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Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey Season 2 Episode 3
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FunTranscript
00:00Quick question. Do you close your eyes when you meditate?
00:03Om...
00:06Om...
00:12Sorry.
00:15Om...
00:17Om...
00:30I'm not deaf.
00:41I was nearly by the chippy.
00:45Oh, let's run away and I know where we are going to.
00:50Goodness, can you imagine?
00:53Cheers.
00:56Men of a certain vintage...
01:02They're not very good, but talking...
01:04Bloody Henry!
01:07That is a spitfire.
01:09It is a spitfire.
01:10Oh, two, look at that.
01:13Well, talking about the big, important stuff, at any rate.
01:16It's got furniture.
01:17And look at this, sofa.
01:19That's magnificent.
01:21Comedian and lover of the great outdoors, Alexander Armstrong has a plan.
01:25I love walking, and I grew up deep in rural Northumberland, so countryside is very much in my blood.
01:31What do you do to relax?
01:33Struggle.
01:34So I've designed these walks so that my guests can get away from all the hustle and bustle of their normal lives.
01:40It's a chance to open up and talk about things that perhaps you wouldn't talk about normally.
01:45Now I've got a bit older, I am reverting to childhood, whether I like it or not.
01:49Everyone else seemed okay, and I seemed to be the only one that was broken.
01:54And I hated myself.
01:56He's taking some of our best-loved national treasures.
01:59Okay, you ready?
02:00Yes, sir.
02:01Has anyone done the risk assessment for this?
02:03On some spectacular pub walks.
02:06That's glorious.
02:07They just had a funicular railway to get you up here.
02:10Can fresh air.
02:12Hang on.
02:13That's bird poo, isn't it?
02:14Yeah, that's bird poo.
02:15Hot pint.
02:16And the sun's out.
02:17The sun's out.
02:18That's right.
02:20And some good old-fashioned messing about.
02:23Oh, look at the roots of that.
02:26Get men to share what's really going on in their lives.
02:30This is bliss in its purest form.
02:32My life is blessed.
02:34If the Lord decides to pluck me now, I can't really have any complaints.
02:39Last order's in the bar now, please.
02:44Today, Xander is taking Sir Lenny Henry.
02:47How are you?
02:48Nice to see you.
02:49Dude.
02:50This is a meeting of comedy minds.
02:52Walking through the glorious Shropshire countryside.
02:56Lenny's undoubtedly one of our shiniest national treasures.
02:59He surfed that wave of massively popular comedy in the 80s and 90s.
03:04I mean, genuinely a comic hero.
03:07Are you ready for these walks?
03:08I think I am, yeah.
03:09Because you asked, I'm going to be there.
03:11Give it my best shot.
03:12Thank you very much.
03:13But what's so brilliant about Lenny?
03:14He's just had such a varied career.
03:16He's been a comedian.
03:17He's been a writer.
03:18He's been an actor.
03:19He's been a campaigner.
03:20He's a sort of polymath.
03:22I want to know what has inspired him.
03:25I'm just looking at this beautiful acorn.
03:28Yeah.
03:29It's about growing things.
03:30It's about growing things.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I'd like to see the squirrel take that off.
03:33That'd be very funny.
03:34I wouldn't like to meet that squirrel.
03:36Oh, Jesus!
03:38Oh, everything's about to change.
03:42But I say, bring it closer to me.
03:46It's really lovely.
03:57I like all the...
03:58Are these daisies or dandelions or what?
03:59I think they're dandelions.
04:00We could find out the time anywhere we liked.
04:03Uh-huh.
04:04Do you remember that?
04:05Do you ever do that?
04:06Where you blew the dandelions?
04:07Yeah, I used to work with David Copperfield from Doncaster.
04:10I remembered it on Three of a Kind.
04:12It's called Stan and he used to come up to you behind you and he'd go,
04:14One o'clock!
04:16Used to do that all the time.
04:18One o'clock!
04:19I've still got a parting here where you did it.
04:22That's just fantastic.
04:24One o'clock!
04:25Carry on.
04:26Do you like walking?
04:35Um, no.
04:38But I'm prepared to take this on as a challenge with Xander.
04:43He's charming.
04:44He's good-looking.
04:45He's handsome.
04:46He's been on the telly like me.
04:47I feel we've got a lot in common.
04:48So if you're walking with somebody like him, it'll take your mind off the arse-ache of being in nature.
04:55It sounds like you really love being out in this, the countryside.
04:59It's where I grew up.
05:00In the woods?
05:01In the woods.
05:02Well, yes, kind of in the woods.
05:03I grew up in the woods.
05:04This is in Northumberland.
05:05Everybody talks like that up in here.
05:07They do.
05:08They do.
05:09They have a really good accent though.
05:11What's the Northumberland accent?
05:12Well, they speak at the back of their throat like that.
05:15They barely move their lips like that.
05:17So talk.
05:18Like a ventriloquist like.
05:19A bit like a ventriloquist.
05:20Like a Jordy ventriloquist.
05:21When someone says, oh, you've lost your accent.
05:23I always think, oh, that really hurts.
05:25How would you say that really hurts in Northumbria though?
05:27That hurts.
05:29That hurts.
05:30That hurts.
05:32And I've got hope in my hands.
