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00:28Transcription by CastingWords
00:30The content of this program will add up to a message you already know too well.
00:34Here's the contents.
01:04And here's the message.
01:11It's true, isn't it? Years ago, a picnic was a really grand occasion.
01:17You and the table would get all dressed up, and then you'd have a full four- or five-course
01:22meal.
01:23You'd just have it in the open air.
01:25Ah, well, no time anymore for that kind of stuff, is there?
01:28We're all too busy. Grab a bite, keep moving. That's the way it goes.
01:33Fast food for a fast world. Instant everything.
01:38And you know what you have to thank for that? World War II.
01:41That's when the instant idea really took off.
01:44And all because of this.
01:48Coffee.
01:49Now, powdered coffee's been around since the 30s,
01:52when Brazil has a series of fantastic coffee bean harvests,
01:56and ends up with an excess of bean.
01:58And no way are they going to sell it all.
02:02Then the Nestle company comes up with the answer.
02:05Easy enough.
02:06You run a lot of hot water through ground coffee beans.
02:09Then you spray the water through very hot air.
02:12That evaporates the water.
02:14What falls to the bottom of your equipment is a fine powder.
02:18Later on, add water and stir.
02:21Coffee.
02:22And the reason the whole idea really takes off
02:27is because instant coffee weighs nothing,
02:29which is just what you need.
02:32But not in balloon.
02:33When you're a World War II American infantry grunt,
02:36up to your knees in mud and crossfire
02:38on some European battlefield,
02:40and the last thing you need is extra weight to carry.
02:44That's why something called K-rations are invented back then,
02:48to give the troops maximum calories with minimum ounces.
02:52So the new lightweight coffee really fits in there.
02:56World War II makes instant coffee a real flyer.
02:59So the instant the war is over,
03:01instant coffee is going to be an instant industry,
03:04which leaves only one small problem.
03:06The K-rations are going to be great for the troops down there,
03:10if you can find them.
03:12Not the rations.
03:13The troops!
03:21By the last year of the war,
03:23the US Army has 8 million people to get K-rations to,
03:26and they're all over the place.
03:29And they all need everything,
03:30from coffee to food,
03:33mail,
03:33spare parts,
03:34toilet paper,
03:35ammunition,
03:36clothing,
03:37you name it.
03:38That's why,
03:39for every soldier in the field,
03:41there are three people back at supply,
03:44tearing their hair out,
03:46because nobody's where they were last time you looked,
03:49because the Army's mechanised,
03:51in tanks and trucks,
03:52and the reason I'm showing you this particular bit of film.
03:55Notice every other shot is of a jeep,
03:58an amazing bit of vehicular pizzazz,
04:01that'll go anywhere and do anything.
04:04And there is no terrain it can't go into or get out of.
04:09And it'll do that pulling a trailer,
04:11carrying up to four people,
04:13mounted with a heavy machine gun,
04:14it'll even carry stretcher cases.
04:17So, at the end of every day,
04:19the last thing that moves is a jeep,
04:21carrying supplies out to the front line.
04:30And this is where the rock meets the hard place,
04:33because as this little wonder machine races along,
04:36it's creating the problem it's supposed to solve.
04:40Know why?
04:41It uses gasoline.
04:42Of the 27 pounds of supplies
04:44every American soldier needs every day,
04:46just to go on fighting,
04:48over half is gasoline.
04:49If the Allies are to win the war,
04:51this is a problem that has to be cracked.
04:58So, it is, with cracking,
05:01that's what happens in refineries like these.
05:05Cracking is the petroleum industry equivalent
05:07of getting blood out of a stone,
05:10getting refined product from oil,
05:12and then doing it again with the same oil,
05:14and then doing it again,
05:16and again,
05:17and again,
05:18and again.
05:19All you need is a chimney stack.
05:22OK, down at the bottom of the stack,
05:24you heat up crude oil.
05:26It vaporises,
05:27you condense the vapours,
05:28and get gas oil.
05:31Heat what oil's left hotter,
05:32and condense out kerosene.
05:35Heat what's left hotter,
05:36and condense out naphtha.
05:39Heat what's left hotter,
05:40and condense out gasoline.
05:43Then,
05:44pressurise the whole shebang,
05:46and squeeze out more of everything.
05:48And you still get one last product
05:50coming out at the very top.
05:52Methane.
05:55OK, another quick bit of chemistry.
05:57Turns out that you can use methane
05:59to get acetylene.
06:00Believe it or not,
06:01the obsession of an American Jesuit priest
06:04and chemistry professor called Newland.
06:06Well, in 1918,
06:08he's played around with acetylene,
06:10and discovered that you can turn it into something
06:12that will put a bit of bounce into life.
06:17And, as you will see,
06:19changes the private life of everyone in the world.
06:23Newland calls his bouncy stuff
06:25neoprene.
06:29Solves another problem for the World War II Jeep,
06:31because neoprene is synthetic rubber,
06:35and you make tires with it.
06:39Not surprisingly,
06:40the Reverend Father's invention
06:41is taken up by a company
06:43for whom you might say
06:44chemistry is a bit of a religion.
06:47DuPont.
06:48And what they get up to
06:49is a very attractive proposition.
06:54The attraction in question
06:56is the attraction that molecules have for each other.
06:59Never mind the chemistry gobbledygook,
07:01what you're looking at
07:02is two molecules
07:03and some bits between them,
07:06including these bits.
07:08Hydrogen, hydrogen, oxygen,
07:10H2O, water.
07:13Heat it up,
07:14and the water boils off.
07:16Now for the molecules
07:17that like each other.
07:18These two leftover bits,
07:20carbon and oxygen,
07:22really go for these two bits,
07:24nitrogen and hydrogen,
07:26so they get together
07:27and really bond.
07:28So that links the two big molecule groups together.
07:31And if you have a lot of them,
07:33they all do it.
