1. Today, Britain stands at a fork
in its crossroads.
Copy !req
2. And its people are asking questions.
Copy !req
3. Now we've got our country back,
what actually is it?
Copy !req
4. Who are we? And why?
Copy !req
5. The best way to find out
where Britain's heading
Copy !req
6. is to look behind us
into something called history.
Copy !req
7. A sort of "rear view mirror"
for time.
Copy !req
8. So that's where I'm going.
Copy !req
9. Back there.
Copy !req
10. It's a journey that'll take me
the length
Copy !req
11. and width of the country,
from the White Cliffs of Dovver
Copy !req
12. to the Scottish high lands
of the Scottish Highlands.
Copy !req
13. From old stone circles
to modern stone circles.
Copy !req
14. From the tranquil beauty
of Roman Bath to the
Copy !req
15. Golden Wonder of Oxford Services.
Copy !req
16. I'll discover how we went
from Ancient Man to Ed Sheer-han,
Copy !req
17. why Elizabeth the First happened,
Copy !req
18. and solving the mystery of just who
Winston Churchill was,
Copy !req
19. and why he wound up helplessly
trapped inside this banknote.
Copy !req
20. Along the way, I'll be
shouting at helicopters
Copy !req
21. and looking at some of the biggest
events in British history,
Copy !req
22. and asking people about them.
Copy !req
23. In War II, why did the British
build bombers to attack
their own territory?
Copy !req
24. How do you mean?
Copy !req
25. Well, the Lancaster Bombers.
Copy !req
26. And, also, walking somewhere
impressive with my mouth shut
Copy !req
27. while my voice speaks anyway like
I'm talking aloud in my own head.
Copy !req
28. All of it taking place in this
sceptered isle we call home.
Copy !req
29. So join me, Philomena Cunk,
as I take you right up
Copy !req
30. the history of the United Britain
of Great Kingdom.
Copy !req
31. This is Cunk On Britain.
Copy !req
32. This programme contains
some strong language
Copy !req
33. In the last episode,
we saw how Britain
Copy !req
34. was invaded by the Victorians,
Copy !req
35. who fought and won
the Industrial Revolution,
Copy !req
36. but not without losing their leader,
Queen Victoria,
Copy !req
37. who stopped happening
just as the 20th century began.
Copy !req
38. Now, as well as a new century,
Copy !req
39. Britain had a new monarch,
King Edward,
Copy !req
40. who, despite his name,
wasn't a potato, but a man.
Copy !req
41. Edward's coronation was a grand
affair, celebrated with a song that
Copy !req
42. was to become Britain's unofficial
theme tune - Land Of 'Ope And Glory.
Copy !req
43. This melodic musical tune
was written by one of the best
Copy !req
44. British composers
this side of Ed Sheeran - El-Gar.
Copy !req
45. Who was El-gar?
He sounds sort of rough.
Copy !req
46. Was he a caveman or something?
Copy !req
47. No, Elgar was a composer
in the late 19th century.
Copy !req
48. When someone like Elgar's invented
a new tune, how do they sort
Copy !req
49. of convert it into orchestra mode
so it's being played by instruments?
Copy !req
50. He probably, when he composed it
and notated it out and had
Copy !req
51. the sound in his head, he would
then what's called orchestrate it.
Copy !req
52. So he'd write out all the parts
for the different instruments
Copy !req
53. and then he'd hand that over to
an orchestra and they would play it.
Copy !req
54. How do the instruments know
what to play, though?
Copy !req
55. Because it was all written out
for them. Their little part
was written out for them
Copy !req
56. and all the little parts
join together.
Copy !req
57. So the instruments have
people attached to them? They do.
Copy !req
58. So what's Land Of Hope And Glory
all about? What's its core message?
Copy !req
59. Well, it's a patriotic song.
Copy !req
60. People think it's about bashing
the drum for Britain, really.
Copy !req
61. If you sang it in, like, Portuguese,
would it still feel British
Copy !req
62. or would that just fucking ruin it?
Copy !req
63. Well, it wouldn't have any meaning,
but you might get that it
Copy !req
64. sounded like it was supposed to stir
you up without knowing why...