05:40Please keep me warm with your love.
05:45Xander and Lenny are walking along Wenlock Edge,
05:48a prominent limestone ridge celebrated in song.
05:52They'll stop for a breather by an old windmill,
05:56before looping back to much Wenlock,
05:59where, almost 200 years ago,
06:01a man had an idea which would change the world.
06:04Their destination is the Georgian Dragon Inn.
06:08It's very fertile ground.
06:10Great ideas came from Shropshire.
06:12It was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
06:15Small ideas that came from this unassuming, beautiful, quiet county changed the world.
06:22So I'm fascinated to explore this with Lenny.
06:25Now this, this is Wenlock Edge.
06:28Is it?
06:29Yeah.
06:30Did you ever come here?
06:31Because you Dudleys, how far from here?
06:33About 20 miles away.
06:34When I think about my childhood, we used to leave the house at 9.30 in the morning and come back when it got dark.
06:40Can I tell you how we knew it was time to come home?
06:43My mum would come to the front door, like 20 miles away that way, and you'd hear this.
06:49When I heard that, I knew it was time for me to go home.
06:52Otherwise I'd be in real trouble.
06:56Lenny's mum, Winnie, was part of the Windrush generation,
06:59who came to Britain from the Caribbean to boost the workforce.
07:04With her husband, Winston, she raised Lenny and his six siblings in Dudley in the West Midlands.
07:12I remember being an immigrant, and one of the things you have to do when you come to a new country is adapt.
07:17My mum lined us up one day and said,
07:20You must learn to integrate.
07:22Talk to the English people then.
07:24Eat their food.
07:25Drink their drink.
07:26Don't box them down if they get too feisty.
07:28But you must mix with them and integrate.
07:31Otherwise you won't fit in.
07:33And that meant we had to learn how to talk like our friends at school.
07:37My voice went from,
07:38Mama, the soup gone. Can't keep eating the meat.
07:41To, Mom, Kai's eating all the meat. Stop her.
07:45So I suddenly got this Dudley accent.
07:47Well, we've got a very big family. There's like 300 of us.
07:52My mum was the kind of chief person, the funniest person.
07:57And I was thinking, that's great!
07:59Mum was the one who told stories in our house about the neighbours,
08:02about the woman next door, about the woman in church who fell over.
08:05She would do a voice and she'd switch and she'd do a character.
08:08And I thought, that's... I've seen Mikey. I would do that on the telly.
08:11She's doing what he does, but just in Jamaican.
08:13And my mum used to laugh like this.
08:15So if you were around that, you wanted that for yourself.
08:22You wanted to make people laugh because that was the possibility of what might happen.
08:27The Ridge The Boys Are Walking was celebrated in a song cycle
08:31by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1909.
08:35He was a radical thinker who believed music should be available to all and not just the elite.
08:44So if you were around that, you know,
08:45you know Vaughan Williams set on Wenlock Edge, here, he was absolutely committed to English folk music.
09:03He would go all over the country and visit people and they would sing him little snatches of their local folk things.
09:10And he would write them down.
09:11And steal them.
09:12And he'd catalogue them.
09:14But yeah, and steal them.
09:15Yeah.
09:16Put them in his music.
09:17Steal them and make money.
09:18Yes.
09:19Nice one, Vaughan.
09:20Look at that, that rise over there with the forest on top.
09:27Beautiful.
09:28I mean it is really beautiful.
09:30The area is a site of special scientific interest because of its unique geology.
09:36When Lock Edge started out as a coral reef in a sort of beautiful, clear, shallow, subtropical sea,
09:46in a kind of Caribbean climate, 400 million years ago.
09:51And it ended up just through sort of tectonic movement being folded and shifted and
09:57and it became Shropshire.
09:58That's...
09:59Isn't that bizarre?
10:00That's amazing.
10:03I don't even know what to say about that.
10:05It feels odd to be distant but close to the Caribbean but near Wolverhampton.
10:10Yeah.
10:12It's bizarre.
10:16I really hope it's why my family came to this country.
10:19Yeah, well wouldn't that be nice?
10:21Winifred, pack the bags.
10:22We're going to Shropshire.
10:23It's just like the Caribbean but in England.
10:35I'm sort of enjoying this now.
10:38Yeah.
10:39Were you not enjoying it before?
10:41It was alright.
10:42It was okay.
10:43I'm learning to love it.
10:45I can dig it.
10:47It's great, especially when the weather's like this.
10:49I think my mum would have loved the idea of it being akin to the Caribbean in this little field.
10:59I love that.
11:00Rapturous really.
11:01That's like a windmill, right?
11:02It was a windmill.
11:03It's lost its top.
11:04A good builder would get that sorted out in a week, wouldn't it?
11:05Zander and Lenny are halfway through their first day walking in Shropshire.
11:35Why didn't we've earned the set down?
11:37What in the fire sound like James Brown at the end of a concert?
11:40How?
11:42I can't stand it.
11:44Hey!
11:46Good God.
11:48When he was just 16, Lenny's life changed forever when he won a TV talent show, New Faces,
11:55in front of 16 million viewers, doing jokes and impressions.
12:00Two weeks after I'd won New Faces,
12:03this brother stopped the bus in the middle of the street,
12:06and with a load of passengers in the back, I went,
12:09Lonnie Henry!
