Original subtitles

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whether you travel north south east or

west the British landscape is as varied

as it is lovely and for the great

authors of English literature the

countryside has always provided a rich

tapestry of inspiration

from the Kent of Charles Dickens to the

Hampshire of Jane Austen There's Always

Somewhere fascinating to visit and with

D.H Lawrence's Nottinghamshire George

eliot's Warwickshire and Thomas Hardy's

Wessex there's no shortage of locations

but when it comes to Wild dramatic Moors

it has to be the brontes Yorkshire

I'm Liam Dale

I'm delighted to show you around

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thank you

I promised you wild and I think you'll

agree this landscape is certainly that

and a great deal more besides this is

howeth Moore and if I tell you that this

is where Charlotte Emily and Anne Bronte

along with their brother branwell played

as children you'll instantly recognize

where the inspiration for such dark

brooding romantic Classics as Jane Eyre

Wuthering Heights and the Tenant of

wildfell Hall came from but wonderful as

these great novels might be the story of

the Three Sisters is equally as

fascinating and if we take the path

across the Moor to the town of hawath

and the parsonage at the top of the hill

where the brontes lived you can see for

yourself how this tragic and turbulent

tale unfolds

thank you

foreign

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by the time the girls moved to Howarth

when their father the Reverend Patrick

Bronte was appointed the Perpetual

curate of Saint Michael on all Angels

the family was definitely prospering and

you may be surprised to learn that there

were two older sisters Maria and

Elizabeth as well as our future authors

Maria had just turned six Elizabeth was

five Charlotte brother branwell and

Emily had been born in consecutive years

followed by Anne who was just a few

weeks old when the brontes arrived here

in February 1820.

as Mrs Bronte was kept busy with her

brood of six children her husband

settled into his new parish and his

parishioners would have quickly realized

that their new vicar was quite a unique

character

born into poverty in Ireland young

Patrick brunty as the family were known

was determined to make his way in the

world despite being one of ten children

he was a clever boy and quickly realized

that education was the best way to

achieve his ambitions

even so being accepted at Cambridge to

study at St John's College was

remarkable and as well as taking up a

promising career in the church Patrick

also had aspirations to become a

published author he was actually quite

an accomplished poet no doubt believed

that changing his surname to the grander

sounding Bronte might help him progress

when his studies were complete Patrick

served as a curate first in Essex and

then Shropshire before moving to

Yorkshire

after a brief stay at dewsbury Patrick

Bronte came here to Hart's head in 1811.

it was an interesting time Hart's head

was at the epicenter of the Luddite

protests many of Patrick's parishioners

were part of the movement rebelling

violently against industrial progress

the threat to the mill owners in the

area from workers who'd been laid off as

a result of new Machinery was deadly and

even the Reverend Bronte found it

sensible to keep a loaded pistol to hand

at all times

in later years the Bronte children would

be fascinated by their father's tales of

the luddites Charlotte would actually

use Patrick's reminiscences to form the

plot of her novel Shirley

as the trouble subsided and peace was

restored Patrick found himself well

respected and settled in the parish and

at the age of 35 turned his thoughts to

marriage

when he met the Lively cornish-born

Maria branwell the niece of an old

friend romance soon blossomed and the

happy couple were married in 1812.

the family quickly grew with the births

of daughters Maria and Elizabeth but the

ambitious Patrick after four years was

ready to advance his career and was

appointed as Perpetual curate at

Thornton Church a short distance away

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the church may not have been the

prettiest nor the accommodation provided

for the Bronte family the grandest but

they soon settled happily into their new

Parish

if you take a closer look at the house

they lived in 74 Market Street you'll

see that there were four new additions

to the family in quick succession

Charlotte was born in 1816. brother

branwell in 1817 Emily in 1818 and

finally Anne in 1820

these were Happy Days Patrick even

enjoyed some local literary success with

his poetry and prose while his wife

relished a delightfully busy social life

amongst her friends and Neighbors

but this was far from being a large

house and with six growing children not

to mention a couple of servants it

wasn't long before the Reverend Bronte

ambitious as ever was looking around for

a bigger Parish an increased stipend and

a more appropriate property to cater for

his domestic Arrangements

so when the living at howeth just five

miles away became vacant complete with

its large Georgian parsonage backing

onto the Moors it was time to exchange

the Cozy Comforts of Thornton for the

wild landscape that would Inspire such

great literary creations

what a pleasure it must have been for

the Bronte family to arrive here

although as for us today in January 1820

it might well have been a tad chilly but

it's immediately evident that this

substantial property was built to

withstand whatever the weather through

its way getting on for 200 years later

what is now the Bronte parsonage museum

is as welcoming as ever for visitors

from all over the world

foreign

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with so much hope for a bright future

Patrick Bronte had come a very long way

from the poverty of his birth in Ireland

but within the briefest space of time

this fleeting Joy would turn to sorrow

and utter despair

Mrs Bronte fell ill soon after moving

into the parsonage and it was a terrible

blow for Patrick already week after the

birth of her sixth child in as many

years Maria was confined to bed

despite her husband's tireless efforts

researching cures and looking for

medicine nothing could combat the cancer

that had taken such a speedy but secure

hold

then when all of the children were

struck down with what was then the

deadly scarlet fever Patrick's tenure at

Howarth that had started with such

promise seemed blighted as he faced

losing his entire family

fortunately Mrs bronte's sister

Elizabeth branwell came to the rescue

arriving from Cornwall to take charge of

the household and soon the children had

all been restored to health but their

mother after suffering horribly lost her

Battle For Life on the 15th of September

1821.

she was heard to cry out oh God my poor

children and the sight of Mrs bronte's

coffin being carried through this narrow

gate to her final resting place in the

family vault in the church must have

been devastating to witness

distraught the Reverend de Bronte shut

himself away from everyone in his grief

becoming Stern with the children who

were by all accounts grave and Silent

beyond their years Elizabeth branwell a

strict Methodist considered it her duty

to care for her sister's children so she

remained at the parsonage

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gradually order was restored and the

children turned to each other as they

played together out on the Moors they

would not disturb their father

family servants described the touching

scene

the six little creatures used to walk

out hand in hand

towards the Glorious Wild s'mores which

in after days they're loved so

passionately

life did go on but sadly for the brontes

of howeth worse was Yet to Come

education had been the making of Patrick

Bronte when he found a school for

clergymon's daughters advertised the two

older girls were quickly dispatched with

Charlotte and Emily following a few

weeks later

All That Remains of the school at

cowanbridge about 50 miles from the

parsonage is a row of cottages that made

up part of the establishment and as

delightful as the setting looks today

all was far from well back in the winter

of 1825.

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the school had been started by a

well-intentioned clergyman who'd been

horrified by the number of weddings he

presided over where the bride could only

make a mark in the register because she

was unable to read or write

but sadly the establishment was beset

with difficulties and it wasn't long

before catastrophe struck

the first the Reverend Bronte knew of

the tragedy about to unfold was when

news came that Maria had fallen ill

conditions were Bleak at the school and

in the cold and damp Patrick's eldest

daughter had contracted tuberculosis

a typhus epidemic had also Broken Out In

episode that Charlotte would recall

vividly in her novel Jane Eyre but by

the time Maria reached Haworth it was

too late she died on the 6th of May 1825

at the age of 11 and was buried with her

mother in the family vault

their news came that Elizabeth was also

suffering from TB and when she reached

Haworth obviously very sick indeed

Charlotte and Emily were immediately

brought back to the parsonage too and if

you want to know what happens to the

girls or will be revealed in just a few

moments

thankfully the news wasn't all bad

Charlotte and Emily as you know survived

to tell the tale but sadly Elizabeth

just two weeks after returning to howeth

followed her sister and mother to the

Bronte Vault she was 10 years old

for the time being Patrick Bronte kept

his surviving children with him but

continued as withdrawn and Stern as ever

Charlotte Emily and Dan along with their

brother branwell became extremely close

and out on the Moors they started to

write imaginary Tales

when Patrick Bronte gave his son a box

of toy soldiers he really started

something as the children made them into

the heroes of their stories creating

imaginary lands out here far away from

their father's disapproving gaze the

Reverend Bronte was already suffering

from deteriorating eyesight and the

creative children wrote everything down

in the tiniest of books preventing him

from seeing what they were up to and

even at this early stage their talent

was emerging

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but childhood and the freedom to roam

could not last forever and with no

family fortune all four of them would

have to make their way in the world

for the girls this would mean working as

teachers or governesses and this

required further education

at the age of 15 Charlotte was sent to

row head school and although homesick

she did well there and with her studies

complete she returned as a teacher

taking Emily with her

for Emily though the homesickness was

too much and after three months as

concerns for her health grew she was

allowed to return to Haworth while Anne

took her place the youngest Bronte

sister had a far more Placid nature than

the wild passionate Emily and she

accepted her life at rowhead with

Charlotte

however branwell as the only boy was

allowed to chase his dream of becoming

an artist with what money could be

scraped together he set himself up as a

Portrait Painter in Bradford but with no

training and limited Talent he failed

miserably branwell had squandered his

family's investment in him and turned to

drink to drown his sorrows

fortunately it was the age of steam and

as the tracks were fast cut across the

Pennine landscape branwell found

employment working for the railway

while Patrick continued to minister to

the people of Howarth all three of his

daughters found positions as governesses

an experience that Anne would use for

inspiration in her novel Agnes Gray

however Emily struggled again and after

six months returned to the parsonage

claiming she preferred the dogs to her

pupils

it's interesting to note that here in

the church there's a monument to William

Weightman who became Patrick's curated

about this time the handsome young man

sent a Valentine's card to the sisters

in 1840 and although it seems that

gentle Anne was his choice there was a

tragic end to the romance as cholera was

Rife in Haworth he contracted the

disease and died in 1842.