Copy !req
65. Mm. .. or what it was about.
Copy !req
66. So, it's sort of like Three Lions,
isn't it,
Copy !req
67. by The Lightning Seeds with
Frank Skinner and David Baddiel?
Copy !req
68. It is. But less catchy.
Copy !req
69. Sadly, no amount of patriotic music
could save the new monarch
Copy !req
70. from an early death, and in 1910
King Edward died, and was buried
Copy !req
71. beneath the soil, to rule over his
fellow potatoes for all eternity.
Copy !req
72. Little did he know it at the time,
but he'd narrowly avoided tragedy
Copy !req
73. by dying, because
just a few years later in 1914,
Copy !req
74. Britain suffered the first
of many 20th century shocks.
Copy !req
75. Nowadays, "first world" is something
you put in front of the word problem
Copy !req
76. to show that it isn't really that
bad, like running out of couscous
Copy !req
77. or not being able to check Twitter
in a tunnel.
Copy !req
78. But back then, "first world"
was what they called the war.
Copy !req
79. The First World War
had loads of nicknames -
Copy !req
80. the war to end all wars, the Great
War, and, of course, World War I.
Copy !req
81. Why did they call World War I
"World War I"?
Copy !req
82. It's quite pessimistic numbering,
isn't it?
Copy !req
83. Or did they just know it was
the start of a franchise?
Copy !req
84. At the time they weren't
numbering the wars,
Copy !req
85. although I think that in the
First World War the idea of it
Copy !req
86. being a Great War denoting the sheer
scale of the conflict the, urm,
Copy !req
87. the casualty rate was already
becoming used quite a lot.
Copy !req
88. So it was called the Great War,
but not because it was great.
Copy !req
89. The First World War was
started by the killing of one man.
Copy !req
90. Franz Ferdinand.
Copy !req
91. You've probably never heard of him.
Copy !req
92. Or the band named after him.
Copy !req
93. But he was dead important.
Copy !req
94. By which I mean he was only
important when he was dead.
Copy !req
95. His assassination triggered
a series of other killings.
Copy !req
96. Soon it caught on,
and everyone wanted to be killed.
Copy !req
97. It was a bigger craze than
fidget spinners.
Copy !req
98. Eventually, Britain got sucked
into the fighting and men queued up
Copy !req
99. to have their flat caps converted
into fighting men's helmets.
Copy !req
100. Soon, hundreds of thousands
of Tommies were heading for battle.
Copy !req
101. Why were all the British soldiers
in World War I called Tommy?
Copy !req
102. Was that just a coincidence?
Copy !req
103. No, it wasn't a coincidence, it's
just a general name that became
Copy !req
104. applied to British soldiers
in the same way
Copy !req
105. we talk of Fritz as being
a generic name for German soldiers.
Copy !req
106. What happened in Norman's Land?
Copy !req
107. Were only people that were called
Norman allowed in there?
Copy !req
108. Well, it's not Norman's Land,
this is No Man's Land,
Copy !req
109. and the idea being that this is
particularly dangerous territory
Copy !req
110. between the lines of the Germans
on one side and the British
on the other.
Copy !req
111. This is essentially
just a killing zone,
Copy !req
112. a very dangerous zone
in between trench systems.
Copy !req
113. Why did they fire shells
at each other?
Copy !req
114. Cos shells wouldn't really hurt,
would they?
Copy !req
115. Unless they were those
razor clam shells.
Copy !req
116. Cos they're quite sharp,
aren't they?
Copy !req
117. Well, these weren't seashells, these
were heavy pieces of ordinance.
Copy !req
118. We're actually talking about bits
of metal in brass casing
Copy !req
119. so that's where the name
shells comes from.
Copy !req
120. Oh, right.
Copy !req
121. Looking at footage from the time,
it's hard to get a grip on just
Copy !req
122. how brutal it must've been for Tommy
and Norman, because it's in black
Copy !req
123. and white and everyone's moving too
fast, probably to avoid the shells.
Copy !req
124. Even though it looks
a bit like Charlie Chaplin,
Copy !req
125. it's actually not funny at all,
so you can't laugh.
Copy !req
126. Just like with Charlie Chaplin.
Copy !req
127. One man who vividly captured
the sheer horror of War One
Copy !req
128. was the poet Wilfred Owen.