12:11Like that.
12:12And I thought, okay, this is a thing.
12:14You know, winning New Faces meant security for my family.
12:18I take big responsibility for my family.
12:20I was raised like that.
12:22I was suddenly able to help my mum.
12:24It became a responsibility.
12:27Following his success, Lenny was persuaded to join the black and white minstrel show,
12:33where white performers appeared in blackface.
12:36At its peak got 21 million viewers a week.
12:41It was the biggest show on television.
12:43I loved the people, didn't like the show.
12:45Because there were all these white guys who I used to see coming in,
12:48like, hi, Lenny, hi.
12:49And then suddenly they'd be blacked up.
12:51So I'm like, what?
12:54I felt like I was off track for a very long time.
12:57Because on the one hand, I was getting paid good money,
12:59and I was able to contribute to my mum.
13:01But it was with black and white minstrel money.
13:03So I was conflicted by that.
13:05I also kept being asked about my family.
13:07And because my birth father is not the person that raised me,
13:11I had this strange cleft in what was going on in my home life at home.
13:23I was raised by my mum and my dad, Winston.
13:27My mum came to Britain first.
13:29My dad stayed in Jamaica.
13:30And mum moved to this bedsit where she met Bertie.
13:33And they fell in love.
13:35And I was the result of that.
13:37So when Winston came to Britain,
13:39it caused upsets at the beginning.
13:42And then everybody just kind of got used to it.
13:44Winston just agreed to raise me.
13:46And then I...
13:47But you didn't discover this for years?
13:48I didn't find out about it for years.
13:50And how did you discover?
13:52I wonder why I was there all the time when I asked.
13:54I was at his house every Friday.
13:56My mum said, go and see your Uncle Bertie
13:58and help him with some chores.
13:59Yeah, yeah.
14:00And I think it was in the hope that he would tell me
14:02But of course he didn't.
14:04No!
14:05No.
14:06He's a bloke!
14:07I went into him and said,
14:08Are you my dad?
14:10He went, yes, your mother never tell you.
14:13And I was really shocked.
14:15I was really shocked.
14:17And I ran home and asked mum if it was true.
14:20And she said, yes, we thought we'd wait a bit to tell you.
14:24How long?
14:25How long?
14:2611 years?
14:27You could have told me before that.
14:29So it took a long time to kind of get my mental shit together after that.
14:36Yeah, yeah, I bet.
14:37Just a shock, really.
14:38They caused a great movement in my life.
14:45It was very discombobulating.
14:47But in the end I got kind of used to it.
14:50It says a lot that Winston stuck with my mum and raised us.
14:54So I kind of respect people who stick at things.
14:59You are going to love where I'm taking you next time.
15:06Xander and Lenny are looping back to the market town of Much Wenlock,
15:10where a man had an idea which changed history.
15:16I wanted to talk to you a bit about Dr William Penny Brooks.
15:20He started some Olympian games in 1859.
15:29It was involved sort of high jump, long jump, some running races, old lady racing.
15:35William Penny Brooks insisted his Wenlock Olympics were open to everyone.
15:40The events included a type of jousting and competitive knitting.
15:46This was the forerunner of the whole Olympic Games movement,
15:50the modern Olympic Games.
15:52Get out of town, really?
15:53Absolutely it was.
15:54The person who started the modern Olympic movement was influenced by this.
15:58He heard about these Olympian games that were being run here.
16:02Look at that.
16:03Wow.
16:04There he is.
16:07You know, it gets me thinking, Lenny, about a regular fella
16:10who's had this idea that turns into a massive global phenomenon.
16:15Ah, right. I see where this is.
16:17Do you see where I'm going?
16:18You see?
16:19In the early 80s, Lenny found his feet with the alternative comedy scene.
16:26And in 1985, with director Richard Curtis, he had the radical idea for a night of TV comedy
16:33to raise money for charity.
16:35We're going to do a live show because that's what we did back in the day.
16:39Yeah.
16:40Put it on a show.
16:41It was a night of comic relief.
16:42It was a big success.
16:43Yeah.
16:44And eventually, we'd raised over £1.6 billion with the British public.
16:49I mean, that is phenomenal.
16:51I had something in me, which comes from my mum, I think.
16:54Which was, you should do something to help people.
16:58Through the fact that I was at the BBC for so long, I knew lots of people.
17:03And lots of people said no.
17:05Lots of the more established comedians didn't want to nail a political flag
17:09to a master of any kind.
17:11But thankfully, all the people you like said yes.
17:15And suddenly, boom, we're off during comic relief.
17:17And it was fantastic.
17:19So, are we going to the pub now?
17:21Well, I thought we might have a look in the church.
17:23We're going to look in the church.
17:34Hiya.
17:35Sorry.
17:36Didn't want to disturb you.
17:37Didn't want to stop you.
17:38That sounds great.
17:39Hello.
17:40How'd you done, Xander?
17:41Nice to meet you.
17:42Lenny.
17:43Nice to meet you.
17:44Do you want to sing something?
17:45Yeah, sure.
17:46Do you know Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield?
17:47No, but you're welcome to the play.
17:48I'll play that.
17:49Okay, come on.
17:50You can...
17:51What do you want to do?