07:34And when that happens,
07:35whole strings of them join up.
07:37And if you knit those fine strings together
07:40the way you would with thread,
07:41you get something
07:42that will one day give every woman in the world
07:45a real leg up in life.
07:50Because the molecules make what DuPont calls
07:53nylon.
08:02There's never been anything like nylons.
08:05In the first four days,
08:07DuPont sells four million pairs.
08:15Nylons make all the difference
08:17when you're on your way to a date,
08:19as we are.
08:20Our date is the year 1811.
08:25Here's a story.
08:27The first nylon stockings get made on machines
08:30that essentially haven't changed
08:32since the first machines
08:34for making cotton stockings
08:35are invented here in England
08:36by a fellow called Cotton.
08:39Now, this marvel
08:40of Industrial Revolution technology
08:42kicks off a movement back then
08:44that will one day in the modern world
08:46give its name
08:47to the kind of people
08:48who hate technology with a passion,
08:50the Luddites.
08:52So you just know
08:53something bad
08:54is going to happen to this machine.
09:02Here's what I mean by bad.
09:11Stocking machines
09:12may be wonderful bits of technology,
09:14but what they're doing back then,
09:16besides making stockings
09:17for lots of rich people,
09:18is putting lots of poor people
09:20out of work.
09:21The solution
09:22is simple.
09:30The way to keep your job
09:32is to smash the machines.
09:42Now, this may look like nothing more than
09:44dirty work at the crossroads
09:46to you,
09:47but back then,
09:48the punishment
09:49for doing something like this
09:50is hanging.
09:52So you know
09:53these are desperate men here,
09:54men with starving children,
09:56and the whole power
09:58of the state against them,
09:59including the army.
10:00So there's nothing romantic
10:02about what these Luddites
10:04leave behind them.
10:05Well, there's one romantic bit,
10:07which I'll get to
10:08after a brief catch-up
10:09on where we are so far.
10:13Instant coffee
10:14gets off the ground
10:15in World War II
10:15when artificial rubber
10:17is invented,
10:18and so are nylons,
10:19made on machines
10:21like these original ones
10:22being smashed
10:23by the Luddites,
10:24whose actions are defended
10:25by the romantic guy
10:27we're about to get to.
10:34He's a young,
10:3524-year-old nobody
10:36that nobody's ever heard of,
10:38and his emotional defence
10:40of the Luddites
10:41in the British Parliament
10:42sounds like something
10:43you could have heard
10:44on the hill yesterday.
10:45Men are convicted
10:46of the capital crime
10:47of poverty.
10:48we must not allow mankind
10:50to be sacrificed
10:51to improvements
10:52in mechanisms.
10:53Good libertarian stuff.
10:56Unfortunately,
10:57before good libertarian stuff
10:59becomes fashionable,
11:00so the speech goes over
11:01like a lead balloon,
11:02until two weeks later,
11:04when this guy's work
11:05turns him from a nobody
11:06into a megastar.
11:09And then everybody's heard
11:11of Lord Byron.
11:18At the time,
11:20Byron is just back
11:21from touring
11:22the Mediterranean hot spots,
11:24pressing the flesh
11:25and fact-finding
11:26about what politics
11:27is like in places
11:28like Portugal,
11:30the home of democracy,
11:31Greece,
11:31and one place
11:32he doesn't think much of,
11:34democracy-wise.
11:41Byron turns up here
11:42with the absolute minimum
11:43a gentleman needs.
11:45Seven trunks of clothes,
11:46a bed,
11:47and a saddle.
11:49Well, he is Byron.
11:53Basically,
11:53like all political,
11:55serious,
11:56fact-finding missions,
11:57Byron makes like
11:58a fun-loving tourist
11:59checking out
12:00all the sights.
12:02The Great Church
12:04of Hagia Sophia.
12:07Oh, sorry.
12:08On a scale of ten,
12:10Byron gives it eight.
12:12The Mosque of Suleiman,
12:15the Magnificent.
12:16Oh, yeah?
12:18Give it a five.
12:24A spot of light refreshment.
12:28Tastes like dishwater.
12:29One.
12:31The Blue Mask.
12:34Very posh.
12:36Six.
12:37The City Walls.
12:40Boring.
12:42Give them a two.
12:43Sorry.
12:53A little bit of
12:54the local folk culture.
13:00Now, Byron loves this.
13:02Give it a nine.
13:11Okay,
13:12how about a taste
13:12of the local delicacies?
13:14Hmm?
13:14Excuse me.
13:23Don't know what this is.
13:24Give it a three.
13:27After the tourist stuff,
13:29things start to look up.
13:31At one point,
13:33being an English aristocrat,
13:35he gets an invite
13:36to meet the Sultan himself,
13:37so a bit of local royalty.
13:38So he walks in here
13:40to the Topkapi Palace,
13:41dressed to kill,
13:43well, he is Byron,
13:44and is promptly ignored.
13:45So being Byron,
13:47he goes all upset
13:48and Byronic about it.
13:51Hissy fit,
13:51we'd call it.
13:52Flounces off in a total snit.
13:54Ruins the entire trip.
13:59Just before Byron heads for home,
14:01he runs into
14:02a travelling Scots businessman.
14:04Well,
14:04that's what he calls himself.
14:06Shady would be
14:07a better description.
14:08He's one of those
14:09shifty characters
14:10you see on the
14:11Istanbul waterfront,
14:12hanging around bars
14:13and expense account restaurants,
14:15looking for
14:16a deal.
14:18You know,
14:19the ones talking out of
14:20both sides of their mouths
14:21at once,
14:22with a spiel that goes
14:23generally something
14:24like this.
14:26Okay,
14:26you want me to get rid
14:27of the stuff
14:28at what we might describe
14:29as a reasonable profit?
14:30No problem.
14:32Well,
14:32there is
14:33one minor inconvenience,
14:35Napoleon.