Copy !req
129. If in some smothering dreams
you too could pace
Copy !req
130. Behind the wagon
that we flung him in
Copy !req
131. And watch the white eyes writhing
in his face
Copy !req
132. His hanging face,
like a devil's sick of sin;
Copy !req
133. If you could hear,
at every jolt, the blood
Copy !req
134. Come gargling from the
froth-corrupted lungs,
Copy !req
135. Obscene as cancer,
bitter as the cud
Copy !req
136. Of vile, incurable sores
on innocent tongues...
Copy !req
137. You get the gist.
Copy !req
138. ..My friend...
Copy !req
139. As if the killing wasn't bad enough,
Copy !req
140. the accommodation was scarcely worth
two stars on TripAdvisor.
Copy !req
141. Soldiers had to live in trenches -
snaking,
Copy !req
142. cramped corridors of filth and
squalor, without so much as a patio.
Copy !req
143. The World War I trenches
weren't the right place for
conventional warfare, were they?
Copy !req
144. But why did neither side
think about mud wrestling?
Copy !req
145. Because they're the perfect
conditions, aren't they?
Copy !req
146. Well, I mean, trench warfare
wasn't new.
Copy !req
147. I think that whilst you will get
the occasional game of
Copy !req
148. Christmas football, I don't think
that anyone actually ever thought
Copy !req
149. that letting the guns fall silent
and having mud wrestling
competitions
Copy !req
150. was ever going to sort anything out.
Copy !req
151. I think they missed a trick,
don't you?
Copy !req
152. Eventually, the war ended at
11 o'clock on the 11th hour
Copy !req
153. of the 11th day of the 11th month
in the year
Copy !req
154. 11 19 11 18.
Copy !req
155. Hence the term,
"stopping for elevenses".
Copy !req
156. The soldiers came home to a Britain
they could hardly recognise,
Copy !req
157. because it was wearing a skirt.
Copy !req
158. While the Tommies had been
away at the front,
Copy !req
159. women had stepped
into their old jobs.
Copy !req
160. There were women milkmen.
Copy !req
161. Women postmen.
Copy !req
162. Women bus driver men.
Copy !req
163. Even women male prostitutes.
Copy !req
164. What's more, the economy
was in a pickle.
Copy !req
165. After the war, many industries
found it almost impossible
Copy !req
166. to sell their goods abroad,
because abroad was mainly rubble.
Copy !req
167. There were strikes and marches
and a great depression.
Copy !req
168. Things were shithouse bad.
Copy !req
169. People needed escapism.
Copy !req
170. But luckily for them,
the age of mass entertainment
was just beginning.
Copy !req
171. It was the Roaring Twenties.
Copy !req
172. City streets were full of jazz
clubs, packed with
Copy !req
173. Jeeveses and Woosters, and women
with Lego haircuts dancing like
Copy !req
174. they were surprised while shitting
their pants at a fancy dress party.
Copy !req
175. And people who couldn't afford
to enjoy a roaring twenties
Copy !req
176. for themselves could still watch
films of other people doing it,
at the newly-invented cinema.
Copy !req
177. The cinema was a cross
between YouTube and theatre.
Copy !req
178. Despite this, it was popular,
and people queued to get in.
Copy !req
179. They showed Charlie Chaplin films,
Copy !req
180. but even that couldn't keep them
away.
Copy !req
181. The whole country went films
bonkers.
Copy !req
182. Going to the cinema in those days
was more like going to a book.
Copy !req
183. Because there was no sound,
the story was
Copy !req
184. explained by words on the screen -
a bit like spoilers, but happening
Copy !req
185. at the same time as you were
watching it, so not as annoying.
Copy !req
186. And if you couldn't make it
to a cinema or cocktail bar,
Copy !req
187. you could still enjoy the jazz age,
because scientists had worked out
Copy !req
188. a way to force jazz into your house,
using a magic called radio.
Copy !req
189. Radio was an exciting new invention
that made it possible to hear
Copy !req
190. other people's voices
in your living room,
Copy !req
191. without the use of thin walls
or a devastating mental condition.