17:52A little...
17:53Just sing something.
17:54Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-OO-ooh.
17:56Yeah!
17:57I was on Wedlock Hedge.
18:00It was a Friday, yeah.
18:05And we walked through dandelions and dog poo.
18:08Well, play on y'all.
18:10Wedlock hedge.
18:12Windlock Hedge, that's a place I want to be, that's a place I want to be, sing it sister, Windlock Hedge, and the ladies make you a cup of tea, make a cup of tea, it's a place I want to go, and Dudley's just over there, Windlock Hedge.
18:38Windlock Hedge, that's just beautiful, I'm so sorry Brendan, we're available for pantomime or anything you want to pay money or biscuits for, should we go to the pub, oh let's go, nice voice, do you want to be in a band?
18:58The grade 2 listed Georgian Dragon in the high street, dates back more than 300 years,
19:08Ah, here you go, thank you so much for that, oh what a pleasure, it's been such a lovely day, it's been really nice getting to know you, and you, I mean genuinely lovely, this is a nice pub actually, and I spend a lot of time in pubs, but I'd like to say cheers to you, cheers to you, cheers, what a treat, thank you, lovely,
19:32Beer, it really is horrible, it's like literally your face is like this, this is nice, but I discovered you could put lemonade in beer, was a good day, because it made it taste nice, it's really nice,
19:49Ha, shall we get the gentleman some bread wine,
20:01Look at this lovely gentle undulation here, it's just so comforting.
20:06I like the way you remember what the show is about and start talking about the countryside.
20:09It's like a date, I've never been on a, it's like meeting somebody for the first time properly, all in one day and cramming all your whole life into, usually there'd be three, you know, there'd be the meeting at the coat and then you'd upgrade it a bit, maybe go to the movies and then have dinner afterwards, but we're doing it all in one day.
20:32Zander and Lenny are starting out today near Ironbridge, birthplace of the industrial revolution.
20:39They'll visit a china museum, where they can go a bit potty, before climbing a mini mountain, on their way to the mill pub in Leyton, which is so old, it's mentioned in the doomsday book.
20:51So what's the deal today?
20:54So the day today, well I suppose this area brought so much together just by happenstance, limestone, iron ore, coal in abundance and these extraordinary creative minds and people who are thinking, well hang on, I wonder if you could try, people who are trying stuff.
21:13The industrial revolution started in Shropshire in the mid 1700s because of the area's natural resources and radical industrialists.
21:22It's ushered in a new era of manufacturing across the world.
21:31It all happened round here.
21:32It all happened round here.
21:33And here we are at Ironbridge.
21:42It was the first structure of its kind in the world to be made out of cast iron.
21:461779, Lenny, I was reaching for that date somewhere in my dim mind.
21:55And it's very conveniently written on the bridge for you.
21:58I have my script put everywhere.
22:00It's part of the deal.
22:02I have every fact I need.
22:03This entire town is a giant auto queue.
22:05Yes.
22:06Directed in 1779.
22:07Yes.
22:08And then giving birth to everything.
22:11I mean think of the railways.
22:12Yeah.
22:13And then think of the steam engine.
22:14And then suddenly shipping.
22:16And then suddenly.
22:17Slavery.
22:18Generally.
22:19Well yes.
22:20Sorry.
22:21No, no, no, no.
22:22We'll talk to us about that.
22:23But I think that's an important thing to talk about.
22:25Well this is not a thing to ignore.
22:26The industrial revolution serviced the slave trade in terms of chains, in terms of shackles,
22:31in terms of handcuffs, all that crap.
22:33Yeah.
22:34The iron bridge, which gave the village its name, was built by Abraham Darby III, whose
22:40family pioneered cheap iron smelting.
22:44Originally from Dudley, like Lenny, a recent report revealed the family had links to the
22:49Bristol slave trade.
22:52Me growing up in the Midlands back in the day, they never talked about that other stuff.
22:56They just talked about the industrial revolution, you know, the Midlands is the breathing
22:59heart of Britain that changed everything.
23:02And then afterwards, when you start reading around this stuff, you realise there's other
23:06stuff going on that isn't so heroic.
23:09So there's things to be proud of and there's things to go hmm about.
23:15You see, look at this Lenny.
23:16This is a proper black country factory.
23:19This is a thing.
23:20Ramboyos, yeah.
23:21This is a factory.
23:23It wasn't just iron which this area gave to the world.
23:26Coalport, China produced porcelain and pottery at this factory up until the early part of
23:32the 20th century.
23:34Now look at this.
23:36Oh, that's beautiful.
23:39It's like a work of ceramic art in itself, isn't it?
23:41It's fantastic, isn't it?
23:43Wow.
23:45Thinking about this idea of things being beautiful and functional at the same time,
23:49and it strikes me that there is a moment when art meets maths and becomes something lovely.
23:57I totally agree.
23:58But it's the same in comedy and music, right?
24:00You know, you know a beautiful sketch when you get it.
24:03Yeah, that's true.
24:07The original factory is now a museum.
24:09And today there's a chance for the lads to add their own contribution to the prestigious brand.
24:15See you?
24:16Yes, I think so.
24:17Have a look here.
24:18Oh.
24:19Now, hello.
24:20Good morning.