14:37Look,
14:37it'd be better
14:37if I show you.
14:39Plain fact is,
14:40old boy,
14:41our friend Napoleon
14:43has Europe
14:44pretty well locked up.
14:46I mean,
14:47take a look.
14:48Blockades
14:49all round
14:50the coastline.
14:51You try getting
14:51your products in
14:52anywhere here.
14:54they blow you
14:55right out of the water.
14:56No chance.
14:58But I,
14:59John Gault,
15:00his name,
15:01a blockade runner
15:02and would-be profiteer,
15:04have I got a plan.
15:06We get the product
15:08into Europe
15:09through the back door.
15:13Sneak the stuff
15:14across the Mediterranean,
15:16hmm?
15:17Up through Istanbul
15:18and then up the back
15:20here
15:20and across
15:21the Hungarian border.
15:23piece of cake.
15:26You've got to
15:26hand it to Gault.
15:27His little
15:28blockade-breaking scam
15:29very nearly
15:30comes off.
15:31I mean,
15:32he actually gets
15:32his contraband stuff
15:33all the way
15:35to the Hungarian border.
15:38And then it all goes down
15:39down the toilet
15:40because his frontier contact
15:42just doesn't turn up.
15:43I mean,
15:43there he is
15:44with 45 camel loads
15:46of illegal cotton goods
15:47and no client.
15:49Fortunately for him,
15:50a friendly local Turk
15:51takes it off him
15:52at cost.
15:53Gault
15:53chucks the whole thing up,
15:55comes back here
15:56to Istanbul,
15:57takes the first boat home
15:58to fame and fortune.
16:00As a novelist,
16:01I bet you've never heard of
16:02John Gault?
16:04Nor have I,
16:06nor has anybody
16:07for that matter.
16:11Meanwhile,
16:12in 1810,
16:13Napoleon loses
16:14that war,
16:15so the blockade
16:15is off,
16:16so the smuggling business
16:17leaves Istanbul
16:18for other markets.
16:20Now,
16:20the blockade
16:21has previously
16:21got the Brits
16:22into other kinds
16:23of difficulties
16:24at sea.
16:28Another problem
16:29for the Brits
16:30during that war
16:31is the Americans.
16:33They don't seem
16:34to like being chased
16:35around by British ships,
16:36claiming that the Yanks
16:37are carrying
16:38British deserters
16:39on board,
16:40which the Brits
16:41claim they need back
16:42to help with
16:43the war effort,
16:44about which the Americans
16:45could care less.
16:47But then,
16:48things take
16:49an unpleasant turn.
16:51One of these
16:52American ships
16:52is called
16:53the Chesapeake,
16:55ready to cross
16:55the Atlantic
16:56from Norfolk,
16:57Virginia,
16:58with four of these
16:58quote,
16:59deserters,
17:00unquote,
17:00on board.
17:01So the British Navy
17:03boards the ship
17:04with some
17:04cock and bull story
17:05about wanting
17:06to send mail
17:07back to their granny
17:07in England,
17:08whip out their guns,
17:10and it all gets
17:10very nasty
17:11with people killed
17:12and stuff.
17:13Starts the war
17:14of 1812,
17:15surprise,
17:16surprise.
17:20And that's why
17:21we're here
17:21in Baltimore,
17:22Maryland,
17:22because in 1814,
17:24after burning
17:25the White House,
17:26the Brits moved
17:27down here
17:27to do more
17:28of the same.
17:29They're feeling
17:30good.
17:33Now this is going
17:34to be a piece
17:34of cake,
17:35old boy.
17:42Here's the reason
17:43the Brits are feeling
17:43quietly confident,
17:44the low-tech,
17:46indisciplined,
17:47half-asleep
17:47American soldiery
17:49inside Fort McHenry
17:50here,
17:50who will fall apart
17:52at the first shot.
17:58Now,
17:58why the Brits
17:59at the time
18:00are making jokes
18:01about Americans
18:01and mincemeat.
18:03Let me use
18:03a modern analogy
18:04to show you
18:05why the Brits
18:06are so cock-sure.
18:07They see their
18:08situation,
18:09so to speak,
18:10as this...
18:14versus this...
18:16So you see,
18:17it's only a matter
18:18of time,
18:19old boy.
18:21Which is why
18:22a young American lawyer,
18:24who happens to be
18:24out here on a boat
18:25doing prisoner exchange
18:26and gets caught up
18:27in events,
18:28stays up all night
18:29watching 1,800
18:31British bombs and rockets
18:32reduce American defenders
18:34to what will undoubtedly
18:35be...
18:37abject surrender,
18:38old boy.
18:44Except,
18:45come the dawn
18:46and the time
18:46for the white flag,
18:48what the Americans
18:49actually run up
18:50the flagpole
18:50at Fort McHenry
18:53isn't actually
18:54quite.
18:57Our young American
18:58is so blown away
18:59by all this,
19:00he dashes off
19:00a quick commemorative song.
19:03Back of the envelope,
19:04kind of thing.
19:05Well,
19:05that's the kind of stuff
19:06they did back then.
19:09And from then on,
19:10everybody's singing it
19:11when the flag goes up.
19:14And we Brits
19:15are history.
19:20The ironic thing,
19:21though,
19:21about Francis Scott Key's
19:23Star-Spangled Song
19:24for America
19:25is,
19:25the poem he writes
19:27to commemorate
19:28the way a few
19:28low-tech yanks
19:30beat the British
19:30is actually set
19:32to a tune
19:32that is,
19:33in fact,
19:42English.
19:44Now,
19:44I don't want
19:45to make a big deal
19:46about the Star-Spangled
19:47banner being English,
19:49so let me tell you
19:50a bit about
19:51the original song.
19:52First of all,
19:54here's a few bars
20:00of it.