foreign

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was incredibly high at the time the

reason being that these flat gravestones

lying horizontally at the top of the

Steep Hill allowed contamination from

the bodies below to seep into the water

supply for the whole town

when this was discovered the practice

was stopped but as you can see from

these upright gravestones in this very

crowded burial ground for many it was

too late

foreign

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days these were dark days we've come to

the Black Bull on haworth's cobbled High

Street which is where branwell Bronte

could all too often be found he'd been

dismissed from the railway for constant

and culpable carelessness the game

turned to drink for solace it wasn't

just alcohol that branwell took to

excess as he also bought opium from the

Apothecary across the road as he

spiraled towards addiction and even more

erratic Behavior the sisters by now

realized that their brother was not just

a lost cause but also an added burden as

they struggled to improve the family

finances

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As Time passed though the answer to

their prayers took shape on their own

doorstep and plans for the Bronte

sisters to open their own School here in

Haworth took shape Aunt branwell offered

to help Finance the project but the

girls also needed to offer a varied

curriculum including modern languages so

Charlotte and Emily set off for Belgium

to attend a boarding school in Brussels

the stay was shortened as Aunt branwell

fell ill but died before the girls

reached Haworth and the ever homesick

Emily remained to keep house for Patrick

while Charlotte returned to Belgium

she was totally besotted with Monsieur

Hagar the school's head but her passion

was unrequited

what's more his wife took a very dim

view of the young English girl pursuing

her husband and Charlotte's second visit

was also cut short

even so the girls were now equipped to

open their own school and they

advertised accordingly but they failed

to attract a single pupil leaving

Charlotte to come up with an alternative

strategy to generate an income

all three of the sisters had written

poetry and although it took all

Charlotte's powers of persuasion to get

Emily to agree they presented their work

for publication under the male

pseudonyms Kara Ellis and Acton Bell

few copies were sold but it was the

beginning of the bronte's literary

career and a Charlotte accompanied her

father to have eye surgery which

required weeks spent in a darkened room

she started work on Jane Eyre

it was her second novel as she'd already

written the professor based on her

experiences in Belgium which had been

turned down by various Publishers but

Jane Eyre was taken immediately by Smith

Elder and Co

Emily meanwhile had been working on a

novel too the wild and passionate

Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff and

Kathy falling in love against the

dramatic backdrop of the Moors it's

believed by many that she based

Wuthering Heights on top withins once a

solitary Farmhouse that would have

suited Heathcliff perfectly

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foreign

had also been busy writing Agnes gray

and along with Emily's Wuthering Heights

it was published by Thomas Newby despite

neither story selling as well as Jane

Eyre interest was growing in the

identities of Kara Acton and Ellis Bell

then when newbie tried to pass off

Anne's dark and brooding the tenant of

wildfell Hall as by the author of Jane

Eyre Charlotte decided that it was high

time to reveal the Bronte sisters which

was done on a visit to Smith Elder and

Co in London

however the success of Charlotte Emily

and Dan was of little consolation to

branwell who spent much of his time in

this very chair in a drunken stupor

often the Reverend Bronte was called to

remove his son from the Black Bull and

eventually the young man fell victim to

tuberculosis back at the parsonage his

days were numbered

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a branwell died on September the 24th

1848 but the tragic consequences of this

highly contagious disease were much

further reaching

while Charlotte was still grieving for

her brother she realized that Emily and

Anne were both showing The Telltale

symptoms of TB Emily refused all medical

help until it was too late she died just

days before Christmas at the age of 30.

as the New Year progressed Anne's

condition worsened and Charlotte took

her to Scarborough in the hope that the

bracing Sea Air would help

but it was of little use and died in

Scarborough and is the only member of

the family not buried in the vault at

howeth

with only Patrick and Charlotte left at

Howarth these were dark days but

eventually Charlotte turned to her

writing for Comfort completing Shirley a

novel inspired by her father's Hearts

head tales of the luddites

then Charlotte returned to memories of

Belgium to write villet she was by now

something of a celebrity however there

was disquiet at the parsonage between

father and daughter because Patrick

bronte's curit Arthur Bell Nichols

proposed marriage to the now famous

author

Patrick refused to give his permission

and Charlotte turned Arthur down but

eventually she agreed and on condition

that the newlyweds remained at the

parsonage the Reverend Bronte finally

gave his consent and they married in

1854.

there was to be no happy ending though

Charlotte fell ill possibly in the early

stages of pregnancy and sadly by now you

can probably guess the outcome

Patrick bronte's last surviving child

died on the 31st of March 1855 leaving

him to live out his days here at Howarth

with only the widowed nickels for

company

nevertheless the fact that I'm standing

here today where thousands of visitors

come from all over the world to find a

Bronte country means that the legacy of

these truly remarkable writers lives on

so it's only right that we should leave

the last word to the ladies with Emily's

beautiful poem summing up the very

essence of this Unforgettable place

there is a spot mid-baron Hills where

Winter howls and driving rain

but if the dreary Tempest chills there

is a light that warms again

the house is old the trees are bare and

moonless bends the Misty Dome

but what on Earth is half so dear so

longed for as the Hearth of home

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thank you

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wherever you find yourself in rural

Britain you can be pretty sure that some

novelist or other will have passed by at

some stage in the nation's history and

immortalized The View as the published

word

could be Jane Austen's Hampshire hamlets

Charles Dickens Kent Coast

labrante sisters Yorkshire Dales D.H

Lawrence's Nottinghamshire landscapes or

George eliot's picturesque Warwickshire

but on this occasion it's the green and

pleasant Countryside of Dorset that

we'll be focusing on

I'm Liam Dale I'd like to welcome you to

Thomas Hardy's Wessex

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thank you

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thank you

for anyone in search of the most perfect

example of an English Country Cottage

Thomas Hardy's birthplace would have to

be a major contender in the delightful

setting of higher bachhampton on the

outskirts of Dorchester

it was here on the 2nd of June 1840 that

Thomas Hardy made his entry into the

world and you only have to look around

you to see where so much of his

inspiration for the beautiful evocative

descriptions of Rural Life that fill his

novels came from

but this is not where our author's story

actually begins and if we travel the

short distance to the nearby Village of

stinsford you can see where it all

started

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welcome to Saint Michael's Church where

Jemima hand a young maid at stinsford

house first laid eyes on a musician by

the name of Thomas Hardy who came with

his father and Uncle to play the violin

for the Sunday service with no organ in

many country churches this was quite a

common practice

despite Jemima's aspirations to better

herself being a keen reader romance

blossomed between the musician and the

servant girl and like many Affair made

in Hardy's later novels she found

herself pregnant

fortunately for Jemima the young man was

prevailed upon to do The Honorable thing

and the couple were married just a few

days before Christmas 1839 and moved to

the Hardy family Cottage at higher

bockhampton

the Hardys were actually Builders by

trade and the cottage had been

constructed in the early 1800s from

whatever resources could be found by the

time Jemima arrived the family was

presided over by her mother-in-law Mary

Hardy who would pass on her Tales of Old

Country folklore to her grandson

however thwarted Jemima might have felt

by her necessary marriage Thomas Hardy

senior proved to be a good husband and a

year after the birth of her son also

named Thomas a daughter Mary was born

ironically Jemima would warn all of her

children never to marry but she soon

turned her attention to ensuring that

her new son had every opportunity to

better himself through education

as life for the Hardy settled the frail

Tommy as our author was known proved to

be as intelligent as he was sensitive

forever losing himself in books he also

developed a keen love of Nature and his

beautiful surroundings and when he was

eight years old he was sent to school in

lower buckhampton which is to this day

the epitome of a classic English Village

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young Thomas Hardy was captivated by the

lady of the manor who opened to the

school shortly before his arrival in

fact he was one of her first pupils but

it was quickly evident that this

excellent student was ready to progress

beyond what this rural establishment

could offer

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consequently he was sent to Dorchester

at the age of 10 to continue his studies

and during his three-mile walk to school

he would cross the stone arched Bridge

into the town leaving the countryside

behind as he encountered Independence

for the first time and the hustle and

bustle of urban rather than Rural Life

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foreign

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stayed at school until he was 16 by

which time the family had increased with

the birth of Henry in 1851 and another

daughter Kate

Mr and Mrs Hardy were nonetheless

determined to encourage their eldest son

to Aspire to Greatness and instead of

him entering the family building

business he was apprenticed to the

Dorchester Architects Hicks in South

Street taking his first steps towards

professional advancement

Thomas Hardy again excelled becoming a

meticulous draftsman at a time when

Architects were much in demand as

wealthy victorians made ostentatious

additions to their properties

he also found himself called upon to

work on the restoration of the fabric of

various churches but as his sharp mind

continued to develop Thomas Hardy began

to question the religious doctrine that

was preached Within

visitors to stinsford are delighted to

discover the Thomas Hardy Memorial

window which depicts the author's

favorite passage of scripture from the

Old Testament when the Prophet Elijah

hears the still small voice of God

however it was within this very church

that the vicar sermon so incensed young

Hardy one Sunday morning that he turned

away not only from stinsford but also

from the Christian faith the vicar had

attacked the lower classes for aspiring

to join the professions just as our

author had done this caused Great

offense

Thomas Hardy for a while attended other

churches but with bold new ideas

circulating pioneered by Charles Darwin

and his theories of natural selection

and the origin of the species the cracks

in Hardy's Faith began to widen

also after six years studying

architecture in Dorchester Hardy looked

to broaden his Horizons in terms of his

career leaving the county town and the

Pastoral landscape of Dorset far behind

him as he made his way to London in the

hope of making his mark on the great

City

with a thirst for knowledge Hardy

visited museums and art galleries went

to the theater the Opera and even saw

the acclaimed novelist Charles Dickens

giving a public reading of his works

being an able architect he soon found

work in blomfield's offices just off

Trafalgar Square but seeing the contrast

between the rich and the poor so

dramatically demonstrated on the Streets

of London he began to question the

validity of his chosen profession

his attention turned to literature and

he began to write poetry but failed

miserably when it came to finding a

publisher and he felt that his lack of a

university education and his lower class

background had held him back

disappointed Hardy's Health also began

to suffer and in 1867 he decided to

return to the peace and Tranquility of

Dorset

it didn't take long for Hardy's Health

to be restored and he came back to work

at Hicks yet his London experiences had

triggered his imagination and Hardy

started to look towards making his

living writing novels as an alternative

to architecture

first he failed again to find a

publisher with his manuscript of poor

man and a lady rejected for being too

hostile to the upper classes

undeterred he began to pen desperate

remedies the story of a ladies maid

embroiled in a twisting plot of

deception

and then fate took a hand in the life of

Thomas Hardy when his architectural

duties took him to the church of Saint

Juliet in corn

when the door of the parsonage was

opened by Emma Gifford the rector's

sister-in-law Hardy looked into the eyes

of the girl who would capture his heart

in the wild Cornish landscape enjoying

Emma's company and watching her ride

Hardy was both besotted and inspired

oh the opal and the sapphire of that

wandering Western Sea and the woman

riding high above with bright hair

flapping free the woman whom I loved so

and Who loyally Loved Me

when the time came for Hardy to leave

Saint Juliet he returned to higher

bachhampton and thoughts of Emma to

motivate him the Young author managed to

publish desperate remedies and began

work on under the Greenwood tree

there is no doubt that this description

of the Dewey's Cottage was based upon

Hardy's own home

it was a long low Cottage with a hip's

roof of thatch having Dormer windows

breaking up into the eaves a chimney

standing in the middle of the Ridge and

another at each end

the plot is also very telling with the

church of melstock so evidently based on

stinsford at the heart of the tale

melstock choir and its musical players

are to be replaced by an organ and to

this storyline combined with that of

Dick Dewey one of the musicians

infatuated with the lovely School

mistress are interwoven very deftly with

Hardy's own memories of Rural Life

it was exactly to the taste of the

Victorian reading public and when it was

published in 1872 it was a great success

Hardy's thoughts at this time were

focused on Emma so his next work

actually commissioned by his publisher

and called a pair of blue eyes was based

on his Cornish Romance

at this point in his life Hardy was 32

years of age his literary success meant

that he could now turn his back on

architecture to pursue his writing

what's more the financial rewards meant

that he was now in a position to ask for

Emma's hand in marriage something he

wasted no time in doing

but if you want to know whether the love

of Hardy's life said I do you'll need to

join me again in just a few moments

sadly the path of true love failed to

run smoothly and when Thomas Hardy asked

Emma's father's permission to marry his

daughter his request was turned down

again Hardy's lack of social position

had hindered him but ironically back

here at higher block Hampton his own

mother was equally opposed to the match

nevertheless Emma and Hardy remained

true to each other and as our author

started work on far from the Madding

Crowd Emma became the inspiration for

the vibrantly drawn Bathsheba Everdeen

when the novel was published in 1874

once again readers were delighted by

Hardy's portrayal of Rural Life and the

dramatic events of this tale complete

with a suitably happy ending made it

another great success

on a more personal level too Hardy was a

happy man as he and Emma married on

September the 17th 1874 despite neither

of their families giving their blessings

to the match

[Music]