24:21Good morning, gents.
24:24So get yourselves comfortable.
24:26And you've got some clay, you've got some boards and you've got a spinner.
24:29This is quite relaxing, isn't it?
24:36I think it's amazing and funny.
24:38I mean, all you need, really, is a cup of tea and some biscuits.
24:42Lenny, this is a disaster.
24:44Yours is beautiful.
24:45No, it's not.
24:46No, mine, look.
24:47This isn't like ghosts, is it?
24:50It's nothing like the ghost experience.
24:52Well, I don't know.
24:53We'll wait and see.
24:54It could be.
24:55I think if I was going to be Patrick Swayzer here, we could start making something happen.
24:58Hang on.
24:59Let me help you with this.
25:00Oh, hang on.
25:01I think you need more.
25:02Do you think maybe?
25:03I think you need more shaping.
25:04I'm going to come round.
25:05Is it okay?
25:06No, you stay there.
25:07Put a hand on me.
25:08Okay, I'll stay here.
25:09I can see this.
25:10I think you need to just get more.
25:11Yes.
25:12How's that for you?
25:13Oh, my love.
25:17Yeah, yeah.
25:18My darling.
25:21How's that for you?
25:22It feels strange.
25:24Girl for your touch.
25:27Be sensual.
25:28A long lonely time.
25:36I need your love too.
25:41Oh, shit.
25:42Oh, no.
25:43It's lovely.
25:44I think it's better than it was.
25:45God, sorry.
25:46No, this is fine.
25:47I think this is lovely.
25:51I love you.
25:52I love you too.
25:53Look at that.
25:55Beautiful.
25:56Are these bluebells?
26:09These are bluebells.
26:10But they're purple.
26:11Purple bells.
26:12Doesn't have the same ring, does it?
26:14It doesn't quite.
26:15No.
26:16It's the second day of Xander and Lenny's walk in Shropshire,
26:20and their next location will provide their biggest challenge.
26:24The spectacular Reakin Hill rises 400 metres above sea level,
26:29and is thought to have been the inspiration for Middle Earth
26:32in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
26:37Yeah.
26:38I mean, locally, they call this a mini-mountain.
26:41Do they?
26:42Yeah.
26:43I wonder why they call it that.
26:45Well, why?
26:47Because they have to call it a mini-mountain,
26:49because officially you have to be 610 metres before you can be a mountain.
26:53Really?
26:54And this comes in at 470-odd, I think.
26:57OK.
26:58In the 18th and 19th centuries, when there was suddenly a fad for exercise,
27:03there was a guy called Richard Reynolds who ran an ironworks near here,
27:08and he would encourage all his workers to come up here and walk up here regularly.
27:13Would he?
27:14Would he?
27:15I wonder how that went down.
27:17Yeah.
27:18No, no, go up the Reakin.
27:21Perkins, come in here.
27:23You've worked very hard the last 45 years.
27:26There's a big hill called the Reakin just up the road.
27:28I want you to walk up and down 14 times.
27:31As long as you're back by Monday at 5 in the morning.
27:36Quaker Richard Reynolds married into the Ironbridge Derby family
27:40and for a time ran their entire production,
27:43where he improved conditions for the workforce.
27:46This idea of activism, of doing things because you want to help people.
27:51You know, people in our country have this idea
27:54that they're going to help people worse off than themselves.
27:57And I think a lot of that in my life and in my family
28:00comes from the fact that we're all working class.
28:03You know, most of them worked in factories.
28:05And there was always some issue about people being mistreated at work.
28:08Yeah.
28:09And somebody had to say something.
28:11Lenny stepped back from comedy 15 years ago
28:14to campaign for more diversity in the film and TV industry.
28:19He co-founded the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity
28:23at Birmingham City University.
28:27Everybody does that thing.
28:28If somebody should do something about this,
28:29the litter, the house, the violence, it's usually you.
28:33If you feel that strongly about something,
28:35then circle the wagons, gather the troops and do something.
28:39It does work.
28:40But you've got to be brave enough to organize that and do it.
28:51Sorry, I've just seen that view.
28:53That.
28:54Oh, my days.
28:55Yeah.
28:57Wow.
29:04Now, of course, we should have a little...
29:07Is it alcohol?
29:09Is it alcohol?
29:10It is alcohol.
29:11Am I allowed to...?
29:12Yeah, I think you should.
29:13Yeah, I think you should.
29:26Nice, actually.
29:32Re-kin.
29:33Re-kin.
29:34Look at that.
29:35That's glorious.
29:36That is glorious.
29:37That is glorious.
29:38That's why you come up here.
29:40If they just had a funicular railway to get you up here.
29:43It was a great, great moment to get to the top, that beautiful sun-kissed vista.
29:50How beautiful is that?
29:54When Xander cracked open the flask of illegal substances, it was delicious.
29:58It was great.
29:59Cheered me up, actually.
30:00Maybe we should have a...
30:01Maybe we should always have a flask of whisky with us when we're on a really long walk.
30:11Well, you're buying the whole thing for this.
30:15Recently, Lenny has spoken about a possible return to stand-up comedy.
30:19Can I just tell you, there's a Shropshire blue on a delicious Shropshire oat cake.
30:28I kind of like the idea of it.