Copy !req
192. To help keep the early airwaves
in check, the Government created
Copy !req
193. something called the British
Broadcasting Corporation - the BBC.
Copy !req
194. How come the BBC started with radio,
Copy !req
195. because radio's loads less popular
than television, isn't it?
Copy !req
196. There are people in radio who would
get very angry about that.
Copy !req
197. It's... I mean, radio still
performs tremendously well...
Copy !req
198. There's still radio?
Copy !req
199. There is still radio.
Copy !req
200. At the time the BBC was set up,
there wasn't a choice
Copy !req
201. because there was no TV.
Copy !req
202. Luckily, a man called John Logie
Baird was about to give birth
Copy !req
203. to television -
not literally out of his vagina,
Copy !req
204. but metaphorically, out of his shed.
Copy !req
205. After doing some weird experiments
like something out of Wallace and
Gromit, Baird's TV was finalised,
Copy !req
206. although idiotically, he'd
gone to the trouble of inventing it
Copy !req
207. without checking whether there were
any programmes on yet.
Copy !req
208. It took a while before there was
anything worth
Copy !req
209. putting your iPhone down for.
Copy !req
210. The earliest transmissions
looked like Abraham Lincoln
Copy !req
211. looming through a glass door,
and weren't very exciting.
Copy !req
212. Luckily, it was a short step from
there to the BBC's first
Copy !req
213. Saturday night extravaganzia,
TV's opening night ceremony.
Copy !req
214. Vision and sound are on.
Copy !req
215. The station goes on the air.
Copy !req
216. The show got a record audience
of 400 -
Copy !req
217. the sort of viewing
figures BBC Four still dreams of.
Copy !req
218. Despite its popularity, the BBC
was causing controversy
Copy !req
219. from the start, and the powers
that be were suspicious of it.
Copy !req
220. Why did the Government
start the BBC in the first place?
Copy !req
221. It seems like these days they're
always trying to close it down.
Copy !req
222. Was it one of those stupid mistakes
they made, like Brexit?
Copy !req
223. The Government
didn't strictly start the BBC.
Copy !req
224. The BBC was originally
a private company in 1922.
Copy !req
225. It employed a rather fierce
Scottish guy called John Reith.
Copy !req
226. People still talk about Reithian
values and Reithian broadcasting.
Copy !req
227. Reithian values were to inform,
educate and entertain.
Copy !req
228. What, all at the same time?
Copy !req
229. Yeah.
Copy !req
230. Since those early days of black
and white tat,
Copy !req
231. the BBC has grown
throughout the years to become
Copy !req
232. one of biggest programme-shitting
machines in the world,
Copy !req
233. making ground-breaking,
iconic programmes which still try to
Copy !req
234. inform, educate or entertain.
Copy !req
235. So the BBC's supposed to inform,
educate or entertain.
Copy !req
236. AND entertain.
Copy !req
237. I'm going to list some BBC things
and I want you to say
Copy !req
238. whether they inform, educate
or entertain.
Copy !req
239. OK. News At Ten?
Copy !req
240. Inform.
Copy !req
241. Open University?
Copy !req
242. Educate.
Copy !req
243. Doctor Who?
Copy !req
244. Entertain.
Copy !req
245. Strictly Come Dancing?
Copy !req
246. Entertain.
Copy !req
247. Homes Under the Hammer?
Copy !req
248. Entertain.
Copy !req
249. Inspector Phillips?
Copy !req
250. What is Inspector Phillips?
Copy !req
251. Ah, I made that one up.
Copy !req
252. That was just a trick question.
Copy !req
253. OK, well, I've... It didn't work.
Copy !req
254. Sounds real, though, doesn't it -
Inspector Phillips?
Copy !req
255. No, I instantly
knew that it wasn't a real one. Oh!
Copy !req
256. Eat Well For Less?
Copy !req
257. It's where Gregg Wallace
Copy !req
258. and another man see how much
a family spend on a week's shopping
Copy !req
259. and then criticise them and make
them eat porridge from Lidl.
Copy !req
260. Inform.
Copy !req
261. Well done.
Copy !req
262. Sorry, I wasn't totting up
the scores. Thank you.
Copy !req
263. But this golden future of television
would have to wait.
