth. 305 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:42,320 Perhaps slightly exaggerated by the Diggers, who say, 306 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,400 "They enjoy meat, drink, pleasures and women." 307 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,440 Here they are snogging in a corner, 308 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,120 celebrating, saying, "Let's give up the old ways. 309 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,080 "No way to the old way." 310 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,560 Standing there naked with somebody playing a musical instrument. 311 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,080 And then here, dancing naked, 312 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,720 in a state of, um... heightened excitement. 313 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:12,120 All these ideas sprang from a ferment of theories 314 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:14,080 about life and how it should be lived 315 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,400 and particularly how you should achieve salvation. 316 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,160 And here, some of them are listed - 317 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,840 a catalogue of several sects and opinions in England. 318 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,680 Jesuits, Arminians, Arians, Adamites, 319 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,800 Libertines, Soul Sleepers. 320 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,160 It must've been an extraordinary time to be alive. 321 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,720 The lid was off the pot and all these ideas exploded. 322 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,160 Complete chaos and constant argument and bickering 323 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,400 about who was right and who was wrong. 324 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,800 It's wonderfully summed up in a woodcut - 325 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,120 the world turned upside down. 326 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:50,960 And it shows the man has got 327 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,320 his britches on his shoulders 328 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,560 with his boots and spurs coming out where his arms should be, 329 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:00,920 his armour down below, and he's standing on his hands 330 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,840 and he's surrounded by an upside-down candle, 331 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,720 a Church, upside down, 332 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,200 a rat chasing a cat, 333 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:14,280 a wheelbarrow pushing a man along on his hands. 334 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,720 And in the sky, of course, 335 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:18,640 fish flying. 336 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:24,240 And now appearing gradually, increasingly, in these documents 337 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,880 is one man and one name - 338 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,040 Oliver Cromwell. 339 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,600 Cromwell was a gentleman farmer in East Anglia 340 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,480 and he could've just passed his life peacefully there. 341 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:42,600 But when war started, he joined the Parliamentary forces 342 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,840 and he proved himself very quickly 343 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,360 to be an absolutely brilliant soldier... 344 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,320 ..if a merciless one. 345 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,520 Cromwell's military genius 346 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,840 brought about the defeat of the Royalist army. 347 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,600 With the King captured and behind bars, 348 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:12,560 Parliament made the decision to put him on trial for treason. 349 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,560 The verdict - guilty. 350 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:27,000 He was led through the palace to a platform 351 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,040 which had been built out here, 352 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:33,560 and there he made a final statement of his beliefs with amazing calm, 353 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:39,520 ending with the words, "I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown 354 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,440 "where no disturbance can be." 355 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,120 And that said, he tucked his hair into a cap, 356 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:47,840 so that his neck would be free, 357 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,480 took off his cloak and lay down on the scaffold. 358 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,360 And at a signal from him, 359 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:57,800 the executioner with his axe, with one blow, severed his head. 360 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,440 With Charles out of the way, 361 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,440 a new form of government had to be invented. 362 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,160 Out of the confusion, 363 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,320 Cromwell eventually emerged 364 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:26,520 as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. 365 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,600 Cromwell was a mass of contradictions, 366 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,080 and when he gained power, 367 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:42,320 he seemed to be pulled in all sorts of different directions. 368 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:46,760 He was a Puritan who famously banned the celebration of Christmas, 369 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:50,440 and yet he loved music and allowed dancing at his daughter's wedding. 370 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,600 In England he was seen as rather a hero of liberty, 371 00:30:54,600 --> 00:31:00,280 in Ireland, as a vile oppressor who committed the most terrible massacres. 372 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,680 He'd tried to curb the tyranny of a king, 373 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,440 and yet in later years he became something of a tyrant himself. 374 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:13,280 The truth is that the new regime never really established 375 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,040 what it was meant to be. 376 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,240 And it shows in the portraits of its leader. 377 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,920 This is the first portrait of him, 378 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,080 and it's curious because it's almost like a royal portrait. 379 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:35,320 It could be van Dyck painting Charles I - 380 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,640 the same sort of stormy clouds behind, 381 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,280 his armour on, staff of authority, 382 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,680 and a page to show his power, tying a sash round his waist. 