30:29Can I give it a go?
30:30Yeah, try it.
30:34What do we think?
30:37I can't remember if someone's told me this, but I have a feeling you might be going back into stand-up.
30:44I certainly wouldn't rule it out.
30:46Yeah.
30:47When I go and see stand-up comedy sets, or I watch things on the telly, or on Netflix specials,
30:52I do wonder what it would be like to do stand-up now.
30:55The audience is just different.
30:57So I wonder how that would inspire and reflect on the material that I was doing.
31:02I used to play this character called Theophilus P. Wildebeest, who was a soul singer.
31:05I'm a soul singer, baby.
31:07You couldn't really do Theophilus P. Wildebeest now.
31:09Oh, but you must.
31:10Why?
31:11Oh, because he would be so funny now.
31:12The tunes would be different.
31:13It would be, you know, baby.
31:17I feel like I love you, but I want to give you a space.
31:21And I wonder if you've signed this NDA.
31:23That's just...
31:24My new album is called Consent.
31:25You know?
31:26I don't know how that's going to work.
31:27Yes!
31:28There will be a double album called Cancellation.
31:33You've got to do it.
31:34You think?
31:35You've got to do it.
31:36Maybe.
31:37Maybe.
31:38Maybe.
31:41It would be a different Len now, doing stand-up.
31:44Because I'm not the Len I was.
31:45I'm not the Len who was 15 doing Frank Spencer for my mates over the park.
31:50And I'm not the Len who did the Black Art Minstress show.
31:53I'm not that Len anymore.
31:54You put different masks on at different times of your life and go,
31:57Yeah, I'm not going to be that person anymore.
31:59I'm going to be this person now.
32:01Now I'm this person.
32:02It's like you're in Mission Impossible.
32:05Now I'm that guy.
32:07And that's like a fun thing to look forward to.
32:12And here, round this corner.
32:14Oh, it's there!
32:15What?
32:16Do you see this?
32:17The mill.
32:19The community-run mill pub in Leyton dates back around 1,000 years.
32:24It once produced milled corn and still boasts its own wheel.
32:31Lovely day.
32:32Thank you. Nice day, right?
32:33Yeah.
32:34I was worried about today more than the other day.
32:36Why was that?
32:37Walking the Recon.
32:38I had to walk the Recon.
32:39It just sounded like a huge effort.
32:41Yeah.
32:42But actually...
32:43We did the Recon.
32:44We did it, right?
32:45We did it.
32:46We walked the Recon.
32:47We absolutely did.
32:48I was going to fist bump your rose.
32:51Don't do that to a brother.
32:56Nice, right?
32:57No.
32:59The sun's out.
33:00The sun's out.
33:01Everybody loves the sunshine.
33:03I see the light in your eyes like the stars.
33:10Oh, I don't have a chance.
33:14Good morning.
33:15Good morning.
33:16How are you feeling?
33:17Cold.
33:18Yes, it is cold.
33:19Suddenly the sun is gone.
33:20The sun is gone.
33:21You abandon me.
33:23Well, today I thought we would start off with something that would give us a little bit of mental preparation for.
33:28Oh, that's good.
33:29Do you meditate?
33:30I know I'm meant to.
33:32I'm a very bad sleeper.
33:34Do you meditate?
33:35Yeah.
33:36There's a feeling of going right down into your subconsciousness.
33:40Is there like a format you follow or a mantra?
33:43Well, you can do a guided meditation.
33:45And I had a guided meditation where the guy was a scouser.
33:49You're going deep now.
33:51Yeah.
33:52You're going to have a deep sleep.
33:54Okay.
33:55All right.
33:56All right.
33:57You're really down there now.
33:58And you can hear your heart beating, you know.
34:01But it was lovely.
34:04It's Xander and Lenny's last day in Shropshire.
34:08They're on Stapley Hill, a bleak moor with an ancient stone circle.
34:13They'll pass an old lead mine and hunt for fossils near where naturalist Charles Darwin grew up.
34:19And explore the Stiper Stones, a quartzite ridge formed 500 million years ago.
34:25Their final pub is the Stiper Stones Inn.
34:29Now look, these are our stones.
34:32These are our standing stones.
34:34There's a legend, which is there was a time of great hardship.
34:38You know, everybody was starving and a good witch came along.
34:42A good witch?
34:43A good witch came along and gave them a magic cow.
34:46And a magic cow that could yield milk eternally.
34:49Wow.
34:50So an endless supply of milk.
34:51And then a wicked witch came along.
34:54I hate that.
34:55I know.
34:56I hate it when that happens.
34:57She was milking the cow, but she was milking it into a sieve.
35:00And the cow saw that it was all leaking away.
35:02Into the ground.
35:03Wasted.
35:04Going into the ground.
35:05And disappeared.
35:07No more.
35:08The cow disappeared?
35:09Yeah.
35:10So the wicked witch was then turned into a stone.
35:11And that's her probably there.
35:15Or possibly there.
35:18Come on.
35:19This is way back in the day.
35:21Yeah, this is way, way back.
35:22Can't be that way back, because when were sieves invented?
35:25Oh, let's run away, and I know where we are going to.
35:29Let's go far today, and it's all gonna be wonderful.
35:39Look at this.
35:40Wow.