after sweeping Emma away for a honeymoon

in Paris the newlyweds first settled on

the outskirts of London but as ever

Dorset pulled at Hardy's heartstrings

and they soon moved to swannage

but despite the wonderful sea views the

sparkle of the Hardy's romance was

beginning to lose its luster

the Wild free spirited girl from

Cornwall was somehow dulled by

Domesticity in her husband's eyes and

his next novel Ethel berta's hand

telling the story of a servant's child

trying to rise above their station did

not meet with Emma's approval

over an unsettled period the Hardys

moved a number of times but eventually

they relocated to sturminster Newton and

life for both Thomas and Emma began to

improve

and is it any Wonder here at Riverside

Villa with its wonderful views of the

Dorset Countryside Hardy would take Emma

on boat trips on the river stower and it

was as if the first flush of their

romance was rekindled

[Music]

in this happy State Hardy began work on

the return of the Native drawing his

inspiration from childhood memories of

walking with his mother to visit his

Aunt Maria across the Heath

his descriptions of Dorset are at their

most atmospheric and defined the genius

of Thomas Hardy with true eloquence

even Hardy talked of this time with Emma

as being a two-year ideal but just as

his characters in The Return of the

Native failed to live happily ever after

a shadow had fallen across his marriage

as the hoped for conception of a child

eluded the Hardys

Thomas became restless and needing to

research his next novel The Trumpet

major a move to London was decided upon

but this did little to improve matters

between husband and wife

after three years in London the call of

Dorset again pulled Thomas Hardy

Homewood and it was to a plot of land on

the outskirts of Dorchester that this

particular native returned

[Music]

thank you

you see before you Max gate the house

that Hardy used his architectural skill

to design and his family building

connections to construct where he would

live for the rest of his life

[Music]

inspired by the close proximity of

Dorchester Hardy began to write the

mayor of casterbridge but a newspaper

article giving an account of a man

selling his wife also gave our author

food for thought and underpins the plot

of this remarkable novel

if you wander around Dorchester Hardy's

casterbridge you'll find many of the

locations including the house of Michael

henchard the eponymous mayor which is

now a bank

in his story henchard sells his wife

Susan and his baby daughter to a sailor

but when they returned to find him years

later Hardy reunites them at an

Amphitheater from dorchester's Roman

past known as the mormry Rings

in the end henchard pays for his

misdeeds dying alone a broken and

bitterly disappointed man

it would seem that his creator was also

feeling somewhat depressed at this time

if these words from a letter to a friend

are anything to go by

you would be quite shocked if I were to

tell you how many weeks and months in

bygone years I have gone to bed wishing

never to see daylight again

no doubt Hardy's troubled marriage

contributed to his sadness but as at the

time he planted a veritable Forest of

trees around maxgate he started work on

the woodlanders while Emma became even

more isolated

[Music]

even so the literary world did offer its

compensations the Hardys would always

head to London to do the season as the

author had become something of a

celebrity

also there were happier moments back at

Max gate when Hardy and Emma rode around

Dorset on their bicycles and when they

traveled abroad they fulfilled Hardy's

dream of visiting Rome to follow in the

footsteps of The Poets Shelley and Keats

as well as finding the house where Keats

died at the foot of the Spanish Steps

the Hardys were overcome by the drama of

the Forum on Palatine Hill and when they

returned home our author was ready to

tell the whole world his views on what

he perceived as the injustices of

Victorian society

from his study at maxgate Hardy set to

work on tests of the derbervilles

tackling such taboo subjects as rape

illegitimacy and the exploitation of the

poor by the upper classes now when it

was published in 1891 the plight of

country girl Tess was viewed as

outrageous with the novel branded as

scandalous but this did nothing to

discourage sales making Hardy rather

ironically wealthier than ever while the

Rifts in his marriage grew deeper

if Tess of the doberville scandalized

Victorian society What followed would

shock them even more

when due to the Obscure the story of a

disappointed Village stonemason was

published there was a public outcry and

members of the clergy actually burnt the

book as a protest over its subject

matter

when Jude's young son hangs first his

brother and sister and then himself

leaving a note saying done because we

are too many

people were horrified

Hardy was dismayed by the strength of

feeling against him and in fact he

slipped back into depression and from

this time onwards poured all his

creativity into his poetry never writing

another novel

on the domestic front at Max gate the

novel was equally problematic because

Emma had developed an Evangelical fervor

and was horrified of what her husband

had written handing Hardy a Bible she

promptly moved out of the marital

bedroom and into the attic which became

her sanctuary

with the dawn of the 20th century a new

age dawned and with the death of Queen

Victoria in 1901 the world that Thomas

Hardy had rebelled against began to

change as Hardy continued to publish

wonderful poems his novels became even

more popular with a more liberated

readership and fans traveled to Dorset

to see the dramatic locations

immortalized in his great works

people wrote to Hardy from all over the

world and when a young teacher by the

name of Florence dugdale asked if she

could visit him in 1905 a new chapter

began for the now famous writer

a relationship developed between the

unlikely pair with Florence calling

herself Hardy's secretary but when the

unhappy Emma died in 1912 Florence was

Keen to take her place

Emma Hardy was buried in stinford church

art despite the difficulties experienced

during 38 years of marriage Hardy was

overwhelmed by his memories and the

poems that followed commemorated the

beautiful wild girl he had fallen in

love with all those years earlier

less Thomas Hardy married Florence in

the February of 1914 as the storm clouds

of World War One gathered and Hardy

lived out his days at maxgate continuing

to write His stunning poetry

it was only failing Health that stopped

him writing in the end and after a month

of illness he died from a heart attack

on the 11th of January 1928.

foreign

and so we come full circle back to

stinsford church where Jemima hand first

took a fancy to the musical Thomas Hardy

senior all those years earlier

but it's only the heart of our great

author buried here in this grave this is

because his London friends believed

Thomas Hardy should be buried in

Westminster Abbey's poet's Corner this

is where the rest of his mortal remains

were interned alongside the Great and

the good of English literature

as a final note it's worth mentioning

that you can distinguish between the

graves of Thomas Hardy senior and Junior

by the letters om after our author's

name

King George V bestowed the order of

meriton Thomas Hardy in 1910 and for a

man who all his life felt at a

disadvantage because of his poor rural

background he achieved great things and

ironically it was his memories of the

salt of the earth farming folk and the

simple joys of country life that made

his rise to Fame and Fortune possible

foreign

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

the tradition of the Great British novel

is as popular today as it's ever been

since the first novelists put quill to

parchment the beautiful rural landscape

has proved to be a major source of

inspiration

whether that happens to be the Hampshire

Countryside of Jane Austen the Kent of

Charles Dickens

the wild Yorkshire Moors of the Bronte

sisters

the Nottinghamshire of D.H Lawrence all

the ancient Wessex of Thomas Hardy each

location speaks volumes I'm Liam Dale if

you'd like to join me I'd be delighted

to introduce you to the Warwickshire of

George Eliot

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

as birthplaces go I must say South Farm

is one of the loveliest I've ever seen

and in the very heart of the

Warwickshire Countryside you just

couldn't ask for a more idyllic location

it was here on the 22nd of November 1819

that Mary Ann Evans perhaps the most

successful novelist of her generation

was born if you're wondering why that

name doesn't sound terribly familiar

it's probably because you know her much

better by her non-deploom George Elliott

[Music]

the reason for so little changing here

since the author responsible for such

Classics as the Mill On The Floss Silas

mana and middlemarch was born is the

fact that it's part of the Arbury estate

where traditional rural values are as

respected today as they've ever been

South Farm by custom is the home of the

estate manager and back in 1819 the

position under the house were in the

possession of Mr Robert Evans George

eliot's father

although the Evans family owned their

new addition were only at South Farm for

about four months Aubry was to have a

huge impact on George Eliot as Robert

Evans continued to look after the estate

for the nude gate family and if you'd

like to come with me the short distance

to Aubry Hall you'll see for yourself

why the Big House made such a lasting

impression

foreign

Hall The ancestral home of Viscount and

viscountest daventry where George Eliot

thanks to her father's high-ranking

position in this household was permitted

to use the extensive Library

now even as a small girl she was a

voracious reader and at the age of seven

was a fan of Sir Walter Scott's Waverly

not to mention the works of bunion Defoe

and goldsmith

although the hall is Elizabethan in

origin building work in the 18th century

transformed it into one of the finest

examples of Gothic Revival you're ever

likely to see and we go inside there are

more Aubry Treasures to reveal

[Music]

one of the most striking features of

this house has to be the soaring fan

vaults with filigree tracery must have

been truly mesmerizing for a small child

in one of George eliot's less well-known

Works Mr Gill fills a love story from

scenes of clerical life she describes

carved ceilings that looked like

petrified lace work in a house called

Chevron Manor and I'm sure you'll agree

with me when I say that there can be no

doubt where she took her inspiration

from

[Music]

nevertheless Marianne Evans had a very

long way to go before she wrote this

delightful tale and to discover more

about George eliot's own fascinating

story it's time to head to a nearby

hostelry which just happens to have been

an equally important source of

inspiration for George Eliot the writer

as Aubry Hall being the house that the

Evans family moved to when she was still

a babe in arms all those years ago

now when Robert Evans brought his family

here to live at Griff house needless to

say it wasn't a pub or even a hotel back

then and this is the place that George

Eliot called home while she was growing

up

Robert Evans had two children by his

first wife who had died in 1809 and two

with his second wife Christina before

she gave birth to Marianne in 1819.