383 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,680 Then there seems to have been a change of heart. 384 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,520 From the rather grand style of portrait, 385 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,640 Cromwell changed completely, 386 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:03,680 and in the famous words that he used to the painter of the next portrait, 387 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,120 "I want you to paint me, warts and all." 388 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,640 And here it is, this little miniature. 389 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,800 Look at Cromwell's face - 390 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:16,960 puffy, big nose, wart on the forehead, 391 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,040 looking like an ordinary person. 392 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,320 And even more so in this one... 393 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,160 ..where you can clearly see he's going bald, 394 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:32,920 and he even seems to have tried a comb-over to disguise it. 395 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,440 It's the first time I've seen a portrait of a head of state 396 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,200 that is not designed to flatter. 397 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,160 There is nothing flattering at all. 398 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,400 And then there's another change of heart, 399 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:50,880 and this time he reverts to the seriously pompous Cromwell. 400 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:55,000 He has his head put on a gold coin, 401 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:00,560 shown as a Roman emperor, with a wreath of laurels. 402 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,840 So it's quite an extraordinary change 403 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:09,400 and a sort of lack of certainty about how he wanted people to see him. 404 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,960 Cromwell died in 1658, 405 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,040 and in less than two years the Commonwealth had fallen apart. 406 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,840 Britain had lost its appetite for radical change. 407 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,880 Charles I's son was invited back from exile 408 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,400 to assume his father's throne. 409 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,840 It looked as though the whole revolution had been in vain. 410 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:16,160 This statue of Charles II perfectly captures the spirit of his reign. 411 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:21,160 At first glance, we could be back under the rule of his father, Charles I - 412 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,920 this rather boastful figure dressed as a military conqueror, 413 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,120 for all the world as though the Civil War had never happened. 414 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,800 The reality, of course, couldn't be more different. 415 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:36,600 Charles I believed he was God's anointed, 416 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:38,880 ruled at God's command. 417 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,600 Charles II, on the other hand, ruled by his people's consent. 418 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,560 Charles accepted that he had to bow to the will of Parliament, 419 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,040 but it didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy himself like a king. 420 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:05,680 On the contrary. 421 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,560 He was famous for his countless mistresses 422 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,280 and he fathered 14 illegitimate children. 423 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:18,400 He cultivated a new mood of informality, even abandon. 424 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,640 He chose as his court painter someone who'd reflect his tastes - 425 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,320 Peter Lely. 426 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,520 Lely had rather a lean time during the Cromwellian republic, 427 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,600 with all its austerity. It wasn't going to be a moment 428 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,800 when aristocrats would be commissioning paintings from him. 429 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,640 In fact, he had to take in a lodger to make ends meet. 430 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:58,400 But come the Restoration, he got the dream job, 431 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,080 painting the finest ladies of the court, 432 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,880 and a great collection of them hangs here. 433 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,880 They're called the Windsor Beauties, 434 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:32,120 and they're the most beautiful women of the time 435 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,920 who surrounded the King or were at court. 436 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:40,360 When people looked at them, they would, of course, know their history - 437 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,840 what political games they were playing, whose mistress they were, 438 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,520 whose illegitimate children they'd had. 439 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:51,160 And they all have a particular beauty of the time, 440 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,160 rather different from what we think of as beautiful now, 441 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,840 but I think nonetheless voluptuous and enticing. 442 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:03,040 Rather full lips, pale skin with pink cheeks, 443 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,840 almond-shaped eyes. And their dress is interesting, 444 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:08,920 because the grander you were at court, 445 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,040 the less formally you had to be dressed, 446 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,280 so some of them look as if they're wearing their nightdresses, 447 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,240 which, of course, allows the painter to show the shape of the body 448 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:21,840 and, perhaps all-important, just a hint of the bosom. 449 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,800 The deliciously seductive Jane Middleton. 450 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,560 She was married at 14, she was surrounded by admirers all her life, 451 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,640 had a lot of lovers. 452 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,200 The King wanted to make her his mistress, 453 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,440 but she always, always refused. 454 00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:11,080 But this is the most powerful of this great bevy of beauties, 455 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:14,120 the formidable Barbara Villiers, 456 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:18,520 suitably dressed in almost military garb, 457 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:22,680 with a helmet with feathers, and a staff and a shield. 