Copy !req
264. Because back in 1939 times, the TV
signals were suddenly switched off,
Copy !req
265. because someone decided to start
another war to end all wars.
Copy !req
266. When he became leader of Germany,
Adolf Hitler was
Copy !req
267. a funny-looking character with silly
hair, a bit like Boris Johnson.
Copy !req
268. But he turned out to be a hateful
maniac who would let nothing
Copy !req
269. get in the way of his ambition,
a bit like Boris Johnson.
Copy !req
270. Hitler believed the Germans were
an elite race, like the Grand Prix.
Copy !req
271. He also thought he owned Poland,
Copy !req
272. and when he went round there to get
it back, Britain cried war.
Copy !req
273. This country is at war with Germany.
Copy !req
274. Luckily, Britain had
a hero on its side,
Copy !req
275. a man whose name will never
be forgotten.
Copy !req
276. Win-ton Churchill.
Copy !req
277. Churchill's speeches were stirring
and powerfully erotic.
Copy !req
278. We know it will be hard.
Copy !req
279. We expect it will be long...
Copy !req
280. He was one of the greatest orators
of all time, and some of
Copy !req
281. the phrases he used still resonate
today - such as "finest hour",
Copy !req
282. "never surrender", and, of course,
"we shall fight them bitches."
Copy !req
283. And we needed Churchill's
stirring mumbling,
Copy !req
284. because, at first, the war
didn't go well.
Copy !req
285. Within six months,
France was occupied by the Nazis,
Copy !req
286. who they didn't see coming, because
they'd been expecting the Germans.
Copy !req
287. Hitler wanted to make Britain
German, to match its royal family.
Copy !req
288. But the RAF held Hitler's forces
back,
Copy !req
289. in amazing dogfights in the sky -
that were done by aeroplanes,
Copy !req
290. not actual flying dogs,
Copy !req
291. which, sadly, science
still hasn't invented yet.
Copy !req
292. This was the Battle of Britain.
Copy !req
293. It seems amazing that these young
men could fly and fight so well.
Copy !req
294. Although when you look, you'll see
the planes had tiny targets
Copy !req
295. and crosses drawn on the side,
which made them easier to hit.
Copy !req
296. But planes weren't only
used in dogfights.
Copy !req
297. The Germans changed tactics.
Copy !req
298. Instead of attacking planes,
which could move out the way,
Copy !req
299. they attacked the ground,
which couldn't, in something called
the Blitz.
Copy !req
300. Preceded by a shower of flares,
German bombers rained fire
Copy !req
301. and high explosive bombs in their
most savage attack on London...
Copy !req
302. Hitler's pilots started dropping
bombs - sort of aeroplane poos -
Copy !req
303. and people had to hide from them.
Copy !req
304. They built big tin shelters in their
gardens or ran down the nearest
Copy !req
305. tube station without a ticket
or a valid Oyster card.
Copy !req
306. Countless houses were reduced to
big piles of bricks and wood,
Copy !req
307. which is sort of what houses are,
anyway, but in a different order.
Copy !req
308. Despite this,
thanks to the plucky British spirit,
Copy !req
309. people weren't totally down in the
dumps, even if they lived in one.
Copy !req
310. People sang songs during World War
II to keep their spirits up,
Copy !req
311. didn't they? How loud did they have
to sing to be heard over the bombs?
Copy !req
312. Well, especially as they would have
sometimes been in underground
Copy !req
313. stations sheltering from the bombs,
it would have been loud in the
Copy !req
314. underground station - the singing -
if everybody was singing together,
Copy !req
315. but it's true you wouldn't
have been... heard much.
Copy !req
316. I wonder if, when they sang,
they used to time their singing
with the explosions?
Copy !req
317. That would be a fun thing to do.
Copy !req
318. Difficult.
Copy !req
319. Very difficult to time it.
Copy !req
320. Quite random, the falling of bombs.
Copy !req
321. In the war, there were
loads of songs taking the piss
Copy !req
322. out of Hitler, weren't there?
Copy !req
323. How come they don't sing
those sorts of songs any more?
Copy !req
324. Well, he's not around any more,
so it's not so amusing.
