Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Decades of dottiness
The BBC has dusted off forgotten footage of everyday Britons for a series that proves eccentricity really does run in our blood
This must be every film-maker’s worst nightmare. Halfway up Ben Nevis, in Scotland, an intrepid investigator thinks he has stumbled upon TV gold. A woman is walking in the snow, clad in what looks like a nightie under her overcoat. Why, for goodness sake? The reporter – investigating the weird and wonderful people who climb
Ben Nevis at all hours of the day and night – goes forward to ask her. ‘She declined to answer,’ he reports. ‘ She said it was nobody’s business but her own.’
With hindsight, though, his footage from 1982 is a television gem all of its own, the sort that might go viral if it happened today. And a new series, called Armchair Britain, is packed full of them.
The show, narrated by Miriam Margolyes, is a cross between a travelogue and a trip down memory lane. Each episode takes viewers to a corner of Britain, and longforgotten BBC archive footage brings alive not just the place, but the inhabitants. And if there is one conclusion to be drawn, it must be that we are a nation of eccentrics.
‘It’s the people who stand out,’ agrees producer Verity Maidlow, who trawled through decades of dusty old tapes. ‘The interesting thing about a lot of the early footage is how unfazed people were by the cameras, not at all self- conscious. They can be funny, abrupt – not rude, but not afraid to say, “Mind your own business.”’
These days, some of the individuals captured on camera – in news clips, documentary footage, even via home video – would be instant media stars, probably en route to a reality TV career. But in the pre-YouTube era, footage was seen by the nation then promptly forgotten.
What a treat to have these characters come back to life. Another gem is in the episode which takes viewers on a whistlestop historical tour of the East End of London. All the usual suspects are there
– the Pearly Kings and Queens, the jellied-eel sellers, the gangsters – but so too is charismatic Fred, the resident rag-and-bone man in 1959. Fred looks like a movie star playing a rag-and- bone man (‘ but he’s entirely real,’ says Verity).
He is interviewed about the unwanted items he has collected from families, including several pairs of trousers past their best – and he admits they won’t be sellable in the
UK, so will most likely be shipped to ‘poorer countries, like Spain or Italy’. Miriam Margolyes – watching from the comfort of her armchair – quips that perhaps the difficulty of our Brexit negotiations is because these ‘poor’ countries are getting revenge after having our ‘manky trousers’ foisted on them.
Armchair Britain came about when those working in the BBC archives realised what a treasure trove of social history they had. They came up with the idea of dividing some of the old footage into episodes, based on geography. The splicing together of unconnected footage – and having the eversharp Margolyes add her trademark wit and warmth – might seem contrived, but the series will chime with older generations and teach the younger ones a thing or two.
So who else do we meet? The first episode focuses on Cornwall. There is some splendid footage of the poet Sir John Betjeman bodyboarding (yes, you read that right. He was a keen surfer). There is a charming segment with sisters Babs and Evelyn Atkins. In 1965 they bought a tiny island off the coast near Looe and made it their home. With no cars, no neighbours and the only access to the mainland via boat, it was quite an undertaking. The sisters are long dead, but their interview is utterly charming.
There is modern footage too – one segment in an episode on Brighton is from last year, but it has an olde worlde feel. Zack Pinsent is a tailor who uses only techniques and materials from the past to create bespoke outfits which call to mind more opulent times. Why? Thankfully, unlike the lady on Ben Nevis, he was happy to explain. ‘He said, “Why go to Tesco in jeans and a T-shirt, when you can go dressed as Napoleon?”’ says Verity. British whimsy never goes out of fashion, it seems.
Armchair Britain, Monday-Friday, 11.45am, BBC1.