Clips from the biographical drama (an ep. of "The Edwardians") about the first Rolls-Royce car. In the early years of the 20th century, the motor car was not only new but was looked upon by almost everyone as something that was unreliable and had little future. Frederick Royce from Birmingham had a different view. His company manufactured electric dynamos but his passion became the gasoline powered motor car. Throughout most of 1903 and into the first months of 1904, he designed, built and tested his first 2-cylinder car. Its quality in terms of reliability and smooth running was unknown at the time. Charles Rolls meanwhile lived in London and shared Royce's passion for the automobile. The son of a Baron, Rolls was an adventurer who liked to test the limits of cars, balloons and airplanes. An avid racer and balloonist, he had little difficulty selling Royce's vehicles once the two finally met in 1904 and together formed Rolls-Royce Ltd in 1906. Their emphasis on quality automobiles remains their hallmark today. Rolls was killed in an airplane crash in 1910 while Royce lived on for many years.
Starring Robert Powell, Michael Jayston, Barrie Cookson, Tim Hardy, Rosalind Lloyd, Eve Pearce, Tim Harty, Mary Hignett, Denis Gilmore, John Franklyn-Robbins.
Starring Robert Powell, Michael Jayston, Barrie Cookson, Tim Hardy, Rosalind Lloyd, Eve Pearce, Tim Harty, Mary Hignett, Denis Gilmore, John Franklyn-Robbins.
Category
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PeopleTranscript
00:00You'll kill yourself.
00:02That's my lookout.
00:04Not with all of us depending on you, it isn't.
00:06Six o'clock in the morning, how long have you been up there?
00:08I'm gonna make one of these.
00:10You what?
00:11These things.
00:12Motor car? Aye.
00:14But you detest them.
00:15We've got to do something to save us from the workhouse.
00:17Oh no, Fred, you can't.
00:19Listen, the articles are the company for one thing, they don't allow it.
00:22And for another.
00:23The shareholders, what about the shareholders?
00:24What about them?
00:25Well, they must be consulted.
00:26Besides, what do you know about motor cars?
00:28What if I can't do better than that?
00:30Eric, drop what you're on and help me here.
00:32Stand there.
00:33Take this pad and edit with a date.
00:34What is the date?
00:35The 4th.
00:36Right, 4th January 1903.
00:38De Cauville Motor Car.
00:40Now, as I take each piece out, number it and sketch it.
00:43And measurements.
00:44Write down the measurements as I call them.
00:46We're taking this thing to bits, piece by piece, alright?
00:48Right, sir.
00:50One automatic inlet valve.
00:52Two and two-fifth inches.
00:54And if you do make one, how do you propose to sell it?
00:59He's got shares in a company in Manchester.
01:01Royce Limited.
01:02They're making a car.
01:03They're electrical.
01:04Oh, are they?
01:05Yes.
01:06Make dynamos.
01:07Electric carriage, that's what that would be.
01:09Oh, have you seen this?
01:12Look.
01:13The steam chariot of Chelmsford.
01:16What a monster.
01:17Horrible, you know.
01:18And you see these every day in Hyde Park, belching out great clouds of black smoke.
01:22Chauvin has to stop every few miles to shovel in the coals.
01:25What are they asking for?
01:26Four hundred.
01:28Do you know what I want above all else?
01:31Is to sell a really good car with my name on it.
01:34So that it will become a household word like Broadwood or Steinway on pianos.
01:39Chubb on safes.
01:40Cheddar on cheese.
01:41Absolutely.
01:42What?
01:4616th of September, 1903.
01:51Mr. Royce tests engine number 15196.
01:56Mr. Royce here.
02:09It's two o'clock in the morning.
02:11Can we go home?
02:12Hmm?
02:27Do it again!
02:45Mr. Rowles.
02:46Mr. Royce.
02:47How do you do, sir?
02:48How do you do?
02:49Kind of you to make the trip.
02:50I happen to be this way and you keep on writing to us, so I thought...
02:52Come and have something to eat.
02:54Or would you like to see the motor first?
02:56No, thank you.
02:57I'm in no hurry.
02:58You motored up?
02:59Came up by train, actually.
03:00Really?
03:01Bless Majesty.
03:03Hmm.
03:04What will you have?
03:05It's very good food here.
03:06No, I'm not a great eater.
03:08Nor me.
03:12We're an incredible country, you know.
03:14France has taken the motor car to her heart and benefited beyond her dreams, but England...
03:18A disgrace.
03:20You know, I was once prosecuted for not having a man with a red flag walking in front of me.
03:24And for furious driving.
03:26How fast was that?
03:2713 miles an hour.
03:29That's England for you.
03:31A nation of horse worshippers.
03:32Absolutely.
03:33You can't control them.
03:34A motor at 20 is under better control than a handsome at 10.
