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Short filmTranscript
00:00A 20th century life for the whole of my life.
00:04It's like I've been placed in this 1900 world and it's all around me.
00:11You know, I don't like it. I don't know how to be a Victorian.
00:21Meet the Bowler family.
00:23Royal Marine Paul, School Inspector Joyce,
00:2611-year-old twins Ruth and Hillary,
00:29Catherine, 16, and 9-year-old Jo.
00:33They volunteered to go back in time to wash, dress, eat,
00:39and live every intimate detail of domestic life in the 1900 house.
00:44The Bowlers are one month into their time travel experience.
01:011900 technology, food, and clothing are becoming familiar.
01:06Now they're grappling with new concerns, themselves.
01:10Their daily routines are now well established.
01:26Paul, the breadwinner, is off to work.
01:28He's a warrant officer with the Royal Marines,
01:30posted to a recruitment office in central London.
01:331900 wages, 113 pounds a year.
01:38With the children at school, Joyce is left at home
01:41in the traditional role of housewife,
01:43a sharp contrast to her normal working life as nursery school inspector.
01:47As I said before, this house is like a clean and fourth bridge.
01:54You start at one end and you work your way down,
01:56and as soon as you've finished, it's all come back.
01:59You could gather up all the fluff
02:01and make a nice sort of bird's nest out of it, really.
02:04There is literally enough.
02:07So if I... There you are, look.
02:09That's a nice little...
02:11That's actually two days.
02:13With no vacuum cleaner, Joyce is losing the battle with dust
02:18thrown up in bucketfuls by coal fires, gas lights and the range cooker.
02:23When they used to clean, they would dust things down
02:25and they would shut the door, open the window and go out
02:27and leave the dust to settle.
02:29And I think that must be where the saying comes from.
02:30Because obviously the room's just full of all this dust,
02:32you would choke to death.
02:33And you wait for it to settle back down again.
02:35So you haven't actually cleaned it, you just moved it around a bit.
02:39After four weeks, she's had enough.
02:41There we are.
02:42Quite frankly, the thought of just all I am doing
02:46is keeping this house clean is just so boring.
02:51I think I'll just go start staring mad or I'll just leave.
02:54Because to think that my only aim in life is to remove dust and fluff...
02:59No. No thanks.
03:02Instead, she's come up with a 1900 solution,
03:06getting someone else to do the dirty work.
03:09A hundred years ago, most lower-middle-class families
03:12would have employed a servant.
03:141900 wages, 20 pounds per year.
03:17Joyce can easily afford it from their weekly household budget
03:20and, like her Victorian counterpart,
03:22has placed an ad in the local paper.
03:24Domestic helper wanted to help clean 1900's style house required to work for three months in south-east London.
03:32This is a real cleaning job.
03:34I hope they're prepared to do some proper cleaning.
03:42Fluff, dirt, dust, hands and knees stuff.
03:46When he's not at work, Paul has been keen to share the load,
03:51rejecting the stereotypical role of the man in 1900.
03:54When the rules were put towards us, I read them carefully and I said,
03:59yes, I agree to the rules.
04:01So I am sticking to them 100%.
04:04The way I dress, but not so much as the way I portray myself,
04:07because I don't think I could do that, because that would be very, very Victorian.
04:09And I think everything would collapse if I just sat there and just, you know,
04:13read the paper and expected my meals to put on the table and did nothing.
04:18In fact, doing housework is not that out of character.
04:21Despite the popular image, oral history accounts record that some Victorian men
04:26helped with the household chores, as running a home was so demanding.
04:32But they were unlikely to have made a public display of their domestic duties,
04:36so hanging out the washing would have been unheard of.
04:39What's really shocked, Paul, is what's expected of the master of the house.
04:45Cassell's, the 1900 household Bible, states that he, the master, is in charge.
04:51And in family disagreements, all members must be ruled by him.
04:55We had a look in the backquotes about, sort of,
04:58Joyce has got to have the same mind, or the woman of the house has got to have
05:01the same mind as a man if he goes out.
05:04Namely, his will was whatever happened, you know, in the house,
05:08down to the looking after the children, to the payment of the bills,
05:13to how much he was allowed to spend.
05:15And I'm not like that, and I don't think I'll ever will be.
05:20One of the most important duties of the Victorian wife was to receive visitors.