20:01The song's really called
20:03To Anacreon in Heaven,
20:05Anacreon being the name
20:06of this 18th century
20:08London drinking club,
20:09where Anacreon members
20:10gather to sing
20:11bawdy songs,
20:12pinch the serving
20:13wrenches,
20:13and get a little
20:14unfocused.
20:16So does their singing.
20:17voice,
20:18fiddle,
20:19and flute
20:20no longer
20:23be mute.
20:25Voice,
20:26fiddle,
20:27and flute
20:28no longer
20:30be mute.
20:34See what I mean?
20:35OK,
20:36now for that strange
20:37name these
20:38booters give
20:39themselves,
20:39the Anacreon
20:40Society.
20:41Anacreon turns out
20:42to be the name
20:43of a 6th century
20:44BC ancient
20:45Greek poet,
20:46who,
20:46like these guys,
20:48is into erotica,
20:49alcohol,
20:50and general
20:50misbehaviour.
20:51And why have
20:53a bunch of
20:53London lushes
20:54ever heard
20:55of Anacreon?
20:56Well,
20:56I'll get to that
20:57in a moment.
20:58But first,
20:59where are we?
21:02You remember
21:03Byron,
21:03who meets
21:04John Galt
21:05trying to get
21:06round the blockade
21:06that leads
21:07to the War
21:07of 1812,
21:08and star-spangled
21:10songs that really
21:11start with a
21:12drinking club
21:13named after
21:13Anacreon.
21:14A writer people
21:15get to hear about
21:16because of the way
21:17literature back
21:18in the 16th century
21:19is not exactly
21:20easy to get.
21:25Back then,
21:26it's pretty easy
21:27to find your
21:27friendly local
21:28library.
21:29Just check around
21:30for the nearest
21:30big church.
21:33And you can hardly
21:34miss a place like
21:35this, can you?
21:36Then things get
21:38difficult,
21:39because now
21:39you have to find
21:40the particular thing
21:41you're looking for,
21:42and they haven't
21:43invented a catalogue
21:44yet.
21:45OK, check the
21:47shelves.
21:47That's no good.
21:49There aren't any
21:49shelves for books
21:50yet.
21:51Just heaps of
21:53books.
21:54OK, check the
21:55titles on the
21:56spines of the
21:56books.
21:57Sorry, no books
21:59with titles yet.
22:00OK, ask the
22:01librarian.
22:02You've guessed.
22:03Most places
22:04don't have a
22:05librarian.
22:08So, rootling around
22:10is what you do in
22:11libraries.
22:15In 1551, a French
22:17publisher called
22:17Henry Estienne is
22:19rootling around in
22:20Holland one day
22:21looking for buried
22:22treasure.
22:23Well, that's what it
22:24is if you don't know
22:25it's there, right?
22:25And in terms of the
22:27Greek manuscripts
22:28everybody's looking
22:28for at the time,
22:30buried in the
22:30right words.
22:31It's in the
22:32course of this
22:32literary archaeology
22:33that Henry...
22:35Ah, here he is.
22:37Henry Estienne
22:38comes across that
22:40Greek poet,
22:41Anacreon.
22:42Remember him?
22:43In the appendix of a
22:44manuscript about
22:45something entirely
22:45different.
22:46So Henry hightails
22:48it back to Geneva
22:48with the manuscript
22:49to become the
22:50greatest European
22:51publisher of
22:52Greek lit ever.
22:53And that's how
22:54those London
22:55boozers get to
22:56hear about Anacreon.
22:57Excuse me.
23:00Ah.
23:01Of course,
23:02Estienne does more
23:03than just print
23:04Greek doggerel
23:05for drunks.
23:06He also makes
23:07sure you can
23:07understand it.
23:08Here's his
23:09greatest work.
23:10A Greek
23:11dictionary.
23:12If the Greeks
23:13had a word for it
23:14you'd find it
23:15here.
23:17Makes his name.
23:19and get him
23:20a son-in-law
23:22called
23:24Isaac
23:25Cazorbon
23:27who teaches
23:28at the local
23:29academy,
23:29falls for
23:30Henry's books
23:31and then
23:32falls for
23:32his daughter.
23:34Eighteen
23:34children later,
23:35that's eighteen,
23:37Isaac has taken
23:37over Henry's job
23:38and is a Greek
23:39and Latin teacher
23:40better than
23:41whom there
23:41are very few.
23:42One of the
23:43whom is a
23:44guy back in
23:45Holland called
23:45Julius
23:46Scaliger.
23:47Hang on.
23:48I'm getting
23:49good at this.
23:51Ah!
23:53Scaliger
23:53who writes
23:54to say
23:55how much
23:55he's enjoyed
23:56one of
23:56Isaac's books.
23:58Well,
23:58it's the start
23:59of a beautiful
24:00friendship.
24:01In the end
24:01Isaac writes
24:02him twelve
24:02hundred letters.
24:04About one a
24:04month.
24:05I say about
24:07Scaliger would
24:08have known
24:08the exact
24:08dates.
24:19Scaliger is a
24:20date and
24:21time freak
24:21because things
24:22like candle
24:23burn time
24:24and how long
24:25it takes
24:25for a
24:25sand glass
24:26to run
24:26out
24:27is the best
24:28people can
24:28do about
24:28knowing the
24:29time.
24:30As for the
24:31date,
24:31that's anybody's
24:32guess.
24:32The second
24:33day of some
24:34festival?
24:34Or the
24:35tenth year
24:35of the reign
24:36of some
24:36king?
24:37The real
24:38problem is
24:39it's all
24:40local when
24:41some guy
24:42writing the
24:42chronicles of
24:43some monastery
24:43says things
24:44happened.
24:45So,
24:46Scaliger gets
24:48a grip on
24:48things with
24:49a giant
24:50chronology to
24:51pinpoint
24:51everything.