Copy !req
325. Where is he?
Copy !req
326. Well, he's dead.
Copy !req
327. He's dead? Yes.
Copy !req
328. Oh, right, so it would
be disrespectful to speak ill...
Copy !req
329. Well, not so much disrespectful
as pointless, really.
Copy !req
330. Pointless.
Copy !req
331. Bit pointless. Yeah.
Copy !req
332. A lot of singing was needed
because even when the Blitz ended,
Copy !req
333. the war was far from over.
Copy !req
334. There were many huge battles
to come, most of which
will never be forgotten,
Copy !req
335. because they've since been
converted into blockbuster movies.
Copy !req
336. How was it we beat
the Germans at Dunkirk in War II
Copy !req
337. but still didn't win the whole war?
Copy !req
338. Well, first of all, I think
we've got to stop calling it War II,
Copy !req
339. I mean, it's the Second World War.
Copy !req
340. If you're American, and you have to
have it this way, it's World War II.
Copy !req
341. But you know, that's the language
we tend to use.
Copy !req
342. But in terms of Dunkirk, I think
that's the wrong way round.
Copy !req
343. We actually lose at Dunkirk.
Copy !req
344. We lost at Dunkirk?
Copy !req
345. We lost at Dunkirk, I mean...
Copy !req
346. I don't think so.
Copy !req
347. It turns out Dunkirk
was a huge disaster.
Copy !req
348. Like most sequels, War II
was proving less fun than War I.
Copy !req
349. What made the war harder
Copy !req
350. was that we didn't know
what the Germans were planning,
Copy !req
351. because they said it in a sort of
code language known as German.
Copy !req
352. It took a team of British boffins
using a magic typewriter
Copy !req
353. called the Enigma machine
literally loads of time to crack it.
Copy !req
354. But crack it they did.
Copy !req
355. And with Germany's secrets twatted
wide open, Britain and its allies
Copy !req
356. were able to organise D-Day and
invade France, but in a nice way.
Copy !req
357. In gruelling and exciting scenes
like these, expertly depicted
Copy !req
358. in the pulse-quickening video game
Call of Duty 2, soldiers scrambled
Copy !req
359. out of their boats, looking
for power-ups and health kits,
Copy !req
360. terrified every second that a Nazi
bullet might kill them, forcing them
Copy !req
361. to respawn several feet away, and be
delayed by a number of seconds.
Copy !req
362. Eventually, the British won -
and immediately there was
Copy !req
363. widespread jubilation and people
dancing about in black and white
Copy !req
364. and getting off with people
who are almost certainly dead now.
Copy !req
365. A new, hopeful era had dawned,
an era which 41 years later
Copy !req
366. included the BBC painting
and decorating sitcom Brush Strokes.
Copy !req
367. After the war, returning soldiers
rewarded national hero
Copy !req
368. Winton Churchill by voting him
out of office.
Copy !req
369. And the Britain that Britain
came home to was a smaller Britain
Copy !req
370. than the Britain Britain had left.
Copy !req
371. The Empire was crumbling.
Copy !req
372. Places like India decided
they weren't British after all.
Copy !req
373. Which was sad because those
countries had lots in common
with us.
Copy !req
374. They had the same person
on the stamps.
Copy !req
375. They spoke the same language.
Copy !req
376. They were the same colour on maps.
Copy !req
377. But despite all that, they chose
to act as if they weren't
Copy !req
378. part of Britain, just because that
was geographically true.
Copy !req
379. What's more, around the world,
superpowers like Russia
Copy !req
380. and China were on the rise.
Copy !req
381. The future looked more uncertain
than ever, and in 1948,
Copy !req
382. one man wrote a book full of
chilling predictions about just how
terrible that future might be.
Copy !req
383. This is the book -
George Orwell's chilling classic
Copy !req
384. One Nine Eight Four.
Copy !req
385. In the book, using nothing
but words,
Copy !req
386. Orwell depicts a world in which
people are manipulated
Copy !req
387. by screens manipulated by the media
manipulated by the government -
Copy !req
388. something which thankfully didn't,
and couldn't, happen.
Copy !req
389. Although One Nine Eight Four
is set in the year 1984,
Copy !req
390. it's not a 1984 anyone who lived
through it would recognise.