458 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,640 She was a long-term mistress of the King, 459 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:27,840 by whom she had many children, 460 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,440 but a great political operator as well at court, 461 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:31,800 a person people feared, 462 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:36,240 and a woman prepared to do what she wanted with her life. 463 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:39,000 She had not just the King as her lover, 464 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,480 she had a tightrope walker, an actor, a playwright 465 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,000 and a man who was to become Britain's greatest soldier, 466 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,760 the Duke of Marlborough. 467 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,800 A jaundiced bishop said of her she might have been very beautiful, 468 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,880 but she was most enormously vicious and ravenous. 469 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,200 What a woman. 470 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,840 Charles may have been a pleasure-seeker... 471 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,000 ..but he also took care to act as patron 472 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,280 of the greatest intellectual enterprise of the age - 473 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:26,760 to explore and understand the secrets of the natural world. 474 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:36,080 One effect of the Civil War and the republic 475 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,040 was to free up scientific experiment. 476 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:40,200 Because there was such political chaos, 477 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,600 the scientists - many of them young geniuses - 478 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:44,720 were left to get on with it as they chose. 479 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:46,200 And when Charles came back, 480 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,800 he may have put an end to political experiment, 481 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,040 but he certainly didn't put an end to scientific experiment. 482 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,720 On the contrary, he realised it could be to England's greater glory, 483 00:39:55,720 --> 00:39:58,520 and he gave it his royal seal of approval. 484 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:07,720 What had been a ragtag association of amateur enthusiasts 485 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:10,440 became the Royal Society, 486 00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:14,200 unleashing nothing short of a revolution in science. 487 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:21,480 The Royal Observatory was built on the King's orders 488 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,520 to promote the study of the heavens. 489 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,240 The work that was done here was typical of the spirit of the age. 490 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,280 Night after night for 40 years, 491 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:59,000 the Astronomer Royal came here and, looking through his telescopes, 492 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,880 measured the position of the stars. 493 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,840 And when I say "measured", it's not just a casual thing. 494 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,160 He had to obsessively record in minute detail 495 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,480 where every star he saw was in the firmament. 496 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,040 The idea behind it was very simple. 497 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,880 If you could tell where all the stars were 498 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,040 every hour of every day of the year, 499 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,160 then by looking at them, 500 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,160 you could work out where you were on Earth. 501 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:32,360 The celestial map produced by the first Astronomer Royal, 502 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,440 John Flamsteed, revealed the universe as never before. 503 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:50,200 Flamsteed fleshed out the known constellations 504 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,720 with newly discovered stars, 505 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:56,800 bringing the heavens to life with that sensual imagination 506 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,720 so beloved of Charles. 507 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,480 The work that was begun under Charles II 508 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:16,280 led to Greenwich eventually being declared the official centre of the world 509 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:20,800 for the purposes of measuring time and space. 510 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:27,880 And reaching out across the night sky is a laser beam 511 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:34,080 that marks the prime meridian, nought degrees, 512 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:35,560 the imaginary line 513 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,520 from which all the time zones of the world are calculated. 514 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:13,320 The study of science was so new that it welcomed anyone to its ranks. 515 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:17,520 One of the great scientists of the age still venerated here 516 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:22,760 had begun life as a painter apprenticed to Peter Lely. 517 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,280 His name was Robert Hooke, 518 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:30,360 and he became the first Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society. 519 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,520 This is thought to be Hooke's microscope, 520 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:42,000 and a very, very fine object it is, too - 521 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,520 beautifully decorated, 522 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,800 because obviously it was a very special instrument. 523 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,240 Hooke looked at all kinds of things. 524 00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:52,760 The one we've got under here is just an ordinary flea. 525 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:54,960 And... Oh, my goodness! 526 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:01,520 It shows the flea in very fine detail. 527 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:05,760 You can see the sort of hairy legs and little spikes 528 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:11,280 and the amber colour - the gleam of light on it. 529 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,360 Of course, Hooke would have spent 530 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:17,960 hours and hours looking at these specimens. 