the closest in age to our future author

was her brother Isaac who she adored and

the pair spent many happy hours together

in the countryside around Griff house

and on the Arbury estate and although

George Eliot would become a city dweller

as an adult she would never forget her

rural Roots which are at the very heart

of her greatest novels

[Music]

in fact in the Milan the floss the

characters of Maggie talaver and her

brother Tom are without question

autobiographical with Tom always

scolding Maggie for her Wayward Behavior

something that Isaac would take to the

extreme in later years

we've now come right to the top of Griff

house to discover a very special place

and I must confess to being really

excited about being here

this attic with its low beams is the

place where the burgeoning George Eliot

loved best

it was her sanctuary and when she

describes young Maggie tulliver fleeing

to the attic when she's in trouble with

Tom for not feeding his rabbits again

just as at Aubry Hall we're left in no

doubt whatsoever as to where the

inspiration came from

Maggie stood motionless except from her

sobs for a minute or two and she turned

round and ran into the house and up to

her attic where she sat on the floor and

laid her head against the worm eaten

Shelf with a crushing sense of memory

Tom was come home and she had thought

how happy she should be and now he was

cruel to her what use was anything if

Tom didn't love her oh he was very cruel

[Music]

if you're thinking that Griff house

looks nothing like a mill you'd be quite

correct because we'd come to a

remarkable Mill at chalkat also in

Warwickshire which is one of the few

fully working traditional flour Mills

you'll find in Britain today

George eliot's actually based the doll

codes millifer novel that Saint August

in Lincolnshire but to see what she

actually had in mind today reading her

evocative words I hope you'll agree

childcup fits the bill perfectly

Maggie loved to linger in the great

spaces of the mill and often came out

with a black hair pounded to a soft

whiteness that made her dark eyes flash

out with new fire

the Resolute din the unresting motion of

the great Stones giving her a dim

delicious ore was at the presence of an

uncontrollable Force the meal forever

pouring pouring

the fine white powder softening all

surfaces and making the very spider Nets

look like fairy lace work the sweet pure

scent of meal all helped to make Maggie

feel that the mill was a little world

apart from our outside everyday life

[Music]

the old country ways that have been so

beautifully described in this novel

paint a vivid picture of 19th century

Rural Life but there are those who view

the work of George Eliot as rather

serious

yet her observations of the good country

folk who would later become her cast of

background characters add a wonderful

Touch of humor

unlike her contemporary Charles Dickens

there's nothing sentimental in George

eliot's portrayal of either the people

or the Landscapes that inspired her

we do also get a glimpse of other

members of her family through these

characters and again in the Mill On The

Floss when Mrs tulliver's sisters arrive

who we know are based on the sisters of

Christina Evans our author's aunts the

humor is evident

the well-to-do sisters are quick to

voice their opinions while deciding

whether to buy teapots and table linen

should there be a bankruptcy sale as the

televas have fallen upon such hard times

despite the tragic circumstances their

endearing bossiness is presented with

wit and irony

as they gather at the Mill to dispense

advice when Mr tulliver is sick and the

family face ruin that sister Clegg is

determined to be heard

it's for your own good I say this for

it's right you should feel what your

state is and what disgrace your husbands

brought on your own family as you've got

to look for everything and be humble in

your mind

Mrs Greg paused for speaking with much

energy for the good of others is

naturally exhausting

[Music]

for now though we'll leave the answer

childcote Mill and return to Griff house

to hear more about George eliot's

fascinating childhood in the Mill On The

Floss Maggie is Keen to be educated but

as was often the case in Victorian

England all the money was lavished on

Tom as a boy although Maggie is much

brighter and would undoubtedly have made

better use of the opportunity

however this part of the tail is not

autobiographical because Marianne Evans

received a very good education and

excelled in her studies until returning

to Griff house at the age of 16 to help

care for her dying mother

Mrs Evans died in 1836 and is buried in

the family Tomb at nearby chilver's

coton the harrowing experience had a

huge impact on Marianne she developed an

obsessive religious fervor studying

church history and even teaching herself

Latin

thank you

but other influences were about to

transform this rather puritanical young

lady into a passionate worldly wise

woman way ahead of her time and if you

want to know more you'll have to join me

again in just a few minutes

[Music]

Robert Evans retired from his duties at

Aubry Hall and as Isaac Evans was just

about to marry he remained at Griff

house keeping this lovely property in

the family Mary Ann and her father moved

to nearby Coventry and for Robert and

Isaac this was when the hitherto

biddable Miss Evans started to become

Troublesome flexing her intellectual

muscle having made new friends who were

Radical thinkers

[Music]

while Isaac remained the respectable

Countryman here at Griff the reactionary

Marianne turned her back on religion and

began to follow where her heart and mind

led her when Robert Evans died in 1849

she actually asked

what shall I be without my father

it will seem as if part of my moral

nature was gone

and it wasn't long before Marianne's

excellent education and early writing

skills threw her into the path of

temptation as this evidently passionate

courageous young woman found her own way

of coping with the restraints of

Victorian society

actually Robert Evans would have turned

in his grave well to be more accurate in

the family tomb here at chilver's coat

and churchyard if he could have seen his

daughter's headstrong ways and even

brother Isaac could do nothing to keep

his sister in check once she'd moved to

London

this all came about because while she

was still living in Coventry she'd taken

over a translation project for one of

her radical friends who was struggling

with the task

the work Das Laban Jesu ironically The

Life of Christ was indeed challenging

and took Maryanne two years to complete

however although she remained Anonymous

the publisher John Chapman was so

delighted with the work he sought out

its translator and shortening her name

to Marion Ms Evans moved to Chapman's

boarding house at 142 The Strand where

she began her literary career

although we can only speculate it would

seem that the dashingly handsome Chapman

took more than a professional interest

in his young lodger and she apparently

was not averse to his attentions it was

already an unusual household and when

Chapman's wife and his mistress who also

lived in the house joined forces to have

Marion removed she was quite literally

sent to Coventry back home to

Warwickshire

the Exile was short-lived though as

Chapman bought the Westminster review a

journal 4 philosophical radicals and

Marion was promptly restored to her

position in the house on the Strand to

run the publication

undaunted in her quest to find love and

at the very heart of literary Society

Marion soon developed a relationship

with Herbert Spencer the editor of The

Economist

sadly for her though he described her as

too morbidly intellectual to marry

Marion's infatuation with Spencer was

only quelled when he introduced her to

his friend George Henry Lewis a fellow

philosopher and writer

the pair quickly fell in love and

Spencer happily remained a confirmed

Bachelor for the rest of his days

but there was a problem George Lewis was

married albeit an unusual open

relationship his wife Agnes had given

him three sons but it also had further

children with another man who Lewis had

given his name to making a divorce all

but impossible as he'd been seen to

condone his wife's infidelity

as a result Marion also took the Lewis

name and the couple lived together as

man and wife but at a distance from even

the more liberal-minded literary Circle

that they both moved in

it was at this point that Marion with

the encouragement of Lewis turned her

attention to novel writing choosing

George Eliot as a masculine pen name not

only to court publishing success but

also perhaps to disguise her somewhat

dubious marital status

[Music]

nevertheless it was not the elite

intellectuals of London society that

Marion turned to for inspiration it was

the beautiful Warwickshire Countryside

of her childhood and if you come with me

now to the lovely church of Saint Mary

the virgin in the village of Ashley

you'll certainly understand why

George eliot's first success as a

Storyteller came with the publication of

her scenes of clerical life in

blackwood's magazine and this church

appears as nebbly church and is actually

where her parents were married

the reviews were excellent when her

scenes of clerical life were published

in book form and encouraged she began

work on Adam bead which received even

greater acclaim

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were

said to have enjoyed the novel greatly

adding two George eliot's growing

popularity

however drawing on childhood memories

like this beautiful Church there was one

person who was quick to identify George

Eliot and that was of course Marion's

brother Isaac

the Evans family was scandalized by

Marion's relationship with George Lewis

and shunned her completely making it

impossible for her to even visit the

places that had now made her so famous

yet for the world of literature this was

one Cloud that very definitely had a

silver lining and as we returned to

charcut Mill or will be revealed

without a doubt the most influential

person in Marion's childhood had been

her brother Isaac and with her identity

no longer a secret in her next novel The

Mill On The Floss she was now free to

write about this complex relationship

the hugely autobiographical work was

another success critically and

financially and Mr and Mrs Lewis moved

up in the world in London they were no

longer social outcasts and Marion moved

into a new phase of her writing career

it was as if she had exercised her

demons and when Silas Mana was published

in 1861 her readers discovered a much

gentler side to George Eliot when the

miserly Weaver of ravelow discovers that

love is far greater than riches when it

comes to finding happiness

[Music]

despite a brief defection to a new

publisher with the unsuccessful romula a

historic tale of Italy which Blackwood

had felt would not be well received

George Eliot returned to mata's English

and the astute Blackwood with the novel

Felix Holt in 1830.