05:25There have been no shortage of friends and neighbours keen to take a tour.
05:30Joyce's friend Natalie is the latest to arrive.
05:32We're very keen on this period.
05:37But, I mean, I like this period and all this stuff,
05:39but with the things we're used to from now.
05:43Like electricity and...
05:45Yes, yes.
05:46But at the look, yes.
05:47But they've had these, well, they do.
05:49Wooden ones, of course.
05:50Aren't they nice?
05:51But what's interesting is that it's what a lot of people are trying to do with houses anyway now, isn't it?
05:58People are very keen to adopt Victoriana in their lives,
06:04and I think that's what a lot of people think we're doing here.
06:08In actual fact, what they don't realise is they've sanitised Victoriana.
06:13Isn't this fabulous?
06:15Oh, it's fabulous, isn't it?
06:19I've found that with people coming round to the house and admiring things and saying,
06:22oh, isn't it lovely, isn't it pretty, oh, you know, it's giving me lots of ideas
06:25and ooh-ing and ah-ing over the whole thing,
06:28has made me quite cross because I can see beneath that now,
06:33and I know that on the exterior, yes, it may look lovely,
06:36and it may actually look like the perfect homely setting.
06:42In actual fact, it's quite the reverse.
06:44I'm sorry about the fluff.
06:46I did clean through yesterday, and it's fluff world.
06:50It just grows overnight.
06:52No cleaning, lady.
06:54Not yet, anyway.
06:55The person having the biggest struggle with her new role in life
06:58is 16-year-old Catherine.
07:00I wanted to come and do the Victorian project.
07:04I thought it'd be an adventure, you know, stepping back in time,
07:07seeing what my ancestors would have lived like.
07:10But, and there's a big but.
07:16The fact is that I've experienced it, and now I'm sick of it.
07:23If I don't go out at least once a week,
07:26even if it's just a video and pizza evening with loads of chocolate ice cream
07:31round at my friend's house,
07:33or going out and going clubbing,
07:38you know, either one of those things will make me happy.
07:42Most Victorian girls of her age would have had a very limited social life.
07:47The most popular teenage activity was the church dance, held monthly.
07:52Come in, come in.
07:54I'm sorry, I didn't hear you knock.
07:55That's all right.
07:57Catherine.
07:58Catherine!
07:58In an effort to alleviate Catherine's boredom,
08:01an appointment has been arranged.
08:03Joyce is hoping to interest Catherine in a pastime popular in 1900.
08:07So, do you recognise yourself here?
08:09OK, yeah.
08:10Well, you've learned to play a piano for two reasons.
08:13First of all, you want to amuse yourself.
08:14Secondly, you want to amuse other people.
08:16OK?
08:17So, what we need to do is learn to read music.
08:23Mastering a musical instrument was an important skill for a Victorian girl.
08:27A passport to entertaining at musical evenings.
08:31A rare opportunity to meet a suitor.
08:32Third finger on a C.
08:33To be honest with you, I don't particularly want to know
08:38what a Victorian girl of my age would want to do.
08:42You know, there's just nothing that interests me.
08:45That's it.
08:48I'm sorry if I'm being rude and obnoxious, but that's just the way I am,
08:52and you're getting me, Catherine Bowler, angry.
08:54You're not getting some poncy girl in a Victorian dress saying,
08:59Oh, I do like my 1999 life, but being a Victorian,
09:04it's a really good contrast, and I've learnt to play the piano,
09:08and I've also learnt to do some embroidery.
09:12You know, that's not me!
09:14Unless destined for service,
09:16young women like Catherine would have lived at home until they married.
09:19As for dating, Joyce has discovered from a Victorian advice book
09:23that even thinking about men was taboo.
09:25The reading of sensational love stories is most detrimental.
09:30The descriptions of passionate love scenes arouse in the reader
09:32a thrill through her own sexual organism
09:35that tends to increase its activity and derange its normal state,
09:39and goes on to tell you, you know,
09:40how awful it is for girls to think about young men,
09:43or even to look at young men, you know,
09:44because it's going to introduce terrible,
09:46not just mental things like, you know, impure thoughts,
09:50but also may damage their internal organs.
09:53I just can't imagine what good they thought this book
09:56was actually going to do anybody.
09:59Catherine is seriously talking about leaving
10:01to go back to her real teenage life.