531 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:21,480 What he wanted to do was to record in great detail what he was seeing, 532 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,000 and the way he did it 533 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:27,840 was to assemble a great book of all the objects he'd observed - 534 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,600 plant life, animal life, all the rest of it. 535 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:32,520 It's called Micrographia, 536 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:37,800 and this is the page of a flea, and he gives this description of it. 537 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,480 He says, "The microscope manifests it to be 538 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:45,440 "all over adorned with a curious polished suit of sable armour 539 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:49,400 "and beset with multitudes of sharp pins..." 540 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:50,880 There they are. 541 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,360 "..shaped almost like porcupine's quills or..." 542 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:57,120 And here's a nice common touch. 543 00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,920 "..bright, conical steel bodkins." 544 00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:03,760 The kind that women used in their clothes. 545 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,760 Look at this. Perfect detail. 546 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:12,720 Eye of the flea... these rather unpleasant back legs. 547 00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:16,480 Next to the flea is the louse. 548 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,240 No guesses about why the louse and the flea were popular. 549 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:21,760 They were very easy to find. 550 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:22,840 You only... 551 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,960 He probably only had to look in the seams of his own clothes 552 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,520 to come up with a louse or a flea. 553 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:34,000 And here - the most beautiful louse. 554 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:39,160 There's something else from his body - rather surprising - 555 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:43,960 that he also put under the microscope, and it's drawn here, 556 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:47,640 and it's a sample of his frozen urine... 557 00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:49,320 Weird. 558 00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:52,120 ..With little bubbles or circles. 559 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,880 When this book was produced, it caused a sensation. 560 00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,560 It was the first time that many people had had a chance 561 00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,560 to see these extraordinary pictures of natural life. 562 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,240 When Samuel Pepys, the diarist, got his copy, 563 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:16,960 he says he stayed up till two in the morning going through it, 564 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,000 it was so fascinating. And of course, for most people, 565 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,440 this was the first time they'd had any chance to see 566 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,800 what the natural world was like, all thanks to Hooke's work. 567 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:39,720 By the 1660s, 568 00:46:39,720 --> 00:46:44,280 London was one of the busiest trading capitals in the world. 569 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:50,840 Here, Robert Hooke and his friend, the brilliant Christopher Wren, 570 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:55,200 would make their names transforming the great city around them. 571 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,280 Science today is very specialised. 572 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:05,480 But Wren was delving into everything. 573 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,720 He was fascinated by astronomy, by mathematics, 574 00:47:08,720 --> 00:47:11,120 he built mechanical devices, 575 00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:12,760 he did operations on a dog 576 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,640 to try to work out the circulation of the blood, 577 00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:17,400 he made musical instruments. 578 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,840 It's even said he devised a scheme of writing in the dark. 579 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,120 But all this discovery - 580 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:25,680 this excitement of the universe on the one hand 581 00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,840 and the tiny, microscopic details of life - 582 00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,880 gave him and others an ambition, 583 00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:35,080 and it was an ambition that was to get its great opportunity 584 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,200 to be unleashed in this city of London 585 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,000 by something that happened here in Pudding Lane. 586 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:55,960 In the early hours of Sunday 2nd September 1666, 587 00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,240 fire broke out at a Pudding Lane bakery. 588 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:05,600 Soon, fanned by strong winds and fuelled by timber-frame houses, 589 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:07,680 the fire was raging out of control. 590 00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:18,440 In four days, it destroyed three-quarters of the city. 591 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:34,240 Within a week of the fire being put out, 592 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:38,240 Wren submitted a plan for a new City of London. 593 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:45,040 It swept away the narrow streets that had helped the fire spread, 594 00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:49,120 and replaced them with broad avenues and squares. 595 00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:54,360 Hooke had a plan too. 596 00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:58,560 It was more regimented - a rigorous grid system. 597 00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:02,360 Hosts of other plans followed. 598 00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,440 Like Wren's, they all tried to recreate London 599 00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,160 as a great Roman city with a logical layout - 600 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,800 a capital to suit the scientific age. 601 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:17,920 The trouble was, these imaginative plans 602 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,720 were too ambitious to be implemented. 603 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:27,000 But Wren was not to be defeated. He imposed his mark on the city 604 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,000 by designing the greatest building of the age. 605 00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:16,000 What an astonishing commission. 