03:37And do you know 240 tons of horse manure has to be cleaned up in the West End alone every day of the year?
03:43And the cruelty those poor beasts have to suffer to force them to 15 miles an hour.
03:50Is this it?
03:51This is it.
03:53It's a gladiator of all days.
03:55It's a Royce.
04:03Funny little thing.
04:05That's what my wife says.
04:07Shall I start her?
04:09If you please.
04:21What's the matter?
04:23What?
04:24Won't she start?
04:26She's going.
04:38Shall we petrolize?
04:40How did you achieve the quiet?
04:42Horse sense.
04:44An inappropriate term, if I may say so.
04:51How many of these could we make?
04:54How many do you want?
04:56Say 20?
04:59I think we might manage that.
05:02You build the chassis, we'll add the bodywork.
05:05We may suggest some modifications.
05:08Of course.
05:13One point.
05:15You're unknown, I'm known.
05:17I think we should call the motor by both our names.
05:20How do you mean?
05:21Hyphenate it.
05:22It's a sales point.
05:24You'd have no objection.
05:25I don't think so.
05:27And Royce Rolls sounds rather good.
05:30Actually, I was thinking of a different arrangement.
05:34Royce Rolls is nice on the tongue.
05:37Not so easy as Rolls-Royce.
05:42It's a brilliant car, but unless we can have a lot more, it's not worth it commercially.
05:46Not worth what?
05:47Undertaking a major sales campaign, getting the car known.
05:50We've half killed ourselves producing those.
05:53It's only been a few weeks and we're working 18-hour days.
05:56Mr. Royce's health broke down totally last year from overwork.
05:59Couldn't you delegate?
06:00No.
06:01That's it, you see.
06:02If you insist on testing every single part of every single car yourself,
06:05running each bit on the bench for days, how can you become commercial?
06:08That's my worry.
06:09Ours too now.
06:10We haven't the room or the staff.
06:12Transfer them off your electrical work.
06:13What?
06:14That's what we started with.
06:15That's what we've done for 14 years.
06:17All the more reason.
06:18Couldn't you chuck the electrical side altogether and use the space for cars?
06:21No, we could not.
06:22There's no future in electricity, you know.
06:24What?
06:25That's just my opinion.
06:26What do you mean, no future in electricity?
06:28Gentlemen, we're getting off the point.
06:31Have you any further requests?
06:33Oh, yes.
06:34Can you make us some 15-horsepower three-cylinders,
06:3620-horsepower four-cylinders, and 30-horsepower six-cylinders?
06:39In addition to an increased output on what you're already taking?
06:42Yes.
06:43If you standardize the parts,
06:44you can make two, three, four, and six-cylinders from the same basic design.
06:47We'd also like some motors to show for the Paris salon.
06:49What sort?
06:50Four and six-cylinders, actually.
06:51But you've only just asked for them.
06:53That's right.
06:54When is the Paris salon?
06:55December.
06:56Moses, four months.
06:58Design, build, and deliver.
07:01The best car in the world.
07:08All right.
07:10Mr. Rowles, how do you suggest we should celebrate Captain Northy's success?
07:14A public presentation?
07:16A champagne dinner?
07:23That's better.
07:24He's a rotten sport.
07:25You can't talk business with him in this state.
07:27But we must bring up Mr. Briggs' idea, though,
07:30amalgamating the two companies.
07:31I mean, put it to him.
07:32I'm not amalgamating with that arrogant bastard.
07:35The little Kaiser, they call him.
07:36I can see why.
07:37But Mr. Briggs' financial sense is impeccable.
07:40We'd be fools to ignore anything he advises.
07:42You think?
07:43I am going to celebrate one of my cars coming second.
07:45Our cars.
07:46My cars!
07:47It was a Rolls.
07:48I designed it.
07:49You wouldn't have gone anywhere but for me.
07:50You incorporated all my best ideas.
07:52Who made it in the first place?
07:53They call them Rollses.
07:54They call them Rollses.
07:56Our biggest shareholder has suggested we amalgamate our two companies,
07:59form a new one, Rolls-Royce Limited.
08:01What do you think of that?
08:02I think that's a perfectly hideous idea.
08:03I entirely agree.
08:04He must be mad.
08:05That's what I told him.
08:06I think I ought to give up the agency for these cars of yours anyway.
08:09Oh, good.
08:10I've been approached by other retailers.
08:11What?
08:12Who?
08:13Ah, no.
08:14We have the sole selling rights.
08:15My company.
08:16I thought you were giving them up.
08:18Selling them?
08:19I'll sell them.
08:20You give me 10% and then I'll tell you.
08:23Well, why did Briggs suggest amalgamation anyway?
08:26You've got to realize that we're on the verge of bankruptcy.