10:04Worried about her, Joyce is off to Charlie's.
10:07Hello, Charlie. I'm fine, thank you.
10:09With more than shopping in mind.
10:11While I'm here, have you got any vacancies
10:14for a young girl to work at the weekends?
10:17Actually, we are looking for something.
10:19For a Saturday? For a Saturday job, yeah.
10:20Right, my daughter Catherine, she's 16.
10:23Yeah.
10:23She's got shop experience,
10:25and she's keen to do something on a Saturday,
10:28a bit of pin money, and also, obviously for me, housekeeping.
10:31We've got a prime example here today.
10:34Weg, just come here a minute.
10:38We could sing happy birthday to him today,
10:40because he's 91 today.
10:42Oh, happy birthday!
10:43But Weggy has, Weggy started working green grocery
10:47when he was eight years of age.
10:48Eight?
10:49Which he's done all his life.
10:50He's worked seven days a week,
10:51from six in the morning till nine and ten o'clock at night.
10:55And he's still working you now, isn't he?
10:57Still working, but he's on the YTS scheme now.
11:00Oh, is he?
11:00Catherine has a job.
11:09Now it's time for Joyce to give gainful employment
11:12to a maid of all work.
11:14Her advert has spawned a handful of replies.
11:17She's setting a date for interviews
11:19and looks forward to becoming a lady of leisure.
11:22I've got to go and put my corset on,
11:33and I don't want to.
11:35What I want to put on today is a pair of trousers
11:37and a fleece and a pair of deck shoes.
11:43But I've got to go and put on some bloody fancy dress.
11:47So, first thing in the morning,
11:52before you've eaten or drunk anything,
11:55you pop yourself into this awful thing,
12:03instrument of torture.
12:05Also constricted by her corset,
12:07Catherine has found an article in Cassells
12:09which shows that tight wearing of corsets
12:12was of great concern, even in 1900.
12:15The stupidity and wickedness of this custom
12:17is scarcely possible to exaggerate.
12:20It not only ruins the health of those who practise it,
12:22but it throws a burden upon the next generation
12:24and weakens the race.
12:27And then this is where you give yourself a waist.
12:31So you pull it as tightly as you can
12:35without passing out.
12:37The tender bones and muscles are pinched, squeezed,
12:40crimped and confined
12:40so that the complicated internal organs,
12:43which are so wonderfully constructed
12:45and so marvellously fitted to their work,
12:48are interfered with and pushed out of place.
12:57Mam, look.
12:59Oh, knock your cells.
13:00What have you got?
13:01Right.
13:02You know, you're talking about working in your corset.
13:05Yeah.
13:05Well, here, they are totally against it.
13:07So can I take it off, then?
13:09Well, it says here,
13:10During recent years,
13:11a strong protest has been made by more sensible women
13:14against the absurdities of tight lacing.
13:17I won't wear it.
13:18Good grief.
13:19It's over-tight lacing,
13:20cause of pimples on the face,
13:21red nose, fainting,
13:22hysteria and nervousness.
13:24There you go.
13:25You can put it all down to that.
13:26See, that's why you had hysterical moments.
13:27Red blotches in all sorts of unexpected places.
13:31Exactly.
13:31I'm perfectly normal.
13:33Exactly.
13:33There you go.
13:33That was my corset.
13:34Oh, hello.
13:36Joyce, John Long, do you remember me?
13:38Joyce and Catherine have called in local doctor Joanna Long,
13:41who's monitoring the health of the family during the project.
13:44They're suffering from shortness of breath.
13:46To check what's happening requires a respiratory test.
13:49Blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow.
13:52Is that it?
13:53I'm sorry, yes.
13:54OK.
13:58So your peak flow was 300,
14:01which is actually quite low.
14:02Do you smoke?
14:03No.
14:04Oh, that's OK.
14:05I'm sure that's to do with the corset.
14:09Feel better?
14:13The same test is done without the corset.
14:16Keep blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow, blow.
14:20OK.
14:21420.
14:22That's a bit better, isn't it?
14:24It really is constricting you, isn't it?
14:26And all for the sake of fashion.
14:28I've actually got a book that I've discovered, which was actually written in 1890.
14:32And there's actually a section in this book, it's called The Heart of Beauty.
14:36And it says, what stays cost us.