so it failed to capture the public

imagination but her next work

middlemarch published in 1871 proved to

be George eliot's masterpiece

her readers were mesmerized by the

goings-on in the town being transformed

by the Industrial Revolution based on

the author's memories of Coventry and

they eagerly waited for her next novel

her last Daniel duronda in 1876

it was a brave work discrediting

anti-Semitism but was not as popular

with the victorians as middlemarch had

been

but as memories of her Warwickshire past

still colored George eliot's literary

offerings London life for Marion in the

grand Regents Park house she now shared

with her beloved Lewis suddenly changed

dramatically

in 1878 George Lewis developed cancer

and died on the 30th of November at the

age of 61. Marion was devastated and

when he was buried in the Highgate

Cemetery she was too overcome with grief

to attend his funeral

nevertheless as she recovered she

started to become close to her financial

advisor John Cross she and Lewis had

always referred to as nephew Johnny

he was 20 years her Junior but evidently

saw something that appealed to him in

the 60 year old author because they were

married in 1880 and in December moved

into the very stylish four Cheney walk

in Chelsea

who have one clue however to the

mysterious Allure of George Eliot as

after the young American writer Henry

James had met her he described her in a

way that she may not altogether have

seen as a compliment

to begin with she is magnificently ugly

deliciously hideous she has a low

forehead dull gray eye vast pendulous

nose and a mouth full of uneven teeth

now in this vast ugliness there is a

powerful Beauty so that you end as I

ended falling in love with this great

horse-faced blue stocking

sadly though the new and now

respectfully married Mrs cross was not

destined to find happiness with her new

husband at Cheney walk falling ill with

laryngitis soon after moving in and her

condition deteriorated rapidly

she died very suddenly on the 22nd of

December 1880 with John Cross at her

side

although he tried to have his famous

wife buried in Westminster Abbey's

poet's Corner the religious

establishment turned the Mortal remains

of George Eliot away because of her

relationship with George Lewis

he was instead buried next to the man

she had considered her husband even

though the church did not for so many

years in Highgate Cemetery

ironically one of the mourners at her

funeral was none other than Isaac Evans

who had become reconciled with his

sister after her marriage to John Cross

and it's sad that George Eliot did not

live long enough to return home to

Warwickshire to revisit the places that

inspired her to become one of

literature's greatest novelists

but it's not in London that we should

bid farewell to this extraordinary woman

who was so far ahead of her time the

only proper place we should take our

leave is back once more in the heart of

George Eliot country and she said

herself in middlemarch

little details gave each field a

particular physionomy

dear to the eyes that have looked on

them from childhood

proving beyond all doubt that despite so

often being mistaken for a man George

Eliot was indeed a woman of vision

sustained her whole life long by

memories of this remarkable landscape

oh

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

there's something truly remarkable about

the British rural landscape and if you

turn to the pages of classic literature

you'll find many examples that prove

this to be the case

whether Jane Austen's Hampshire

Charles Dickens is Kent

the Bronte sisters Yorkshire

Thomas Hardy's Wessex

or George eliot's Warwickshire the Great

British Countryside plays a starring

role I'm Liam Dale if you'd like to see

for yourself join me as I reveal the

Nottinghamshire of D.H Lawrence

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

for most people just the mention of D.H

Lawrence carries with it a whiff of

Scandal especially if his Infamous novel

Lady Chatterley's Lover is part of the

conversation but this truly Great

British author who was never fully

appreciated in his own lifetime wrote

about a landscape that he described as

the country of his heart and it all

started here in Eastwood on the

outskirts of Nottingham

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

this is the D.H Lawrence birthplace

Museum a date a Victoria Street and it's

been carefully restored and refurbished

to reflect the age into which our author

was born today it certainly has a

Victorian charm but realistically when

David Herbert Richard Lawrence was born

in the front bedroom on the 11th of

September 1885. life in this miners

Terrace was anything but Rural and far

from idyllic

as childhoods go young Bert Lawrence as

he was always known had a pretty tough

time

his mother Lydia considered herself a

lady and had married his father Arthur a

gregarious but poor Miner to escape her

family's genteel poverty believing him

to be much better off than he was by the

time she realized the truth it was too

late and the mismatched couple fought

bitterly and would provide the

inspiration for the warring morals in

Lawrence's autobiographical sons and

lovers Arthur Lawrence worked here at

brinsley pit spending his life

underground along with the majority of

the men in the district they had to be

tough to survive and for the refined

Lydia his rough manners and tendency to

spend his few hours above ground and his

wages in the pub caused violent rows

Burt was their fourth child arriving

after George Ernest and Emily was

quickly followed by another daughter Ada

all of the children took their mother's

side turning against their father and

when Lawrence remembered Arthur in later

life his words were chilling

I was born hating my father as early as

ever I can remember I shivered with

horror when he touched me

[Music]

it's hard to imagine what it must have

been like living in this tiny house with

four children plus another on the way

and two adults who were constantly

fighting

[Music]

eventually a move was inevitable but it

was to an area known as the breach

renamed as the bottoms in sons and

lovers although Garden Road today looks

perfectly pleasant when the lawrences

moved here in 1887 the kitchen opened

onto a back alley where the dust and

stenched from the ash pits pervaded the

air

by this stage Lydia knew there was no

escaping the hard life she had married

into but there was a chance for her

children and she was intelligent enough

to realize that for her boys to avoid

going down the pit they needed an

education

[Music]

the age of three young Bert Lawrence

joined his older brothers at bovale

school greasley and it and it was far

from being a happy experience

always a sickly child he was too frail

to take part in games and often stayed

at home with his mother which resulted

in him being teased and bullied

but Bert was a clever boy and when he

was 12 and a half he won a scholarship

to Nottingham High School

the council was sponsoring poorer

children covering part of the cost but

Lydia still had to find the money to

make up the difference

even so she must have been delighted at

her son's success although the stigma of

being a scholarship boy resulted in him

being shunned by his classmates

Lawrence's sense of not belonging was

heightened like his mother he'd been

educated above the community he lived in

while that very background prevented him

from being accepted in the middle class

environment of the high school

to begin with though the boy from the

breach did well even winning prizes but

when a family Scandal hit the headlines

but schoolwork went into a sudden

decline

Arthur Lawrence's brother Walter had

been tried for killing his 15 year old

son in a drunken accident and the

newspapers exposed the whole sordid

story it marked the end of Lawrence's

time at the high school as he left that

summer and never returned

I

Albert had been struggling at school his

older brother Ernest had been bringing a

good wage home to his mother and he'd

become the apple of her eye

Ernest was employed in an office thanks

to his clerical skills earning him not

only a good living but also a rise to

the middle classes and Lydia's prayers

for a better life for her children had

been answered

Lydia must have been Overjoyed when some

years later

Ernest got a position in a London

solicitor's office and when he returned

to visit in his top hat frock coat and

kid gloves he was every bit the

gentleman however tragedy struck when

Ernest went back to London as he fell

ill with an inflammatory disease and

died Lydia rushed to his bedside but it

was too late all she could do was bring

her beloved son's body back to Eastwood

for burial

for Lawrence the loss of his brother

coupled with his mother's overwhelming

grief made this a very dark chapter in

his life and he took a job in a factory

to help with the household income

[Music]

family had long since moved from the

breach to Walker Street and it was here

that the troubled young man fell Gravely

ill

in her Pleasant Bay windowed Home Lydia

was suddenly jolted out of her Griefer

Ernest by her concern for Bert and she

nursed him so attentively that the bond

between them became almost oppressive

in fact in later years Lawrence

acknowledged that his relationship with

his mother was beyond the normal

boundaries for parent and child

we have been like one so sensitive to

each other that we never needed words it

has been rather terrible and has made me

in some respects abnormal

as Lawrence convalesced he discovered

something truly wonderful just a short

distance from the coal dust-covered

confines of Eastwood lay the beautiful

Nottinghamshire Countryside and a new

chapter opened in the life of D.H

Lawrence

Lydia set great store by religion and

attended the nearby congregational

chapel and it was here that she met Anne

Chambers so when her new friend moved to

haggs farm near Underwood the lawrences

were invited for a visit

the impression the countryside made on

Lawrence was phenomenal and that first

walk he took from his home to haggs farm

with his mother has been immortalized in

sons and lovers

the mother and son went through the

wheat and oats over a little Bridge into

a wild Meadow pee Wheats with their

white breasts glistening wheeled and

screamed about them the lake was still

and blue high overhead a heron floated

opposite the wood heaped on the hill

green and still

but it wasn't just the landscape that

appealed to Lawrence the boisterous

Chambers family took him to their hearts

he became firm friends with the Chambers

Brothers and developed a relationship

with their sister Jessie that would

Inspire him to create the character of

Miriam levers in sons and lovers

although at first their friendship was

perfectly acceptable by the time

Lawrence was 20 his family gave him an

ultimatum either become engaged to Jesse

or leave her alone

with his whole life ahead of him and

knowing he was not in love with Jesse he

decided upon the latter option but Jesse

was terribly upset when he told her of

his decision as she had fallen head over

heels in love with Lawrence

leaving Jesse and hagg's farm behind him

Lawrence again trying to make his way in

education winning a place at Nottingham

University College studying to become a

teacher

when he arrived he was full of Hope and

great expectations and in his novel The

Rainbow his heroine Ursula brangwin's

first impressions of attending

University were without doubt his own

the big college built of stone standing

in the quiet street with a rim of grass

and lime trees all so peaceful she felt

it remote a magic land

but the magic soon wore off and the

University was subject to an angry

attack by Lawrence with these words

spurious Gothic arches spurious peace

spurious latinity spurious Dignity of

France spurious naivety of Chaucer

it is memories of this beautiful

countryside were never far from his

thoughts and although Lawrence was prone

to bouts of sudden Fierce anger while

studying in Nottingham he discovered a

way to channel his Furious energy

but if we want to know what he did to

dampen the burning flames of Rage you'll

have to join me again in just a few

moments

[Music]

while the other students scribbled their

notes during lectures Lawrence allowed

his mind to drift back here as he

started writing his first novel the

white peacock it recreated the golden

days at haggs farm and although he

wasn't allowed to see Jesse Chambers

alone he did get the pages of his

manuscript to her and her comments

proved invaluable

despite Lawrence's disappointment with

his university experience he did very

well indeed and when his studies were

complete he found a position as an

assistant school master in London

it was an incredible achievement for the

minor son born here in Eastwood but as

Lawrence battled to tame his students

who he described as wild beasts in the

daytime it was memories of

Nottinghamshire he returned to in the

evening as he worked on the white

peacock at a distance Jesse remained a

faithful friend to Lawrence offering

encouragement and she would prove to be

instrumental in promoting his literary

career

foreign

as Lawrence settled to City Life

visiting theaters museums and soaking up

the cultural atmosphere the novelist and

editor Ford Maddox Ford had founded a

journal called the English review

The Works of such luminaries as Thomas

Hardy and H.G Wells had been published

in the review and when Jesse sent some

of Lawrence's poems to Ford he was Keen

to meet the budding author

not only did Lawrence get his poems

published but also Ford believed that

the young man had a genius and suggested

he send the white peacock to heinemann

when the publisher accepted the

manuscript immediately paying the not

inconsiderable sum of 50 pounds Lawrence

was set fair for a glittering literary

career

foreign

[Music]

undoubtedly Jesse Chambers and the whole

hags Farm experience had been key to

this early success and when he returned

to Nottinghamshire for visits the pair

became closer and Lawrence sought a

physical relationship with the girl he'd

not been prepared to marry it proved to

be disastrous for both of them and a few

months later Lawrence finished the

affair

however events at home were about to

overshadow any discomfort Lawrence might

have felt about Jesse because just two

weeks after the breakup Lydia Lawrence

was diagnosed with cancer

the family were by this time living in

Lincroft just around the corner from the

house in Walker Street and Lawrence was

given permission to leave his teaching

Post in London to go home and care for

his mother

these were desperate days for Lawrence

but he found comfort in the arms of an

old friend from teacher training days

Louis Burroughs who came from the lovely

Village of costell

look

[Music]

Louie's family home was church Cottage

next to the lovely church and at this

terrible time for Lawrence the place

must have had quite an impact on our

author it would play a huge part in

perhaps his greatest novel The Rainbow

but for the time being all his thoughts

were focused on Lydia in fact although

Lawrence proposed to Louis and she

accepted him he never told his mother of

the engagement fearing that it would

upset her

but within days of The Proposal Lydia

died and was buried with her son Ernest

in Eastwood Cemetery it was December

1910 and as the year came to an end

Lawrence returned to his post in London

and as he continued to teach he poured

his troubled thoughts into his

autobiographical sons and lovers

isolated and depressed Lawrence had

serious doubts about his engagement to

Louis but at that time fell ill with

pneumonia

the illness meant the end of Lawrence's

teaching career and when he recovered he

called off the wedding

as we return to the house Lawrence Drew

so much inspiration from four sons and

lovers we enter another key period in

our author's life his first draft of the

novel was never completed no doubt due

to his mother's death but after giving

up teaching he resumed work on the novel

as events led Lawrence in a very

different direction

[Music]

Lawrence had always been Keen to travel

as he had German cousins a plan was

proposed for him to go and visit them

remembering his old German Professor

Ernest weekly Lawrence decided to go to

Nottingham to ask his advice

when Lawrence arrived weekly was not at

home but his wife Frida was happy to

entertain her husband's guest

there was an instant connection between

the unlikely pair and within minutes

they were deep in conversation

Frieda was German by birth totally

uninhibited and Lawrence was instantly

captivated

[Music]

Frieda quickly became the love of

Lawrence's life as they embarked upon a

wild and passionate Affair often meeting

in the countryside around Eastwood

[Music]

eventually they decided to travel to

Germany together and Lawrence was

introduced to freda's family her father

a baron and a military gentleman was

horrified and described his daughter's

lover as an ilbred common penniless Laut

but Freda was besotted and refused to

give him up and weekly was informed by

telegram of his wife's affair

while Frieda battled for custody of her

children Lawrence was hoping that having

sons and lovers published would provide

him and Frida with an income

but Lawrence had been very explicit in

every respect with his autobiographical

writing and the manuscript was rejected

for being too shocking nevertheless he

and Freda continued with their great

adventure traveling to Italy as Lawrence

reworked his novel which was eventually

accepted for publication in 1913.