24:53He takes
24:54the 28-year
24:55solar cycle,
24:56multiplies it
24:57by the 19-year
24:58lunar cycle
24:59and multiplies
25:01that by the
25:0215-year
25:02ancient Roman
25:03tax cycle.
25:04Hey, why not?
25:05And gets
25:06a period
25:07in which
25:07these three
25:08cycles start
25:09on the same
25:09day, cycle
25:10through, and
25:11synchronise
25:12again.
25:12This takes
25:137,980 years.
25:16And the last
25:17time all three
25:18cycles synchronised
25:19was January
25:20the 1st,
25:224713 BC.
25:24So that's kind
25:25of a year dot,
25:25right?
25:26And from
25:27that year,
25:28everything is
25:28fixed by where
25:29it comes on
25:29the three
25:30cycles.
25:31So, for
25:32example, what
25:33we call
25:332000 is
25:36239 solar
25:37cycles plus
25:3821 days,
25:40353 lunar
25:41cycles plus
25:416 days,
25:43447 tax
25:44cycles plus
25:458 days.
25:46Now, when this
25:47thing gets
25:47published, in
25:48what we call
25:49the year
25:501582,
25:52Europe decides
25:53to switch to
25:53a completely new
25:54calendar anyway,
25:55the calendar we
25:56still use today
25:57as it happens.
25:58So, all
26:00Scaliger's work
26:01is instantly
26:02useless.
26:03He must have
26:04felt like taking
26:05a gun and
26:06pulling the
26:06trigger.
26:10Which is
26:11something his
26:11Dutch boss,
26:12Prince Maurice,
26:13is good at.
26:14Well, getting
26:15troops too.
26:20Around 1600,
26:22Maurice is running
26:22a large part of
26:23Holland and he's
26:24very keen on
26:25new weapons
26:25technology.
26:31Which has
26:31recently gone
26:32very high-tech
26:33with this little
26:34thing, the
26:35rave new
26:36wheel lock
26:36pistol.
26:37Works like
26:38so.
26:40Pull the
26:41trigger, that
26:42releases a
26:42wound-up spring,
26:43pushes a metal
26:44striker that
26:45hits a flint,
26:46it sparks,
26:47ignites the
26:47powder,
26:48bang.
26:51Being wound
26:52up and ready
26:52like that also
26:53means you can
26:54fire the pistol
26:54from horseback.
26:59the other
27:00new thing at
27:00the time is
27:02muskets with
27:03paper cartridges.
27:05You just
27:06bite off the
27:07end, pour in
27:09a measured
27:10charge, speed
27:12things right up.
27:13It means you get
27:13a shot off every
27:14two minutes.
27:18Maurice brings
27:18it all together
27:19into an army
27:20ready for
27:20anything, including
27:21his final
27:22innovation, firing
27:24by ranks.
27:39poor old
27:39Morris, all
27:40dressed up and
27:41nowhere to go.
27:42In spite of his
27:43winning ways, he
27:44never does get the
27:45chance to prove that
27:46he's got what it
27:46takes for big league
27:47warfare.
27:50The man who does,
27:51and who wins so
27:52many battles, he
27:53turns Sweden into a
27:54world power for all
27:55of 15 minutes, is the
27:57king of Sweden,
27:58Gustavus Adolphus.
28:01In 1631, Gustavus
28:03ups the ante with
28:04artillery.
28:05You pound a weak
28:06spot in the enemy
28:07ranks with heavy
28:08cannon fire, then you
28:11send the cavalry
28:12into the confusion
28:13to mop up.
28:14Gustavus' armies win
28:15all their battles
28:16with this new trick
28:17because Sweden has
28:19tons of iron and
28:19copper, essential
28:21raw materials you
28:22need when you want
28:23to be good at
28:23killing people.
28:25A talent that, as
28:26you will see, runs
28:28in Gustavus' family.
28:35That's why we are
28:36now in sunny Italy
28:37with the next king
28:38of Sweden, a woman,
28:39but Swedish monarchs
28:41are all called king,
28:42named Cristina, who's
28:44good at killing
28:44people.
28:45But first, her other
28:47talents.
28:56Cristina abdicates and
28:57runs away to Italy
28:58where she has an
28:59affair with a cardinal
29:00and protects this
29:02composer here, Scarlatti,
29:03from Vatican intrigue,
29:04as well as saving
29:05Roman Jews from
29:06persecution.
29:15Cristina also opens a
29:16philosophy school, gets
29:18deeply involved with
29:19the civil rights
29:20movement, and gives
29:21up her royal pension
29:22for good causes.
29:24Cristina is one
29:25special lady.
29:32Which only leaves a bit
29:34about killing people.
29:35Well, I don't suppose
29:36she actually kills him
29:38early on.
29:39While she is still
29:40queen, sorry, king, she
29:42does royal command this
29:43chap to get up at five
29:44in the morning in
29:45Stockholm in January in
29:47blizzards to give her
29:48lessons in how to think,
29:50which gives him pneumonia
29:51and he dies.
29:54Who is this wimp?
29:56Only the man who gives us
29:57all lessons in how to think.
29:58French mega-genius, engineer,
30:01philosopher, and general
30:02whiz, René Descartes,
30:05whom we'll get to after a
30:07few more bars.
30:16OK, where are we?
30:18That teacher, Kazubon,
30:20remember, knows Scalija,
30:21who invents that chronology
30:23thing, and whose boss,
30:25Prince Maurice, makes
30:25military advances improved
30:27on by Swedish king
30:28Gustavus, whose daughter
30:30Christina runs away to
30:32Italy after she's caused
30:33the death of philosopher
30:34René Descartes.
30:36Speaking of which,
30:37here's what Descartes
30:38thinks about the universe.
30:43Descartes thinks the
30:44universe works a bit like
30:45this modern water supply
30:46control centre, because
30:48back then, water power
30:50runs everything.