14:38And it's basically describing, you know, what you've noticed in that these women that wore
14:45the corsets for a long time, their actual body shape changed.
14:48And if you can see, the ribs tended to become more elongated, the waist became much more nipped
14:53in.
14:53The ribs cover lots of internal organs, and the internal organs can actually, you know,
15:00become abnormally shaped as well.
15:02They have to move, obviously.
15:03If I can show you here, how the lungs, the heart, and the liver can actually become very,
15:10very distorted in shape from the pressure.
15:13You know, even then, they knew all the effects of corsetry, and yet, you know, women still
15:19wore them.
15:20Dr. Long doesn't feel wearing a corset just for three months is a health risk, and leaves
15:26Joyce to decide whether to continue with it.
15:29Without it, though, her tightly tailored clothes won't fit.
15:33I hate it.
15:35I hate the bloody thing.
15:36I absolutely hate it to think that I would have to wear this for the rest of my, I mean,
15:41for my adult life.
15:45I can't not wear it because the clothes won't fit.
15:48I won't be the right shape.
15:49I'll look ridiculous.
15:51On average, women's waists in 1900 were five inches smaller than they are today.
15:57Rigid corsets would have to be worn for another 20 years.
16:03Saturday morning finds Catherine still trapped in her corset, but temporarily free from the
16:08house.
16:09She's on a tryout for a weekend job at Charlie's.
16:12Yeah, it's two pounds for a pound.
16:14I really like it at Charlie's here.
16:16It's good to get away from here, and he's really nice, and it's a really, really nice atmosphere,
16:21and they're all good friends here.
16:23Cheers, we do.
16:24Come on in, you go.
16:24Bye-bye.
16:25A hundred years ago, Catherine would have been working from the age of 12.
16:30I know somebody of my age would have been out at work.
16:33I don't know about working in a greengrocers, though.
16:35I might have been working, sort of, as a governess, maybe, or working as a maid for work in somebody
16:43else's house.
16:45The interviews for Joyce's maid are now set.
16:48Having never even employed a cleaner, Joyce needs help on what to ask.
16:53Historian Daru Rook has written with advice.
16:55Make sure when you interview prospective girls that you have read Mrs Beaton's eminently sensible advice.
17:02Well, we have.
17:03Yeah, we have.
17:04For my own part, I would suggest you check the girls' hands carefully.
17:09A soft hand suggests an idle heart.
17:11Let's have a look at your hands.
17:13Oh, you haven't done any work ever.
17:16And we must insist that she become a teetotaler, otherwise sherry stocks may suffer.
17:21I am heartily pleased you have taken this decision.
17:24How else can you proclaim fully to your neighbours that you have entered the middle class?
17:35Whilst Joyce wants the maid to take on the cleaning, she's determined to stay in charge of cooking.
17:40But their 1900 menu is about to prompt another protest.
17:45I don't like the food.
17:48What food would you like?
17:49Peanut butter.
17:55Peanut butter.
17:56Chocolate spread.
17:57Chips.
17:59Cornflakes.
17:59Ice cream.
18:01Flip rollies.
18:02The main concern with Joseph is he's not eating, and he's not eating the food that we're cooking.
18:08Everyone else is eating it except for Joseph.
18:10And I'm concerned, Joyce is concerned, and we're trying to think of things for Joseph to eat all the time.
18:18In 1900, the staple diet for families like the boners was cheap cuts of boiled meat and vegetables, with very little flavouring.
18:27I feel like this is a bit better for us, don't you, that sort of I'm producing things that are perhaps a bit more familiar.
18:35What do you think?
18:35Do you think this week's food is an improvement on last week's food?
18:39Yeah.
18:40You don't, Jo.
18:42Actually, you've got a bit fussier, haven't you, mate?
18:44I can't really afford to have an extremely fussy son.
18:49We are coping with that.
18:52And I don't think he's going to drop dead if he eats the same thing day in, day out for three months.
18:59I'm not really going to worry myself about it too much.
19:01But I think Victorians would have just cooked it, put it on the table, and you were grateful for what you got, and you ate it.
19:10Because if you didn't, the person sitting next door to you will soon do that.
19:14Joyce is still trying to stick to a vegetarian diet.
19:18Jo?
19:19No.
19:20Do we have to wait until we try them, or do we...
