National treasure pays tribute to a piece of Greenhithe history

Sir Michael Palin visited The John Franklin, a pub, commemorating a group of 19th century Arctic explorers today.

Transcript

00:00 I'm very glad to be here. I should have come here to do my research, but I went to Tasmania

00:05 and the Falklands instead because it was easier than going through the Blackwall Tunnel.

00:09 His travels have taken him around the world in 80 days, pole to pole, even to North Korea and Iraq.

00:17 So the Sir John Franklin pub in Greenhithe might not seem to have the same exotic allure for Sir

00:23 Michael Palin, but for the globe-trotting broadcaster and author, the North Kent town

00:28 has a special resonance. It's a very important part of the story of Erebus, which I wrote the

00:34 book about, because that was a ship which John Franklin commanded and was going to go up to the

00:40 North West Passage and they left from here. This was their last port of call and the last time,

00:48 of course, that a lot of the families and colleagues would have seen them because they

00:54 never came back. So it's freighted with significance here. It was from this spot almost 180 years ago

01:02 that the Franklin expedition set out on its mission, one which if successful would bring

01:07 about untold economic and imperial prestige. But it ended in tragedy. Both ships, the Erebus and

01:14 the Terror, were lost and all 129 souls on board perished. The mystery around the disappearance

01:21 though is what has fascinated historians and adventurers like Sir Michael to this day. It's

01:27 a detective story really. It's a mystery story. What exactly went wrong? Why did it go wrong?

01:33 Should they have been in a different place? Did they take the right course at a certain time?

01:38 It's all hypothetical, but there's always that feeling that we'll find some documents somewhere.

01:44 That's the hook of this one, is, you know, be the one to solve the mystery of what happened to

01:53 Erebus and Terror. It's some of your robes or something like that. The unveiling of a special

01:57 plaque, draped in a Norwegian blue cover of course, acknowledges this voyage and those who were part

02:03 of it, while also seeking to spark a wider public interest in its connection to Kentish and British

02:10 history. Greenhithe is of course a maritime place with a connection to the sea and I hope that

02:17 people will come here and properly appreciate that it has had this connection to the outside world

02:24 and that they will come along and they will see the plaque and they'll appreciate the story of

02:29 the expedition and what happened and that they will be better informed as a result of it.

02:38 Sir Michael's set to return to our screens later this year with a three-part adventure

02:43 around Nigeria, but the question everyone wants to know is, where's left on his bucket list?

02:49 Well look, I'm 80 now, I can't go rushing around the world quite the same way.

02:54 If I can get up the stairs, that's pretty good. My curiosity is still very, very strong.

03:00 Where to go next, I just don't know. I mean, I'm still tempted. You just have to work out,

03:08 can you do it? Will someone pay for it? Otherwise I've just gone on a lot of holidays,

03:14 but I will keep travelling. If there are spelling errors, not much you can do, is there?

03:18 Cameron Tucker, KMTV, in Greenhithe.