30:51So Descartes thinks of
30:52everything, plants, animals,
30:54people, like machines
30:56operating on some kind of
30:57fluid power moving their
30:59bodies with valves and pumps
31:01and stuff, sending fluid
31:03along tubes to make your
31:05muscles work.
31:10He even takes this
31:11mechanical approach to the
31:13way the human brain works.
31:15And since your brain
31:16controls your body, he
31:18reckons it's a kind of
31:19fluid control centre, like
31:21this one is, sending fluids
31:23down the nerves.
31:25Of course, brain fluid is
31:27invisible, because, well,
31:29nobody's ever seen it.
31:31Mind you, one English chap
31:33tries.
31:44The brainy type in question is a
31:47top medical whiz at Oxford, and
31:49he and other clever pals often
31:51meet and eat at somebody's
31:52house, so they can network on
31:54the latest stuff and be nerds
31:56together.
32:02This is the guy, Thomas
32:04Willis.
32:07The wonderful thing about the
32:09past is you have to keep
32:11remembering the real world
32:12around them.
32:13I mean, these guys live at a
32:16time when they punish criminals
32:18by cutting them into four pieces.
32:20The sewage in the streets would
32:21make you throw up, and yet
32:23here they are, 17th century
32:26propeller heads, making like
32:28MIT, surrounded by disease and
32:32filth, with people being taken
32:34seriously dead of old age at 40.
32:37These guys are designing
32:38incredibly delicate instruments
32:40like this to observe, oh, the
32:43vacuum, barometric pressure, the
32:46lunar effect of the tides, the
32:48nature of the blood.
32:50Willis himself takes on the
32:51last great nerd's challenge.
32:53How does the brain work?
32:55And in 1664, he comes out with
32:58a book that will be the last
32:59word in brainology for 150
33:01years.
33:02Here we are, the first time the
33:04new Descartes mechanical
33:05approach has been taken in
33:06medicine, and a rave best
33:08seller all over Europe.
33:09The reason Willis blows
33:11everybody away with this load
33:12of scribble is because his
33:14books have some of the best
33:15brain pictures you've ever
33:16seen before or since.
33:19Take a look.
33:20The first modern view of the
33:22brain, which bit does what?
33:24And Willis is the first person
33:27to finger this bit as having
33:29something to do with running
33:30your autonomic functions, heart,
33:32respiration, that stuff.
33:34And you're a neurologist.
33:37Thank Willis for having invented
33:38the word.
33:39Pretty amazing stuff, eh?
33:42Ho-hum to Willis's pal, who does
33:44all the drawings?
33:45Well, take a look at what else he
33:48draws.
33:57Willis's draftsman friend is a
33:59super egghead in a century of
34:01eggheads.
34:02Apart from this little job, he's
34:03also expert in astronomy, math,
34:06optics, weather forecasting, and
34:08submarines.
34:09As you can see, he's also hot
34:11stuff on the drawing board and
34:13at the real thing.
34:14In this case, St Paul's Cathedral,
34:16London, of which he is the
34:18architect, Sir Christopher Wren,
34:20who gets the job when he's only
34:2236.
34:24More than his fair share of
34:25success, right?
34:27Mind you, he does pretty well
34:28there too, in shares.
34:34Now, back then, all you need to
34:37make money on the new stock
34:38market is money.
34:40No problem.
34:41All you have to do is persuade
34:42investors to buy shares in one of
34:45the newly invented banks.
34:52It's the French who try it first,
34:54persuaded by the guy who thinks up
34:55this nifty new idea, a Scotsman
34:57called John Law.
34:59Now, the new shareholder bank in
35:01Paris is so successful, the
35:03French government takes it over.
35:04And in no time at all, John Law
35:08has persuaded the French, whose
35:10economy is going down the toilet
35:11fast, by the way, to start using
35:13an amazing new thing called
35:14paper money.
35:21In 1717, thanks to John Law, on any
35:24French street, you can also buy shares
35:27in his new offshore investment
35:28properties.
35:32Any risk?
35:33How dare you!
35:34Take a look at this evidence of how
35:36to get filthy rich.
35:37It's the poster John Law designs to
35:39act as a prospectus for what is
35:42touted to be an unequalled opportunity
35:44to make a killing.
35:46But since this is before truth in
35:47packaging, it's all smoke and
35:49mirrors stuff.
35:51A beautiful city.
35:53It hasn't been built yet.
35:55Fringed by scenic mountains.
35:57There are none.
35:59With obedient and hardworking locals.
36:02That'll be the day.
36:04And ships coming and going, loaded to
36:06the gunwales with emeralds, gold and
36:08silver.
36:09In your dreams.
36:13Well, French little old ladies put
36:16their savings into this scam like they
36:18were going to make a thousand percent.
36:20Which some do.
36:21And Law uses the cash to found a
36:24capital city in his overseas investment
36:26paradise, called Louisiana, and
36:29naturally gives the city a French
36:30name.
36:31New Orleans.
36:46Well, three years later, Law has
36:48introduced the word millionaire into
36:50the language, has taken the title
36:52Duke of Arkansas, and it's about as
36:54rich as you can get.
36:57When things go, inevitably, right down
36:59the toilet.
37:07See, the only legal thing about John Law
37:10is his name.
37:12Basically, the whole Louisiana thing
37:15is one gigantic gamble.
37:24Of course, it all goes wrong.
37:26All kinds of shady underworld types and
37:29crooked politicians get in on the game.
37:31There's a national scandal, followed by a
37:33run on the banks, followed by the words
37:35every investor loves to hear.
37:39Sorry, you lose.
37:43So, what does Law do next?
37:46Jump ship over the border from France into
37:49Switzerland, leaving thousands of ruined
37:51investors in his wake, jumping out of the window.
37:54Things in France go from bad to catastrophic.
38:00Now, you'd think the French reaction to this mess would be to ship their financial advisors
38:05off to prison somewhere and take austerity measures.