19:21Don't try anything.
19:22Tonight's period recipe is Mrs Beaton's beetroot fritters.
19:25You'll be sad.
19:29Look what came through the door.
19:31Pizza!
19:33Yum.
19:34Shall I cut the options?
19:35Yes, please.
19:36Oh, right.
19:37They're lovely.
19:38Are you sure you'd like to try some, Jo?
19:40Mmm, look.
19:42It's gorgeous.
19:44I had to take a bit of onion.
19:47You don't like it?
19:48The onions are a bit more.
19:49I do like onions, but...
19:52We'll be out if you're going to eat it.
19:53Now for dessert...
19:55I don't think it's setting up.
19:59Yeah, it's doing it.
20:00Oh!
20:01It's gone everywhere.
20:03Oh!
20:03Oh!
20:05Oh, my God!
20:07No, it's not a cat, Pat.
20:10Seriously, ordering a pizza when I get back.
20:13It's going to be so cool.
20:14I'm going to have a mad feast of food.
20:17It's going to be so cool.
20:18It's going to be so cool.
20:21Come and sit here.
20:22The day has arrived to select a maid of all work.
20:26It's very nice to meet you.
20:27Joyce.
20:27Nice to meet you.
20:29I've got a few questions that I'd like to ask you.
20:31Okay.
20:32And I expect you'll have some questions for me.
20:33Yeah.
20:34Go ahead.
20:34Joyce has narrowed it down to two applicants.
20:38May I see your hands?
20:39Yes.
20:40Right.
20:41Yes, you're obviously...
20:43You've stood at lots of hard work.
20:45This is one of the things I've been advised to ask for.
20:48I've worked in factories.
20:49I've done a lot of cleaning, things like that.
20:52I clean schools.
20:53I know in 1900 that they would be employing somebody who was very poor and who needed the
20:59work and needed the money, and that's the way we should be treating her.
21:06But I think because we're actually a 1999 family, that it's not in our nature to be really
21:12horrible to anybody and make them do horrible, skivvy jobs.
21:16I like the idea.
21:18Someone waiting on me makes me feel important.
21:21Washing up the breakfast dishes, emptying the slops in the bedrooms, and dusting and
21:27sweeping from the top all the way down.
21:29Cleaning out any grates that we've used, which will probably be this one.
21:33We don't have any detergents.
21:35Obviously, you haven't got a hoover.
21:38You're a grade above the working class?
21:41Yes.
21:41Middle class.
21:42You're on the middle class.
21:43Yes, we are.
21:47Hello, girls.
21:49Hi.
21:49Hello.
21:49This is Elizabeth.
21:52Both applicants are well qualified, but Joyce has chosen Elizabeth.
21:56She wins by six inches.
21:59A tall maid-of-all-work was recommended to reach into awkward spaces.
22:03I thought the house was great.
22:05It is just like having your own personal time machine to walk into, you know.
22:09It's fantastic.
22:10I mean, it's a lot different to what I thought it was going to be.
22:12I thought it was going to be a lot bigger, you know, because I was really nervous about
22:15how much cleaning I'd have to do.
22:17But it does seem like hard work, you know, in them days.
22:21But the challenge of it, I think, is brilliant.
22:24To celebrate the appointment, the bowlers are having a special meal, and Joyce gets the
22:29night off.
22:30They've read up on fish and chips, and discovered they were popular from 1860 onwards.
22:38By 1900, London had over a thousand fried fish shops.
22:43Battered fish and chips were a penny-ha'penny a portion.
22:46Alternatively, oysters were plentiful and cheap.
22:50Luckily for Joyce, frying in beef dripping died out in more recent years.
22:54Fast food has arrived at Ellescombe Road.
23:03Yeah, drumroll, you've actually tried something.
23:07And for once, Jo is happy with Victorian Fair.
23:10Next week, Elizabeth gets to grips with being a maid.
23:39I'm a bit out of breath because I'm absolutely exhausted.
23:43It's nearly nine o'clock and I've been here since nine this morning.
23:46Whilst the bowlers entertain an important guest.
23:49Ladies and gentlemen, here I stand before you, a woman of the year 1900.
23:55They're having a party downstairs and doing some shows.
23:57I don't know what's going on because I haven't been invited because I'm just the maid.
24:00I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what's going on because I don't know what
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