35:41When me and my brother Seymour went to Jamaica, we went to a place in Clarendon where my mom and dad used to live.
35:47Yeah.
35:48And it was exactly like that.
35:49Two walls, half a brick wall at the back.
35:51But it was sort of, there was a beauty about it.
35:54So what is, what is this?
35:55Do you know?
35:56Well, this is the Tankerville Lead Mine.
35:59The Tankerville Lead Mine was one of the most productive in the area during Victorian times.
36:04Huh.
36:05Oh.
36:06Great acoustics down there.
36:08Miners worked eight-hour shifts around the clock, in harsh conditions more than half a kilometre underground.
36:17Work was hard though, back in the day, right?
36:19Well, it was.
36:20I mean, it really was.
36:21My birth father and the father that raised me worked in factories.
36:24Yeah.
36:25And I don't think my dad enjoyed work at all.
36:32At all.
36:33You know, and listen, God bless my parents for doing what they did.
36:36Yeah.
36:37Because I wouldn't be here if they didn't do it.
36:38Yeah.
36:39He put food on the table, clothes on our backs, but I wasn't made for it.
36:43Yeah.
36:44And it's not like I don't work hard, I work really hard.
36:47And I saw my mom doing, my mom had four jobs.
36:50But when I was growing up, I just thought it'd be really nice to have a job that made you happy.
36:57Yeah.
36:58Lenny's mom, Winnie, lived to see her son's career sort of, passing away in 1998 after a long illness.
37:07I think one of the things my mom missed was the countryside.
37:10It's just beautiful in Jamaica.
37:12So to come from that, to come to an industrial town in the Midlands, is pretty difficult.
37:18And to work in factories, indoors.
37:21That industrial life kind of stole something from her.
37:27So what were your mom's jobs then?
37:30Oh, okay.
37:31So my mom was a, she worked in a factory.
37:33Yeah.
37:34She was a seamstress.
37:35She made dresses.
37:36She was a cook.
37:37And she made cakes of all kinds.
37:39Wow.
37:40And she was your mother.
37:41She was my, oh God.
37:42So five jobs.
37:43Yes, she had five jobs.
37:44It's a very Jamaican thing.
37:45They all boasted about how many jobs.
37:47How many jobs you have?
37:48Seven.
37:49Seven jobs.
37:50I have eight jobs.
37:51Just the eight jobs.
37:52I have nine jobs.
37:54She was very, very proud of me.
37:55One of my biggest supporters in the end.
37:57Once she knew what I was up to, she would come and see me.
38:02Sometimes I didn't do well.
38:03And she would laugh extra loudly to fill in the gaps where they weren't laughing.
38:08But the thing about the cakes, she would start talking to my sister Bev and forget the cake
38:13was in the oven.
38:14And so what would happen is smoke would be coming out of the oven.
38:18And that's when she knew the cake was ready.
38:22It would just be this charred hulk of cake.
38:25Like a doctor, she'd de-braid the skin from the house.
38:28Until there was just a smaller cake within.
38:31And there would be a smaller cake in the middle.
38:33The sweetness within.
38:34The cake ready now.
38:35No.
38:36And that was it.
38:37Right, come on.
38:42Sorry, that wasn't.
38:57Apparently this area is lifting with fossils.
39:01Is it?
39:02Yeah.
39:03And are you thinking we might find fossils here?
39:05Well, I don't know.
39:06It's just worth having a look.
39:07Oh, hang on.
39:08That's bird poo, isn't it?
39:09Yeah, that's bird poo.
39:10Put that back.
39:12It's Xander and Lenny's last day exploring Shropshire.
39:15It's quite groovy.
39:16It's funny, really.
39:18Something you don't think about.
39:19Oh!
39:22Was this just in your bag?
39:24Yeah.
39:25It was, wasn't it?
39:26It's a trilobite, that.
39:28It is from this area as well.
39:29Yeah.
39:30It's from the corner shop up the road.
39:31It's from Dave's trilobite shop.
39:32Shall we?
39:33That would be nice.
39:34Yes, let's go.
39:35Very, very nice.
39:36Whoop.
39:37I'll tell you something else about this area.
39:38Someone else who was local to this area, grew up in Shrewsbury.
39:40Yes.
39:41Was Charles Darwin.
39:42Get out of town.
39:43Charles Darwin.
39:44Really?
39:45Yeah.
39:46Naturalist Charles Darwin grew up in nearby Shrewsbury, in the 1800s.
39:49Inspired by the fossils he collected in the 1880s, from the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town of the town.
40:05Charles Darwin grew up in nearby Shrewsbury in the 1800s.
40:10Inspired by the fossils he collected as a boy,
40:13his groundbreaking theory of evolution changed the way we see the world.
40:18And actually I would like just to quote something Charles Darwin said.
40:22He said, it is not the strongest of the species that survives.
40:27It is not the most intelligent that survives.
40:32It is the most adaptable to change.
40:35Ah, Charlie D. Charlie D.
40:38That resonates as well. Doesn't it Poe?
40:41And we then look at all the different phases of your extraordinary career.
40:47Well I see what you did there.
40:49Well you know, we were talking just a minute ago.
40:53There's an art to this.
40:55In his late 40s, Lenny studied English at university.