Copy !req
391. Orwell didn't predict Band Aid
or Ghostbusters.
Copy !req
392. Or Radio One's Mike Read banning
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
for singing about spunk.
Copy !req
393. In fact, almost the only thing
he got right was that there'd be
Copy !req
394. a thing on the screens
called Big Brother.
Copy !req
395. And even then, he didn't predict
it would eventually be on Channel 5.
Copy !req
396. Orwell's scary vision
spooked Britain so much,
Copy !req
397. it tried to avoid a nightmare future
by reinventing itself,
Copy !req
398. and the Government was going
to help.
Copy !req
399. The post-war Labour Government was
one of the most radical ever -
Copy !req
400. kind of a cross between
Jeremy Corbyn and the Taliban.
Copy !req
401. A landslide swept Labour to power
Copy !req
402. with a majority unexpected
even by its own leaders.
Copy !req
403. They were seen as the biggest
archy-tects of something
Copy !req
404. called the welfare state.
Copy !req
405. Where is the welfare state?
Copy !req
406. Where is it?
Copy !req
407. Yeah. Well, it's sort of all
around us.
Copy !req
408. Er... Yeah, but where
specifically in Britain?
Copy !req
409. The welfare state is a phrase
Copy !req
410. that refers to, broadly, the help
Copy !req
411. that government gives to all of us.
Copy !req
412. Er, the Welfare State helps
people from the cradle to the grave.
Copy !req
413. Hm.
Copy !req
414. So is it just for people lying down?
Copy !req
415. It certainly helps people
lying down, er...
Copy !req
416. They help to, you know, they give
out bits and bobs, don't they?
Copy !req
417. Yes, they-they, for poorer people
they, you know,
Copy !req
418. they provide a lot of help.
Copy !req
419. Schools and housing and...
Copy !req
420. And benefit payments...
Copy !req
421. Benefit payments.
Copy !req
422. ..top-ups to your wages.
Copy !req
423. And how do they decide
what not to give for free?
Copy !req
424. Like was there ever a plan
to give out free crisps?
Copy !req
425. I don't think they've ever given out
or thought about giving out
free crisps.
Copy !req
426. Although I quite like crisps...
Copy !req
427. I love crisps.
Copy !req
428. ..I don't think many people would
argue that you can't have
a decent life without free crisps.
Copy !req
429. I think I'd kill myself
if I couldn't have crisps.
Copy !req
430. As part of its reforms,
the Government introduced
Copy !req
431. the National Health Service,
or NHS for less long.
Copy !req
432. On July 5th, the new National
Health Service starts, providing
Copy !req
433. hospital and specialist services,
medicines, drugs and appliances.
Copy !req
434. Once the NHS arrived,
if you were poor and you got sick,
Copy !req
435. you weren't on your own any more.
Copy !req
436. You were in a crowded waiting room
full of other sick people.
Copy !req
437. Suddenly, you could see
a doctor free of charge,
Copy !req
438. like you can every Saturday evening
on BBC One.
Copy !req
439. But staffing all those hospitals
wasn't going to be easy,
Copy !req
440. so Britain looked abroad for help.
Copy !req
441. In 1948, the Government granted
British citizenship
Copy !req
442. to everyone living in Commonwealth
countries.
Copy !req
443. A sort of reverse Brexit, or Tixerb.
Copy !req
444. And a few months later, 492 migrants
Copy !req
445. made the journey from the Caribbean
to Britain,
Copy !req
446. on board the Empire Windrush, which
was a sort of sea-car, or boat.
Copy !req
447. The newcomers soon discovered
life in Britain was very different
to Jamaica -
Copy !req
448. it was colder, wetter, we
had potatoes instead of posh fruits.
Copy !req
449. But they soon settled into a British
way of life - not smiling
Copy !req
450. and being permanently tired.
Copy !req
451. Britain was becoming multicultural,
although not everyone was happy.
Copy !req
452. Not even racists, who at long last
had someone new to hate apart from
Copy !req
453. Jews, Italians, Spaniards, women,
the Irish, the French and the poor.
Copy !req
454. Because far-right Facebook groups
hadn't been invented yet,
Copy !req
455. the only way racists could
express their fury was to take part
Copy !req
456. in race riots, which are sort of
artisan pop-up festivals of hatred.