606 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,800 There'd been a cathedral here for a thousand years, 607 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,320 but when the old one burned down in the fire, 608 00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:24,240 Wren got the job of building a new one. 609 00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:28,720 He wanted, of course, to build a monument to the revived City of London, 610 00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:31,720 to the glory of the King and, of course, the glory of God. 611 00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:33,920 But look at it another way for a moment. 612 00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,280 Think of what really preoccupied Wren. 613 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:40,320 Look at this building, not as a monument to faith, 614 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:42,920 but a monument to science. 615 00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:02,560 Wren was determined to build a cathedral whose scale and ambition 616 00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:06,240 would push mathematics and engineering to its limits. 617 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:12,040 He wanted to use scientific principles 618 00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:17,080 to create a monumental structure to rival St Peter's in Rome. 619 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:45,680 From the start, Wren faced opposition from the clergy 620 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,320 in getting the building he wanted commissioned. 621 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:54,040 It went through a number of designs before he won their approval. 622 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,640 This was one of Wren's earliest experiments - 623 00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:28,280 this completely entrancing, detailed and magnificent model 624 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:30,600 of the cathedral he wanted to build. 625 00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:45,360 It's so enticing. You long to be about this size 626 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:48,920 and to be able to go up the steps and walk around inside. 627 00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:54,840 It cost as much to put it together as to build a London house. 628 00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:56,520 But as a scientist, 629 00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:59,080 Wren was determined to embark on this project 630 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:02,760 by a process of trial and error. 631 00:53:03,800 --> 00:53:06,160 His great ambition was to deliver to England 632 00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:09,800 something that it had never seen before - 633 00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:11,600 a dome on a huge scale. 634 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:30,480 Wow! That's so cool. 635 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:48,800 What Wren wanted was to make a dome 636 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:53,280 that was in proportion to the cathedral from the inside, 637 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:57,320 but from the outside was big enough to dominate the London skyline. 638 00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:07,120 It was Wren's collaborator, Hooke, who came up with the solution. 639 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:09,600 You think you're looking at one dome. 640 00:54:09,600 --> 00:54:12,040 In fact, there are two. 641 00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:16,400 There's the inner dome, and then above it a huge outer dome 642 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:19,440 which you actually can't see from here. 643 00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:22,240 So it's the two-dome solution - 644 00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:26,480 a unique idea, a brilliant achievement. 645 00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:47,920 Hidden between the two domes, Wren built a brick cone 646 00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:52,000 to carry the load of the stone lantern on top of the cathedral - 647 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,320 850 tons of it - 648 00:54:54,320 --> 00:54:58,360 freeing the outer dome from any structural burden. 649 00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:08,960 And there's another less well-known testament to Wren's genius at St Paul's. 650 00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:12,160 It's hidden away in the south-west tower - 651 00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:14,720 the geometric staircase. 652 00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:37,440 This staircase is a marvel of engineering. 653 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:39,640 It appears simply to float. 654 00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:44,240 Each step rests on the other with nothing supporting it underneath, 655 00:55:44,240 --> 00:55:47,760 and to this day they argue about why it actually stands up, 656 00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:50,280 which is not very encouraging for people like me 657 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:51,920 who suffer from a bit of vertigo. 658 00:55:58,240 --> 00:56:02,360 But Wren didn't just want to use science to serve the building. 659 00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:05,600 He wanted the building to serve science. 660 00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:09,240 He had a scheme to install a giant telescope 661 00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:13,440 reaching from right down there up through a hole in the roof. 662 00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:16,120 You could stay at the bottom, look through the telescope, 663 00:56:16,120 --> 00:56:18,160 and as the Earth turned, 664 00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:22,800 the telescope would track the stars in the night sky. 665 00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,600 The 17th century had been a time of turmoil, 666 00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:51,160 but out of it had come scientific genius and creative enterprise 667 00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:55,880 that laid the foundations for Britain to become a world power. 668 00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:59,280 At the moment that the final stone was laid 669 00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:01,600 to the top of this dome in 1708, 670 00:57:01,600 --> 00:57:04,960 St Paul's stood at the heart of a new nation. 671 00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:07,840 Only the year before, it had been officially renamed - 672 00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:11,040 not Britain, but Great Britain. 673 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:13,560 It was an end to warring factions. 674 00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:18,880 In their place, collaboration and confidence that heralded a new era. 675 00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:26,400 In the next age - 676 00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:29,560 wealth beyond our wildest dreams 677 00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:33,280 and the new middle class that enjoyed it. 678 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:37,320 Out of it all would emerge some of our most inspired artists... 679 00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:41,680 ..and our greatest hero. 680 00:57:41,680 --> 00:57:45,120 It's the Age of Money. 681 00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:06,160 For your free Open University Exploring History booklet, call: 682 00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:16,240 Or go to the website, where you can also solve the seven ages quest.