Freda and Lawrence returned to England

for his sister Ada's wedding and in 1914

shortly before the outbreak of World War

One Frida's divorce came through and the

couple were married

some sense of normality had been

restored and Lawrence's literary career

was now prospering but when war was

declared within weeks of their marriage

it heralded yet more trouble for the

newlyweds

[Music]

when Lawrence's latest manuscript the

wedding ring was presented he was asked

to submit again in six months when it

was believed that the war would be over

but all hopes of the conflict being

resolved quickly were soon dashed

is left of the lawrences in Final

they couldn't return to Europe and

anti-german feeling was rising in

Britain and of course Freda was German

and worse still the cousin of the Red

Baron the German fighter pilot

responsible for so many British deaths

moving around the country from place to

place struggling to make ends meet

Lawrence remembered the lovely Village

of kossel as he transformed the wedding

ring into two sequential novels the

rainbow and women in love in the Rainbow

Castle becomes kosathi where his epic

family Saga of the brangwins unfurls

Generation by generation however when it

was published in 1915 there was a Public

Act cry at the explicit sexual nature of

sections of the novel and it was removed

from the shelves under the obscene

Publications Act of 1857.

Lawrence's reputation lay in tatters but

as the new year of 1916 was rung in the

couple were offered a holiday house on

the Cornish coast and for Lawrence it

was the perfect place to retreat from

the public gaze

by Spring as the colorful flowers

started to bloom the lawrences had found

two Cottages to rent at Zena while

preparations were made they stayed at

the Village Pub the tinners arms

thank you

when Lawrence was in Zenna he wrote to a

friend and he said it is all gorse now

flickering with flowers then it will be

Heather and then hundreds of fox gloves

it is the best place I've been

I think

but the lawrences were far from being a

typical couple and the local people did

not take to their exotic neighbors the

vicar at Zen are so disapproved of the

scandalous pair he made sure the

authorities investigated them as spies

which wasn't difficult because of

Frida's nationality

eventually they were expelled from

Cornwall and had no choice but to return

to London where the police continued to

hound them

as soon as the war ended in 1918 the

lawrences were able to leave Britain and

set off on what our author described as

his Savage pilgrimage traveling the

world far and wide to find a place to

call home

however it was this beautiful

Nottinghamshire Countryside that

continued to inspire our author while in

Florence in 1927 he wrote his best known

novel Lady Chatterley's Lover which

would cause even more controversy than

the rainbow and women in love but

Lawrence's Health was failing fast one

of his last poems written about a blue

gentian flower suggests that he knew

full well that his days were numbered

reach me a gentian give me a torch Let

Me Guide myself with the blue forked

torch of this flower down the darker and

darker stairs

D.H Lawrence died of tuberculosis on

March the 2nd 1930 aged 44.

this statue with a blue gentian cupped

poignantly in his hands is a fitting

Memorial

can be found at Nottingham University

yet it is the Nottinghamshire

Countryside that D.H Lawrence describes

so vividly in his novels that best sums

up the Brilliance of this creative and

passionate man who the world simply

wasn't ready for when he walked these

paths and told his tales so many years

ago

[Music]

thank you

foreign

[Music]

s of the wonderful British authors

who've done so much to make literature

great you'll find a portrait of rural

Britain as vividly drawn as any

well-written character

whether the Kent of Charles Dickens

George eliot's Warwickshire

D.H Lawrence is Nottinghamshire

the Bronte sisters Yorkshire

or Thomas Hardy's Wessex

there are so many wonderful places to

explore

and Jane Austen's Hampshire is no

exception as you're about to discover

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

if I tell you that for many people where

I'm now standing is considered to be

nothing short of Hallowed Ground you

might think I've just spent a few hours

in the pub

granted you see before you a classic

example of a fine rural landscape but it

is when all said and done a field albeit

a very lovely one

there is nonetheless a very good reason

for bringing you here because on this

spot more than two centuries ago a

parsonage once stood around the 16th of

December 1775 a little later than

expected one of the greatest writers of

all time was born

the lady in question for that is

undoubtedly the correct way to address

her despite her humble Origins was none

other than Jane Austen the author of

Pride and Prejudice and the creator of

literature's favorite couple the

dashingly handsome Mr Darcy and the

truly delectable Elizabeth Bennett

although there's not a lot to see in

home Meadow as the field is now known

with the old rectory having been

demolished in the 1820s inside this

clump of stinging nettles you can still

find the remnants of the well and old

pump that would have served the Wash

House in Jane Austen's time

also the slope here we have it on good

authority was one Jane used to enjoy

rolling down as a child in case you're

wondering just who that Authority might

have been it's none other than the great

lady herself having written about

Catherine Morland a charmingly spirited

heroine from Northanger Abbey doing the

exact same thing

you can relax though you're not going to

be subjected to a visual demonstration I

shall have a role later when everyone

else has left

but I would just like to point out this

stunning lime tree which was planted in

1813 by Jane's older brother James

but before we make the acquaintance of

the rest of the Austin family we'll take

a stroll along the lane to find the

delightful church of Saint Nicholas

which is such an integral part of the

Jane Austen story

[Music]

from the moment you arrive at the church

you can't fail to notice Miss Austin's

presence because it was here that her

father the Reverend George Austin served

as Rector throughout her childhood and

Youthful years in fact James Brothers

James and Henry were subsequent

directors of stephenton as was her

nephew William Knight resulting in a

family tradition that spanned an

incredible uninterrupted 114 years

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

[Music]

the Reverend George Austin was a

scholarly man who'd been Proctor of

Saint John's College Oxford who

described as handsome made an

advantageous marriage to Cassandra Lee

the niece of the master of baliel

college

so if you've ever asked yourself why

there are so many clergymen in Jane

Austen's novels you now have the answer

because as you see the church was the

very foundation of the world in which

she lived

foreign

[Music]

by the time the Reverend George moved to

steventon rectory he and his wife

already had three sons James George and

Edward and once here they were quickly

followed by Henry then the first Austin

girl Jane's beloved sister Cassandra

brother Frank arrived before Jane's

birth in 1775 and last but not least

came brother Charles to complete the

family

quite a brood all in all and when you

consider that the Reverend Austin also

took in students who lived with the

family they must have on occasion have

filled this lovely little church

foreign

ton Jane started to write by the age of

15 when she penned a history of England

by a partial Prejudiced and ignorant

historian she was already extremely well

read especially when it came to novels

also as Jane grew into a fine-looking

young lady she along with her sister

Cassandra had certainly attracted the

attention of the young men in the

district if the words of their cousin

Eliza are to be believed when she

described them as two of the prettiest

girls in England

it was at this time that Jane started to

experiment with novel writing and her

experiences at assemblies and balls held

locally along with social events when

visiting relations all helped to provide

the blossoming author with a wealth of

romantic material

in 1795 Jane actually attempted a novel

of her own Eleanor and Marianne

the name sound familiar it's because

they would evolve to become the dashwood

sisters of Sense and Sensibility Fame

a year later she wrote first impressions

which so impressed the Reverend George

Austin he sent his daughter's handiwork

to a publisher

sadly his enthusiasm was not shared by

the recipient who turned it down flat

but as it would reappear as Pride and

Prejudice some years later such fatherly

approval was certainly Justified

[Music]

another early work that would also be

retitled was Susan written in 1798 and

this version of what would later become

Northanger Abbey focused on a young

country girl's introduction to the

fashionable Society of bath

this beautiful city often associated

with Jane Austen provided much

inspiration however it can come as

something of a surprise to discover that

Jane actually disliked bath although In

fairness this was not altogether the

fault of the city

[Music]

thank you

when the Reverend Austin relinquished

his duties at stephenton he chose to

retire to bath for Sydney place to be

precise and without the financial

Independence of the Austin boys Jane and

Cassandra had no choice but to leave

their beloved Hampshire and exchange

their country views for City Life

all Jane's progress as an author seemed

to come to an abrupt halt work on a

novel called The Watsons was abandoned

and despite selling the manuscript of

Susan for 10 pounds he'd never appeared

in print

the financial constraints on the Austins

made life harder than it had ever been

at steventon and without the advantage

of homegrown produce and livestock these

were far from happy times and matters

very suddenly went from bad to worse

when the Reverend George Austin died in

January 1805 of an illness he appeared

to be recovering from Bath was forever

associated with unhappiness for Jane and

as the Austin ladies were left almost

destitute the future looked decidedly

bleak

foreign

years Jane did enjoy one great Advantage

because summers in the city were hot and

stuffy there would be Seaside visits

that provided her with experiences she

would never forget and thanks to her

wonderful writing they are experiences

we can all share

I'm here at Lyme Regis walking on the

cob immortalized by Jane in her final

novel persuasion where her deliciously

drawn character Louisa Musgrove takes a

near fatal tumble actually Jane Austen

devotees will tell you that this is the

most exciting attribute of this

particular lady and it is without doubt

only because of this remarkable place

that she so often remembered

even the great Victorian romantic poet

Alfred Lord Tennyson when visiting line

cried out at his guide don't talk to me

of the Duke of Monmouth show me the

steps from which Louisa Musgrove fell

proving beyond all doubt just how

evocative Jane Austen's description of

the event truly was

there was too much wind to make the high

part of the new cob Pleasant for the

ladies and they agreed to get down the

steps to the lower and all were

contented to pass quietly and carefully

down the Steep flight accepting Louisa

she must be jumped down them by Captain

Wentworth

of course we all know exactly what is

about to happen and we are not

disappointed

she fell on the pavement on the lower

cob and was taken up lifeless

there was no wound and no blood no

visible bruise but her eyes were closed

she breathed not her face was like death

the horror of that moment to all who

stood around

and if you want to know what happens

next to poor headstrong Louisa you'll

have to join me again in just a few

moments

welcome back the news I can report for

Louisa Musgrove is good the Rival for

the Heart and Hand of Captain Wentworth

the true love of persuasion's timid

heroine Anne Elliott Louisa is granted

her survival

but in classic Austin style she learns

the error of her wild ways leaves

Captain Wentworth to the deserving Anne

and becomes engaged to a fine fellow

more suited to her reformed character

but what I hear you ask of Jane well we

know that things must have started to

look up for the destitute Austin ladies

after all there are six fabulous novels

still in print to this day and if you'd

like to discover where they were written

we need to return to Hampshire

and the picturesque Village of chorton

[Music]