38:08Instead, they do something totally insane, which I'll get to after we stop for a quick
38:14catch-up.
38:15You remember Descartes and his mechanical view of the brain?
38:18And Willis' brain book, with pictures by the guy who builds St. Paul's, and who also
38:24makes money in stocks and shares, as does John Law with his great Louisiana scam that
38:30bankrupts the French economy when it all goes wrong.
38:32Now for the bit I mentioned about insanity.
38:36This.
38:37The penniless French actually bankroll the American Revolution.
38:41A matter, which must have been the subject of severe embarrassment, at the military debriefings
38:46held when it was all over and the impossible had happened.
38:49A few American rebels had beaten the British army.
38:55Right, people.
38:56I don't know how we let it happen, but these are the facts.
39:00The John Law disaster sends the French economy down the tubes, as you know.
39:04Next slide, please.
39:06The key player in what happens then, a French guy called Caron de Beaumarchais.
39:12At some point, the French Secret Service recruits Beaumarchais.
39:16And in 1776, he goes on a mission.
39:19Next slide, please.
39:20To London.
39:22His impression is the British would like an excuse to pull out of North America.
39:26So the French set him up with this fake company at this secret location in Paris.
39:34Stage one infiltration of French agents into British America begins with the top secret
39:41purchase of 25,000 muskets, 200 cannon and gunpowder for the American rebels.
39:46And this document, congressional approval, of undercover French military advisors, then troops, then ships, then a Navy blockade.
39:57All this, of course, totally deniable.
40:01Well, you know the result.
40:02Run the tape.
40:06The American Revolution, which bankrupts the French economy.
40:11So, next slide, please.
40:12This guy, a Swiss banker, Jacques Necker, is called in to sort out the mess.
40:18Now, he does a smoke and mirrors job.
40:20Fake national budget accounts, rampant inflation.
40:24By 1789, he's been fired.
40:26And that triggers the French Revolution.
40:30Necker takes the same road as John Law did, remember?
40:34Over the border to Switzerland, to be forgotten by history.
40:38Unlike, run the tape, please, his daughter, as you will see.
40:55Necker's daughter marries and becomes Madame de Stahl, well-known as the author of a book on German culture and
41:02a general pain in the ass.
41:03Most of her life is spent in bedrooms with more lovers than she can count,
41:07and with crowds of fans who sit around, in the same bedroom, while she holds forth on any subject you'd
41:13care to name.
41:14These exercises in vacuous chatter become known as salons, and de Stahls become famous all over Europe.
41:23One thing this lady does not lack is an opinion.
41:27Now, at one point when she's writing that book on Germany,
41:30she gets deeply into the back-to-nature romantic movement
41:34and meets a romantic writer and real drip, named August von Schlegel, who falls for her.
41:47Schlegel becomes de Stahl's insignificant other
41:50and learns to live with the fact that, well, it's never going to happen.
41:55So he settles for the role of lapdog and breakfastmaker.
42:01Meanwhile, writing the rules for the new romantic movement
42:04as he and Madame de Stahl rocket around Europe
42:08and his middle name becomes Laughingstock.
42:13To stir things up even further,
42:16Schlegel's wife has run off with one of his fellow romantic gurus.
42:19That guy up there, the thinking woman's fancy.
42:23Friedrich von Schelling, who applies the romantic principle to everything
42:27and invents a new buzzword.
42:29Nature philosophy.
42:31Now, the ingredients to the new nature philosophy philosophy are quite simple.
42:36Nature, overall, has oneness and symmetry.
42:40And according to friend Schelling,
42:43if you're one of the new Industrial Revolution scientists,
42:46oneness and symmetry should be your major project.
42:50Well, for most of them, that's easy to say.
42:52But where to start first?
42:55It's a chicken and egg problem.
42:59Funnily enough,
43:00the guy who makes sense of Schelling's scrambled thoughts
43:03does just that.
43:05He looks at chickens and eggs.
43:13The guy who eggs everybody on to further study of oneness and symmetry
43:17lives here in Estonia.
43:25By 1828, he knows all there is to know
43:28about what happens to an embryo chicken from conception to hatch out.
43:32That's why his face is on Estonian money today.
43:34He's the country's greatest egg-spurt, so to speak.
43:38Here he is, this hen-pecked type,
43:40name of von Baer,
43:42a medical doctor whose research discoveries
43:44tend to make the scientific feathers fly,
43:47even today.
43:48Here, where he lives,
43:50in the city of Tartu,
43:51von Baer concentrates his attention
43:53on that business of nature being all oneness and symmetry.
43:56As a result, wait for this,
43:58he classifies every living thing
44:00into four different symmetrical shapes.
44:02A scientific breakthrough
44:04with which you could say
44:06he lays an egg.
44:14Well, things are symmetrical, aren't they?
44:17Underwhelming kind of discovery, wouldn't you say?
44:23It's at this point
44:24that von Baer chickens out of the symmetry business
44:27and starts the work
44:28that I've been making all those bad jokes about.
44:36After years of eye strain,
44:39staring down the microscope
44:40at the most minute detail of bits of chicken,
44:43you're getting the point,
44:45von Baer is eventually able to make an announcement
44:48that it will change only life as we know it.
44:51Take a sneak preview.
44:54See those folds running along the centre
44:56of the embryo tissue?
44:58Von Baer reckons they roll up
45:00into nerves and spinal column.
45:04But his really amazing contribution
45:07as an embryologist
45:08is something that will knock
45:10everybody's developmental socks off.
45:13Try a time-lapse view.
45:17Von Baer says this is the way
45:19chicken embryos develop,
45:20from general blobs of tissue
45:22to more and more specialist bits,
45:24legs, wings, beak,
45:27all the things a chicken needs.
45:31And that this is a general rule.