40:59This led him into more serious drama when he played Othello for the Hulbourne theatre director, Barry Rutter.
41:07When Barry describes things, it's a game.
41:09Yeah.
41:10It's like you're playing.
41:11You know, alright, there's two dead birds on bed, right?
41:13You know, there's the maid and there's Desdemont.
41:15You've killed them, you've killed them all and it's all your fault.
41:18And you've been a fool, you've been a bloody fool haven't you?
41:20Because the Argos lied to you.
41:21And then they all come in, what's going on here?
41:23There's two dead birds on bed.
41:24And you go, stop.
41:25And you make this speech.
41:27And you draw them in.
41:28And you draw them in.
41:29And you get to the end and you get your knife and you stab yourself in the chest.
41:33And then you're dead.
41:34And you can't help but be on fire.
41:38Yeah.
41:39When somebody makes the scenario happen for you like that.
41:42Yeah.
41:43At the end of the recession, it was like I was plugged into the National Grid.
41:47No, you've just done it for me.
41:48That's amazing.
41:49I said, do you think I can do this?
41:50And he said, well lad, I think you can.
41:52And then the next thing you know, a year later, I'm at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
41:56Yeah.
41:57Doing a photo, a big picture of me half naked on a big billboard.
42:00It had a very big effect on my life, 2009, 2010.
42:04I thought it was like a brand new day for me.
42:06It was like this.
42:07It was like this.
42:08The sun came out on a new part of my life and I thought, I'm having this.
42:12Let's have a cup of tea.
42:14Have you got tea?
42:15Yeah.
42:16Brilliant.
42:17And biscuits.
42:18It's a beautiful day.
42:21The lad's final stop is an imposing outcrop of quartzite called the Devil's Chair,
42:27which is shrouded in mythology.
42:32The Devil's Chair.
42:34And they do say that the Devil, on the longest night of the year,
42:39the Devil comes and sits on his chair here and he summons up all his followers.
42:49Thank you for bringing me here.
42:50It's a pleasure, Lenny.
42:52My dream was that it was going to be short, but unfortunately it didn't turn out.
42:55Actually, fortunately, we've had some longish walks.
43:00And strangely, I've enjoyed them.
43:02Sometimes you see in nature, the way trees grow, that there's one little branch that suddenly
43:08goes .
43:09It outgrows all the other things around it.
43:12I feel I've been privileged to witness some sort of first-hand tales from within that branch.
43:19Are you comparing them to a branch?
43:21I think I am, yes.
43:22Good, thanks.
43:23That's all right.
43:24I love that.
43:26Nice.
43:28You don't just want to be the person that always does that thing.
43:31It's kind of like, you know, you've got to change.
43:33There's some times when you can't keep doing the same thing you were doing before.
43:36Yeah.
43:37You know, and to not let things crush you, but actually to set your roots down again and start growing again.
43:45I've been asked to write books, so I've got children's books that I write.
43:49I've written a memoir.
43:50I'd like to write adult fiction.
43:52I want to play the piano.
43:54There's lots of things I want to do, but all of them require change, adaptability, and time.
44:01And also support.
44:03And also, it's not just about you, Len.
44:08The most awkward walk in the world.
44:23Xander and Lenny's time exploring this unique, beautiful county, which gave the world so many big ideas, is almost at an end.
44:34Do I think it's important to dream big? Of course.
44:36I'm from a working class background, and you can get stuck.
44:41Your dreams can get stuck.
44:43I mean, when I was a kid watching telly, watching the two Ronnies, or Eric and Ernie, or watching Dave Allen doing sketches.
44:50Being black and working class from Dudley, I had no idea that this had anything to do with me.
44:56And if you start to think, I really would like to do that, then you've got to figure out a way to work towards it.
45:02It doesn't matter where you're from, don't give up, don't stop.
45:05Don't let anybody tell you you can't do anything you want to do.
45:08Ooh.
45:09We've done it.
45:10We've done it, man.
45:11We have.
45:13So you chuffed?
45:14Done it, really chuffed.
45:15Well, here's to lovely long walks.
45:18It turns out you can walk.
45:20Thanks, I'm really rumbled now.
45:22Sorry about that.
45:23Okay.
45:24As long as there's snacks in a pub somewhere.
45:26Yeah.
45:27In the midst of it all.
45:28In a funny way, I was imagining that Lenny might be much more serious minded.
45:34And he is serious minded, but not to the exclusion of the comic.
45:38You know, he's still a comic tour de force.
45:41An immensely good company.
45:43Oh.
45:44And there's the son.
45:45Where was that earlier?
45:46It's welcome now, isn't it?
45:48Absolutely.
45:49Nice.
45:50Some things that he's done have been such a huge part of so many people's lives.
45:55I mean, Lenny's reinvented himself at many, many stages.
45:59He knows exactly how to catch the light.
46:02Cheers.
46:03Here's to a beautiful new friendship.
46:06This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
46:11And, yeah, here's to life being full of perpetual refreshment,
46:17evolution, reinvention.
46:20Adaptation.
46:21There we are.
46:22Adaptation.
46:23Oh, let's run away and I know where we are going to.
46:27Let's go far today and it's all gonna be wonderful.
46:32A good night.
46:45Oh.
46:49Oh, wow.
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