Great British Railway Journeys Ep 19/20
Michael Portillo’s first stop today on his final journey – from Buxton to London – is Coventry, a place that has changed radically since Victorian times. Bradshaw, the man who transformed travel back in the 1840s with his railway guides, describes a beautiful city, rich in medieval timber buildings. But all that changed one November night in 1940 when Coventry suffered one of the worst bombardments in the Second World War. Michael talks to Jude Durant, a survivor of the Coventry Blitz, to find out what happened to her family on that terrible night. He goes on to explore how Coventry has been rebuilt since, including a visit to the new cathedral.
Travelling south, Michael reaches Aylesbury and has an overnight stay at the historic Hartwell House, home of the exiled French King Louise XVIII for six years. The next day he visits Richard Waller, the last pure-breed Aylesbury duck farmer in the country, whose family have been farming ducks for hundreds of years. In Bradshaw’s time more than 750,000 ducks were sent to Smithfield market on the train each year. Now Richard’s farm has just 10,000.
After a lunch of Aylesbury duck, Michael arrives at Watford. Here he meets evacuee Brian Russell who talks about the critical role played by Watford Junction station in Operation Pied Piper – the plan to evacuate thousands of children from London during the Second World War.
Comment from Anthony Smith
Time January 28, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Yet another wonderfully entertaining episode in a superb series….Michael Portillo is brilliant and his enthusiasm for the subject is totally infectious…well done indeed to all concerned! I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I will be sad to see this series come to it’s conclusion.
Can we look forward to a DVD of the series please???