45:33Development goes from the general
45:35to the specific.
45:38OK, blindingly obvious to you.
45:40But remember back then,
45:42nobody knows this stuff.
45:44Especially the really big news
45:46von Baer comes out with.
45:47And that if you look very carefully
45:49at the way embryos develop...
45:54In the case of humans,
45:55along the way we pass through stages
45:57that in lower life forms
45:59would be the fully developed stage.
46:01With gills, for instance.
46:03And a temporary,
46:04but well-developed, tail.
46:10So, at one point,
46:12we human embryos
46:13go through a stage
46:14as complex as, say,
46:17a grown-up oyster.
46:18So, not surprisingly,
46:20the guy who first floats
46:21von Baer's ideas
46:22to the scientific establishment
46:24does so
46:25after he's been at sea
46:26for a number of years.
46:35He does his work
46:36in places that are
46:37holiday destinations today.
46:39New Guinea,
46:40East Australia,
46:40the Pacific,
46:41that stuff.
46:42He's a young naval officer
46:44called Huxley.
46:45And his obsession at the time
46:47is picking up
46:48on that developmental work
46:49of von Baer's.
46:51Like,
46:51does it happen
46:52under the water as well?
46:53So he spends most of four years
46:56between 1846 and 1850
47:00splashing about in the water
47:01every time they park the boat.
47:03Well,
47:04Her Majesty's Ship Rattlesnake,
47:06actually,
47:07which is doing
47:07an absolutely gripping survey
47:09of the South Seas.
47:12But what turns Huxley
47:14to jelly with excitement
47:15is this.
47:17Jellyfish.
47:19I suppose the really convenient
47:21thing about these blobs
47:22is that you can see through them,
47:24so you can make all kinds
47:25of acute observations
47:26about how to chop them up
47:28before you actually do it.
47:31So Huxley does
47:32make acute observations.
47:38Well,
47:39more like earth-shattering
47:40discoveries, actually.
47:47Huxley sees that jellyfish
47:48seem to consist of two kinds
47:50of tissue,
47:50an outer skin tissue
47:52and an inner muscle tissue,
47:54which is just what
47:55Von Baer says
47:56his chicken embryos
47:57seem to be made like.
48:02So,
48:03earth-shattering bit
48:04coming up now.
48:05Is the humble jellyfish,
48:07lower and simpler
48:08than which it is difficult
48:09to find,
48:10connected in some way
48:11to chickens?
48:12And maybe even cats,
48:14dogs,
48:15apes,
48:15and maybe even...
48:18Well,
48:18I bet you're there
48:19ahead of me
48:19when I say that
48:20Huxley takes these ideas
48:21back to England
48:22when he finds himself
48:23agreeing with a guy
48:24who's saying
48:26that this is all true,
48:28but the process
48:29includes human beings
48:30as well.
48:32And getting into
48:33deep doo-doo
48:34with the church,
48:35who don't like at all
48:36the idea
48:37of connecting humans
48:38with animals.
48:51Ladies and gentlemen,
48:52in the blue corner,
48:53theological champion
48:54for the Church of England
48:56Oxford Bishop
48:56Soapy Sam Wilberforce.
49:01In the red corner,
49:03representing science,
49:04the thinking woman's fancy,
49:05Dr. D. H. Huxley.
49:09And now,
49:10ladies and gentlemen,
49:11some of the highlights
49:12of this incredible match.
49:14And the bell goes.
49:17Wilberforce goes
49:18straight for the juggler.
49:19Everything the man writes
49:21is hypothetical.
49:23There's not a fact in sight.
49:25Huxley parries.
49:26The book is full of facts.
49:28And as for it being hypothetical,
49:30so is the wave theory of light.
49:32And yet you are prepared
49:34to accept that.
49:35Another Sunday punch
49:36from Wilberforce.
49:38Species simply do not change.
49:41If you look at
49:42ancient Egyptian tombs,
49:43there they all are
49:45exactly the same.
49:46Cats, pigeons, people.
49:49Huxley comes back
49:51with a right cross.
49:52This is the best explanation
49:54for where species
49:55come from so far.
49:57And now,
49:57the killer exchange.
49:59Tell me,
50:00which of your grandparents
50:02was descended from an ape?
50:05Huxley's on the ropes.
50:06And then...
50:07I'd rather be related
50:09to an ape
50:09than to a man
50:10of ability and position
50:12who used his brains
50:13to pervert the truth.
50:15It's a knockout!
50:17It's a knockout!
50:20It's a knockout!
50:22Thanks to Huxley,
50:23the new theory
50:24survives all attacks
50:25and lives on to this day
50:27and lives on to this day
50:27to explain
50:29how instant coffee
50:30and jeeps
50:31lead to nylons
50:32and stocking machines
50:33smashed by Luddites
50:34who are defended by Byron
50:36who in Turkey
50:37meets John Gault
50:38dodging the same blockade
50:39that inspires
50:40the Star-Spangled Banner,
50:41really an English song,
50:43all about a Greek poet
50:44discovered by a publisher
50:45whose son-in-law
50:46is pals with
50:47Scaligia of chronology fame,
50:49whose military boss,
50:50Maurice,
50:51inspires Gustavus of Sweden,
50:53father of the runaway Christina,
50:55whose teacher
50:55Descartes' mechanical universe
50:57inspires the book
50:58on brains by Willis,
51:00illustrated by the architect
51:01of St. Paul's,
51:02Christopher Wren,
51:03who's into investments
51:04like the Louisiana scam
51:06that ruins France
51:07and the French finance minister,
51:08whose daughter
51:09is the opinionated Dysdal,
51:11whose romantic pals
51:12get Huxley into jellyfish
51:14so he can defend
51:15the theory of evolution
51:17that survives
51:18to become the evolutionary
51:20explanation for everything
51:22and proving,
51:23as I said at the start,
51:25that life is no picnic.
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