Copy !req
457. Today, racist bigotry has no place
in contemporary Britain,
except Kent.
Copy !req
458. Britain was welcoming a new era.
Copy !req
459. And it was about to get
something mega-new.
Copy !req
460. A new monarch.
Copy !req
461. The Royal Family had experienced
a rough few decades.
Copy !req
462. Before the war,
King Edward had abdicated,
Copy !req
463. so he could spend
more time in his mistress.
Copy !req
464. His brother George also vacated
the throne unexpectedly early,
Copy !req
465. to spend more time in his coffin.
Copy !req
466. This meant his eldest daughter,
Elizabeth, was to be the new,
Copy !req
467. female king at the age of just 25.
Copy !req
468. Now the Princess Elizabeth we knew
and loved returns amongst us
as our queen.
Copy !req
469. For centuries, the coronation
of a monarch was a sacred event
Copy !req
470. that took place behind closed doors
- just like a visit to the toilet,
Copy !req
471. but more dignified than that makes
it sound.
Copy !req
472. But, now, thanks to progress,
Copy !req
473. everyone was allowed to
peep behind those closed doors.
Copy !req
474. In 1953, millions of Britons
watched the Queen
Copy !req
475. being coronationed on their new
televisions.
Copy !req
476. It must've been like watching
The Crown on Netflix, but live,
Copy !req
477. and actually happening,
like Britain's Got Talent,
Copy !req
478. but more serious, like Game Of
Thrones, but set in the real world,
Copy !req
479. and starring Queen Elizabeth,
like The Crown again.
Copy !req
480. Afterwards, incredibly,
people didn't take the TVs back
Copy !req
481. when they found there weren't any
more coronations on.
Copy !req
482. They kept them in their front rooms
and never went out again.
Copy !req
483. As well as a new queen, the nation
had got itself a new prime minister.
Copy !req
484. Britain was changing so fast
that the only way to tell
Copy !req
485. what country it was was to keep
getting everyone to wave flags.
Copy !req
486. The national mood was shifting.
Copy !req
487. It's the 1950s, a time
of great change.
Copy !req
488. The war's over,
the NHS has been founded,
Copy !req
489. the Coronation's on TV, Mario 64's
redefined the platform game
Copy !req
490. for a new generation and
Anthony Eden's Prime Minister.
Copy !req
491. How did Britain feel
about these things?
Copy !req
492. Well, I don't think computer games
had been invented by the 1950s.
Copy !req
493. Um, the other things,
Copy !req
494. I mean, the population was pretty
positive about the Coronation.
Copy !req
495. That was a cause for excitement.
Copy !req
496. Anthony Eden, perhaps less
successful, with the Suez Crisis.
Copy !req
497. What was up with the sewers?
Copy !req
498. Did someone try to flush
something that was awful?
Copy !req
499. No, the Suez Canal.
Copy !req
500. What, the canals used to be sewers?
That's disgusting.
Copy !req
501. No, no, Suez. It's a place.
Copy !req
502. Oh, right.
Copy !req
503. During this "Suez Crisis",
events in Suez reached crisis point.
Copy !req
504. More research needed -
Copy !req
505. make sure script amended
before voiceover record.
Copy !req
506. And it wasn't just grown men
who were causing trouble.
Copy !req
507. A new form of human being,
called the teenager, was evolving.
Copy !req
508. Teenagers were creatures
that looked like adults,
Copy !req
509. yet had the minds of children, like
professional footballers do today.
Copy !req
510. And the young generation as a whole
was about to deliver Britain
Copy !req
511. a series of shocks that would shock
it right up the shockbox.
Copy !req
512. On the next and final episode
of Cunk On Britain,
Copy !req
513. I'll see how the groovy young people
of the 1960s encouraged Britain
Copy !req
514. to tune over, turn off and drop up.
Copy !req
515. And Britain experienced a golden age
that sadly couldn't last.
Copy !req
516. In the 1960s, if you
switch your television on, you'd get
Copy !req
517. Morecambe and Wise, Cilla Black,
Bob Monkhouse, David Frost.
Copy !req
518. But nowadays,
they're all dead - why is that?
Copy !req