when you arrive at chorton you'll be

left in no doubt as to who once lived

here and there's no better place for us

to begin than at Jane Austen house

[Music]

now as much a living Memorial to the

lady in question as it is a museum Jane

moved into chorton Cottage in 1809 and

in this letter to her brother Frank

expresses perfectly her hopes and her

fears

as for ourselves we're very well as

unaffected Pros will tell

our children home how much we find

already in it to our mind and how

convinced that when complete it will all

other houses beat

this Improvement in fortunes for Jane

came as a direct result of her brother

Edward's rise to prominence as a wealthy

gentleman having been adopted as the

heir of Thomas Knight Edward had a

number of Estates at his disposal one of

which was chorton and while he could

have occupied the nearby great house he

was able to provide children cottage for

his mother and sisters

[Music]

today you'll find many of Jane's

personal items here at chorton a lock of

her hair still with the glimmer of

Auburn

the topaz crosses given by Brother

Charles to Jane and Cassandra

and even the bookcase that belonged to

the Reverend George Austin previously

having graced the old rectory at

steventon

but pride of place quite rightly goes to

Jane's elegant little writing table

where all of her novels were either

revised or written

here at the heart of a Charming domestic

scene Jane composed her famous Tales of

Love marriage wealth and power while her

mother happily tended the garden and

Cassandra sat at her sewing or drawing

all of Jane's Works were published

anonymously during her lifetime and only

her closest family and friends knew of

her success

in fact visitors who come here or want

to see and for that matter here the

creaking door that warned Jane of

imminent interruptions

to be able to hide her writing away so

that nobody would ever guess her Secret

[Music]

looking around this delightful Garden

it's evident that Jane Austen with her

love of the rural landscape would have

been much happier here than in the

middle of a big city no matter how

elegant it might have been

by the time Jane reached chorton she

would also have been all too aware that

her chances of marrying and having a

family of her own were now gone which

would have made attending all the

society balls and assemblies that would

once have entertained her all the harder

to bear

in no time at all accepting her lot in

life Jane set to work transforming

Eleanor and Marianne into Sense and

Sensibility turning to her memories of

the Devon Coast as a setting for her

Tale

[Music]

published in 1811 this work by a lady

was a success and she followed it in

1813 With Pride and Prejudice perhaps

her finest work

bright light sparkling and full of

Witten wisdom the opening lines serve

notice that this is an author with a

story worth the telling

it is a truth universally acknowledged

that a single man in possession of a

good fortune must be in want of a wife

however little known the feelings or

views of such a man may be

on his first entering a neighborhood

this truth is so well fixed in the minds

of the surrounding families that he is

considered as the rightful property of

someone or other of their daughters

later when Jane was asked for advice on

novel writing by her niece Anna she

explained that three or four families in

a Country Village is the very thing to

work on and with the phenomenal success

of Pride and Prejudice that does this

very thing it was evidently advice that

was well worth taking

and you only have to take a walk around

chorton wander amongst the graves at the

churchyard where both Mrs Austin and

Cassandra's can be found to see where so

much of her inspiration came from

building on her on her earlier

experiences at steventon when the ideas

for both Sense and Sensibility and Pride

and Prejudice had first taken shape

[Music]

following the same formula next came

Mansfield Park Emma and persuasion but

with heroines as diverse as anyone could

ask from the terribly wholesome and good

Fanny price to the meddlesome

opinionated Emma Woodhouse and the shy

and Elliot who we've already met

and all the while the beautiful English

Countryside and ever-changing rural

landscape continued to provide the

perfect backdrop for Jane's alluring

ladies and handsome gentlemen

but if you've been quickly totting that

lot up and wondering what happened to

the sixth novel ironically it's

Northanger Abbey published posthumously

with persuasion this was the retitled

Susan which had been wrestled back from

the tardy publisher who'd bought it for

10 pounds the first piece of writing

Jane Austen ever sold

[Music]

but there was to be no happy ending for

Jane no Mr Darcy or Captain Wentworth to

whisk her away when all hope of romance

was gone

Jane fell ill while working on

persuasion and although it's now

believed she was probably suffering from

Addison's disease there was nothing

known of the condition or how to treat

it back in the early 1800s

from struggling to walk and even ride in

the donkey Carriage that's been so

lovingly restored here at chorton Jane

was taken to Winchester for the best

medical care available

[Music]

in these lodgings caressed by the shadow

of the cathedral Cassandra nursed her

sister until on the 18th of July 1817 at

the age of 41 Jane died in Cassandra's

arms

I have lost a treasure

such a sister such a friend as never can

be surpassed she was the son of my life

the Gilda of every pleasure the Soother

of every sorrow

this was a fine Epitaph from Cassandra

and if you walk the short distance from

College Street to the cathedral and step

inside you'll find the simple memorial

stone a slab on the floor of the north

Isle of the Nave where our first lady of

literature was finally laid to rest

foreign

but to complete our literary journey

through Jane Austen country we'll return

to the cherished home of our authoress

and let her words speak out for

themselves one more time

I can't believe my good fortune I've

actually been allowed to sit here at

Jane's writing table and I have in my

hands her very own first edition of

Sense and Sensibility

wonderful

can you imagine the parcel arriving

all wrapped up in brown paper and string

and Jane opening it with trembling

fingers seeing her words at last in

print

Magic Moment

I've chosen my favorite extract to

finish with naturally out in the

countryside when a pleasant stroll has

gone horribly wrong

Paul Marianne dashwood has stumbled on

the hillside and out of the Mist and

Rain a hero comes to her rescue I do

hope that Jane would have approved of my

choice

a gentleman carrying a gun with two

pointers playing around him was passing

up the hill and within a few yards of

Marianne when her accident happened

he put down his gun and ran to her

assistance

she had raised herself from the ground

but her foot had been Twisted in the

fall and she was scarcely able to stand

the gentleman offered his services and

perceiving that her modesty declined

what her situation rendered necessary

took her up in his arms without further

delay

and carried her down the hill

I do hope you've enjoyed this journey

through Jane Austen's Hampshire I never

Tire of visiting this beautiful

countryside but if you'd like to

continue this exploration of rural

Britain join me next time and we'll be

discovering another of the nation's

finest Landscapes responsible for

inspiring more of literature's Best

Loved classics

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

[Music]

in search of the rural Landscapes that

have inspired great writers to put quill

to parchment will reveal some truly

beautiful locations

from Thomas Hardy's Wessex to Jane

Austen's Hampshire

George eliot's Warwickshire

lebronte sisters Yorkshire and D.H

Lawrence's Nottinghamshire

my name is Liam Dale and I'd be

delighted to escort you back in time in

this program to follow in the footsteps

of Charles Dickens one of literature's

most esteemed Heroes

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

welcome to gads Hill Place the

much-loved home of Charles Dickens the

house that has an impressionable child

he'd vowed to own one day this truly is

a rags to Rich's tale to rival anything

the great man ever penned and although

it may seem rather strange to begin our

journey where Charles Dickens died

rather than where he was born gads Hill

played such a significant role in our

author's story which makes it a great

place to start

the setting is beautiful the Kent

Countryside at its magnificent best

close to the historic town of Rochester

Escape that would influence Charles

Dickens his whole life long and he spent

much of his childhood in this District

while his father John was employed as a

clerk in the Navy pay office based at

Chatham one of the neighboring Medway

towns of Southeast England

[Music]

and it was while out walking with his

father as a child that Charles Dickens

first encountered gads Hill Place

John Dickens as you'll discover a little

later may not have been the ideal father

but he did tell his young son as they

stood gazing Upon This Magnificent house

that if he worked really hard and never

lost sight of his dream gads Hill Place

could become his home

[Music]

in fact the reason why we are so sure

that this incident really did take place

is because it was a story that Charles

Dickens often recounted and it actually

found its way into print many years

later in the uncommercial traveler where

you'll find these familiar words

ever since I can recollect my father

seeing me so fond of it has often said

to me if you were to be very persevering

and were to work hard you might someday

come to live in it

it's not difficult to appreciate how

this charming piece of fatherly advice

motivated Charles Dickens when he began

to make his way in the world

but we are rather racing ahead of

ourselves because it would be many years

before John Dickens prophecy was

fulfilled and to find out how it

happened we need to head for Portsmouth

[Music]

Charles John huffham Dickens was born in

this modest Portsmouth house to John and

Elizabeth Dickens on the 7th of February

1812.

now the Charles Dickens birthplace

Museum and visitors can see where our

author made his first rather humble

appearance

[Music]

moving on five years and we've come to

Chatham 11 Ordnance terrorists to be

precise although when John Dickens and

family moved here in 1817 it was

actually number two from Portsmouth John

Dickens had been posted to London where

on a reduced income his debts had

started to mount up but it was a brief

stay and by the time the family arrived

here at Chatham Charles had two sisters

one older and one younger but a baby

brother had died in infancy

although the location is far from being

rural Britain at its beautiful best when

Charles Dickens lived here there was a

Hayfield where the railway station

stands today

as a child he spent hours out playing

and many of the individuals he

encountered even at this early age made

a lasting impression on his blossoming

imagination

his childhood friend George strokil who

lived at number one Ordnance Terrace

emerged as the charismatic steerforth in

David Copperfield while the Dickens

family's faithful servant Mary Weller

was immortalized as the redoubtable

Clara peggerty in the same

autobiographical work

as a small boy child had no idea of the

debts his father had been running up

something he would do his whole life

long constantly living beyond his means

nonetheless the family grew in size and

inevitably with hungry mouths to feed it

was necessary to move to more modest

lodgings in Chatham

it would have been during this period in

Charles dickens's life that a walk to

hayam passed gads Hill Place resulted in

John Dickens inspiring his son to make

his mark on the world

and gads Hill was far from being the

only place that captured the

impressionable child's imagination

the lovely Village of Cobham where the

leather bottle Pub as popular today with

Dickens enthusiasts as it was when our

author was alive is typical of this part

of Kent

but there's one delightful Church in the

Charming Village of cooling that is

visited by those on the Charles Dickens

Trail even more often than the leather

bottle

[Music]

thank you

[Music]

this is the church of Saint James at

Cooling and a walk through this

graveyard will reveal a remarkable

treasure for anyone interested in the

works of Charles Dickens

thought to have been the inspiration for

the Sinister place where young pip

encounters the malevolent convict

magwich in Great Expectations the

opening lines of this dramatic novel

leave us in no doubt whatsoever that

it's the same atmospheric location that

Charles Dickens was remembering

ours was the marsh country down by the

river within as the river went 20 miles

of the sea

my first most Vivid and Broad impression

of the identity of things seems to me to

have been gained on a memorable raw

afternoon towards evening

at such a time I found out for certain

that this Bleak Place overgrown with

Nettles was the church art and that

Philip pirick late of this parish and

also Georgiana wife of the above were

dead and buried and that Alexander

Bartholomew Abraham Tobias and Roger

infant Children of the afore said were

also dead and buried and that the dark

flat Wilderness beyond the churchyard

intersected with dikes and mounds and

gates with scattered cattle feeding on

it was the marshes

Dickens only talks of five tragic little

graves in his novel but there are 13

tiny tombs here at Cooling and as the

church is no longer in use you certainly

get a sense of a truly Eerie landscape

nevertheless if you ask a cross-section

of people to Define what makes a

classically dickensian scene it'll often

include snow an old coaching Inn and the

timbered High Street of a country town

we don't have to travel far to find the

very place that was such a favorite with

Charles Dickens from his earliest

childhood memories right through to his

dying day

this is Rochester and for anyone hoping

to catch a glimpse of Charles dickens's

ghost I have been reliably informed that

this is definitely the place to come

either side of me if evidence is

required you can see just how

historically important Rochester is

boasting perhaps the best preserved

Castle in England and a cathedral that

happens to be one of the nation's oldest

now fascinating as the beautiful ancient

architecture might be if you're still

looking for that classic dickensian

scene you need go no further than

Rochester's long straggling High Street

as it was described by the man himself

in sketches by boss way back in 1836

it's no wonder that the very young

impressionable and very imaginative

Charles Dickens was captivated by this

colorful Street standing here today I'm

equally enthralled by this unique place

the idea of a coach and horses pulling

in here to the Royal Victoria and bull

Hotel carrying Mr Pickwick and his

friends is as delightful as ever and a

blanket of crisp white snow would

complete the picture to Perfection

Mr Winkle who sits at the extreme edge

with one leg dangling in the air is

nearly precipitated into the street as

the coach twists round of the sharp

corner by the cheese Monger shop that

turns into the marketplace and before Mr

Snodgrass who sits next to him has

recovered from his alarm they pull up at

the innyard where the Fresh Horses with

clocks up are already waiting

The Coachman throws down the Raiders and

gets down himself and the other outside

passengers drop down also except those

who have no great confidence in their

ability to get up again and they remain

where they are and stamp their feet

against the coach to warm them looking

with longing eyes and red noses at the

bright fire in the in-bar the sprigs of

Holly with red berries which ornament

the wind

[Music]

again I think we all now know exactly

where the inspiration for this extract

from the Pickwick papers came from but

if you'd like to discover the reason for

Charles dickens's preoccupation with

snow at Christmas time join me again in

just a few moments

there's no chance of snow today but if

you come to Rochester for the annual

dickensian Christmas festival you're

guaranteed snow even if it does have to

be of the artificial variety but it's

definitely memories of childhood that

set the older Dickens writing about the

pleasures of seasonal weather because

for the first eight years of his life it

snowed every Christmas

but not all of dickens's childhood

memories were quite so happy and in 1822

when he moved with his family back to

London the dark dismal world that young

Charles entered was as far removed from

beautiful rural Kent as could possibly

be imagined

right from John dickens's arrival in

London the financial troubles that had

beset in for so many years got

progressively worse and then he hopes

young child had of receiving an

education were dashed not least because

as the oldest boy he'd already been put

to work in Warren's blacking a boot

polish Factory run by a relation of his

mother

then to complete the humiliation of the

sensitive child John Dickens was

arrested for debt and thrown into the

Marshall sea prison and the rest of the

family joined him there apart from

Charles who was left to work 10 hours a

day in the factory

eventually an inheritance from a distant

relation secured the Dickens family

release but Charles never forgave his

mother for forcing him to continue at

the blacking Factory although in the end

his father's determination that his son

should go to school won the day and for

two years while in his early teens

Charles attended the Wellington House

Academy which seems quite remarkable

when you return to gads Hill Place

it's hard to believe as I sit here in

the grand house where Dickens penned

such Classics As A Tale of Two Cities

and Great Expectations that such a brief

education coupled with a little

schooling at Chatham courtesy of a

neighbor was enough to set Charles on

his way

taking a junior position with London Law

Firm Ellison Blakemore Dickens worked

hard to rise above the impecunious

habits of his father and even taught

himself shorthand enabling him to become

a parliamentary journalist reporting on

the proceedings in the House of Commons

the law became a great Fascination for

Dickens the plight of the poor who'd

Fallen foul of the British Judiciary

System even more so and would soon

become a major source of inspiration as

he started to write short stories under

the pen name boss alongside his

journalistic endeavors

things began to look up as the

blossoming young writer now in his early

twenties was able to take rooms at

furnival's Inn to become a gentleman

about town and after being commissioned

to write short stories by George Hogarth

editor of the Evening Chronicle his

sketches by Boz were quickly followed by

the first installment of the Pickwick

papers

you don't need me to tell you how

successful Mr Pickwick and his colorful

assortment of friends proved to be from

their earliest appearance

Charles Dickens was fast becoming a

phenomenon and with his unexpected rise

to prominence he married Catherine

Hogarth the daughter of the man who had

in effect launched his son-in-law's

professional writing career

foreign

[Music]

oon destination Charles as ever reverted

to the Kent of his childhood and the

newlyweds came here to chalk one of the

loveliest English Villages you're ever

likely to see this charming Timber

boarded Cottage has a plaque claiming it

was the house that Charles and Catherine

stayed in but it's been suggested that

the original would have actually stood

on the other side of the road while here

Charles would have been writing further

installments of the Pickwick papers and

you only have to look at the Old Forge

to see that he was already collecting

ideas that would last his entire writing

career as this is where it's believed

Dickens found the inspiration for Joe

gargery's blacksmith's Forge in Great

Expectations

after their honeymoon Charles and

Catherine returned to fernival's Inn

where they were joined by Catherine's

younger sister Mary

couple's first son Charles Jr was born

on the 6th of January 1837 but all was

far from well as Catherine slipped into

what we would recognize today as

postnatal depression

as Kent evidently had great restorative

powers for Charles Catherine baby

Charles and Mary came back to chalk

while Charles senior commuted between

London and his family as he continued to

advance his writing career then in April

1837 as a successful author still only

25 years of age Charles Dickens secured

48 Dowdy Street in the London District

of Hoban for his family and this is the

only London house the Dickens lived in

that still standing today it's the

Charles Dickens Museum however it was

here that tragedy struck just weeks

after they all moved in and it would

influence dickens's entire writing

career and very possibly damaged his

marriage

on the 7th of May 1837

seventeen-year-old Mary Hogarth

Catherine's sister died in her

brother-in-law's arms and he was

inconsolable

she became immortalized as little Nell

in the old curiosity shop but when

Dickens had young beautiful and good

inscribed on the unfortunate girls

headstone who can say what his wife must

have thought

as Oliver Twist followed the Pickwick

papers and a succession of wonderful

novels appeared in print the moment

finally came when John dickens's

prophecy that his son might one day live

at gads Hill Place came true

Charles Dickens now in his mid-40s was

an international phenomenon more than 30

years after his father's most astute

words were spoken Dickens Boyhood Dream

came true

[Music]

by the time he bought gads Hill Place in

1856 he was already arguably the most

successful novelist in the English

language

and should you be wondering why I've

brought you here to a tunnel of all

places there's actually a very good

reason because it runs under the main

road and Dickens had it built especially

for him aristeemed author was given a

Swiss Chalet where he loved to write and

it stood immediately across the road

from gads Hill Place which is why

Dickens had the tunnel constructed so

that he could move between the house and

the Chalet without ever being noticed in

fact you can find the Swiss Chalet in

The Gardens of Eastgate house on

Rochester High Street and it does look

as if it would have been an idyllic

place to write

you may be thinking by now that Charles

Dickens was only happy when surrounded

by the kentish landscape of his Boyhood

but the east coast of the county pleased

him equally well

broadstairs was a particular favorite

gazing out to sea was a major source of

inspiration for Dickens

he always tried to spend a month here

every year in what was then called Fort

house but is now better known not

surprisingly as Bleak House

when his travels abroad prevented him

from visiting in 1844 and 46 Dickens

claimed to be hankering after the good

old tari salt little pier of broadstairs

and you can really see why

for Charles Dickens travel became a

regular part of his life and crossing

the Atlantic as he gave reading tours of

America meant that he became something

of a celebrity

finally it seemed that Charles Dickens

had overcome the torment of his Youth

and the squalor of London to find

contentment here in the countryside that

he loved so dearly a social campaigner

with a voice that was always listened to

as a writer he did more than any

politician to raise awareness of the

plight of the poor especially the

children

but happiness still eluded Charles

Dickens his marriage to Catherine had

failed and in a bitter separation he

sent his wife to live away from him and

their children although he undoubtedly

fell in love with the young actress

Ellen Turner whatever passed between

them was Kept Secret and Dickens drove

himself relentlessly onwards writing and

giving public readings

by the time Dickens started work on the

mystery of Edwin drude it was again

Rochester providing him with his

inspiration he talks of the Old Stone

Gate House crossing the close with an

arched thoroughfare passing beneath it

you see before you the very Gatehouse

sadly the mystery of Edwin drude was

never completed on a June morning

Charles Dickens stood at these Gates

apparently just staring in before

returning home to gads Hill Place

[Music]

this is restoration house where Dickens

took his inspiration for Miss havisham's

decaying mansion in Great Expectations

and it's impossible not to speculate

frankly as to whether our author was

bidding Rochester a fond farewell

because later the same day he had a

stroke from which he never recovered

[Music]

Charles Dickens died on the 9th of June

1870 at the age of 58 having achieved

success Beyond even his wildest dreams

characteristically he wanted to be

buried in Rochester cathedral but the

nation demanded such a literary great

who they considered to be their own be

laid to rest in Westminster Abbey's

poet's corner all we can hope standing

next to this Memorial Park is that the

wonderful words spoken by Sydney Carton

to conclude A Tale of Two Cities held

true for their creator Charles Dickens

leaving the man who had loved this part

of rural Britain so much to rest in

peace

it is a far far better thing that I do

now than I have ever done it is a far

far better rest that I go to than I have

ever known

[Music]

and on that poignant note All That

Remains is to thank you for allowing me

to be your guide through the evocative

Kent Countryside that so captivated

Charles Dickens and cordially invite you

to join me again next time to visit

another of Britain's beautiful

landscapes which inspired the creation

of further great works of classic

literature

laughs

[Music]

thank you

[Music]