08:30I have the distinct impression that you're not far behind.
08:34Mr. Briggs says go public, raise capital on the grounds of amalgamation.
08:38Your fiasco on the Isle of Man cost us both a fortune.
08:43Fiasco?
08:45Well, what else would you call it?
08:46We were a laughingstock.
08:52I know you think that the aristocracy will always reign,
08:56equality will always win through and all that,
08:58but it didn't with the dynamos, Fred, and that was the Americans as well.
09:03Fred.
09:06Mr. Rowles is here to see you, Uncle.
09:08Oh, my poor fellow.
09:10It's nothing, it's nothing.
09:11How are you feeling?
09:12Fine, I'm all right.
09:14There's a warning sign, apparently.
09:16I've got to rest and eat.
09:18Both terrible wastes of time.
09:20Heart?
09:21And not enough petrol getting to the carburettor.
09:23Overwork?
09:25No, no, no, nothing like that.
09:28Oh, tell Eric Platford there was no wrong with this but a loose spring.
09:32I did under your coat, eh, on the way out.
09:34Mrs. Royce doesn't come in here.
09:37If she can't bear illness or anything unpleasant.
09:42CJ has drawn up some amalgamation papers, I believe.
09:46Yes, yes, good.
09:51Bloody disgrace!
09:53Absolutely bleeding scandalous!
09:55Bugger off!
09:56Go on, shut up!
09:57Get your money and bugger off out of my works!
10:00Work back to normal.
10:06Amalgamation papers for the Board of Trade.
10:08C.S. Rowles & Company and Royce Limited are to be wound up
10:11and their assets will be taken over by the new company.
10:15I see Mr. Ford's coming over from the States for a visit.
10:19He doesn't worry us.
10:22And Charlie Jarrett set up a new record from Monte Carlo to London.
10:28Speed record, I mean.
10:29I see you've raised Owen's wages.
10:31Oh, he couldn't cope. Four pounds a week isn't much for a mechanic.
10:34I guess three pounds, twelve and sixpence.
10:36What was Jarrett's time?
10:38About 36 hours, I believe.
10:40Would that suit you? I mean publicity?
10:44You mean, if you were to...
10:52You know what Mr. Johnson's thinking of calling in this, sir?
10:54What?
10:55The six ceilings.
10:56He's having all the buddy work done in silver
10:58and calling it a silver ghost.
11:00Those sales lovers are as mad as hatters.
11:04Don't do that!
11:07What's this?
11:08We're allowed to make it up an alloy, sir.
11:10We couldn't afford nickel steel.
11:12That's what Mr. Claremont told you.
11:13Oh, what's the point?
11:15Why should I slave my guts out?
11:17Go on, get out.
11:18Yeah, but...
11:19Did I tell you to make it up an alloy?
11:21Go and get your money and get out of my bloody works.
11:27Look, he's done it.
11:28Tipped two minutes off Charlie Jarrett's record.
11:30And how much did that cost?
11:31What? Three hundred pounds?
11:33Three hundred?
11:34He pours money away like water while weep.
11:37And look at this ballooning of his. That must cost a fortune.
11:39Oh, it does. Three thousand pounds a year.
11:42And he's always crying poor.
11:44Whenever I talk to him, he's always saying...
11:46Well, that's not his personal money.
11:48I thought you realized that.
11:50That's his company's money.
11:52Is it? Is it the company's money?
11:54My company's? I fear to see your interest.
11:57I can't afford the proper tools for the job.
11:59I can't afford the proper materials for the new model or decent security for my men.
12:03Your company can't.
12:04We're as dependent on each other as if we're Siamese twins, you know that.
12:07Nonsense.
12:08If you go bust, we do too.
12:09Claremont knows it. Johnson knows it.
12:11It's my money, good God.
12:12I've capitalized my income and sunk it into all this.
12:14Why shouldn't I do what I think is necessary?
12:15Because too many people depend on you, that's why.
12:17Because you do it for a lark.
12:19It's all the rage among your set, the balloonatics.
12:22Why, you can't even control the things.
12:24I do it because our future is up there.
12:26Balloons?
12:27Aircraft of some sort, something in the air.
12:29You and your set think nothing of taking a whole gasometer to fill one of those things.
12:33You'd deprive an entire town of its cooking and lighting for half the weekend.
12:36Have you seen, have you read what the Wright brothers have done in the United States?
12:41After four years of experiment, they have built a flying machine 40 feet wide with two wings and an engine.
12:47And they fly in it and control it.
12:52They catapult it along a wooden rail up into the air.
12:55They can make it circle, bank, make figures of eight.
12:58Fly for half an hour at almost 40 miles an hour.
13:02Think of it!
13:04That's our future, that's the next logical step.
13:07Aircraft.
13:09And that means meticulous preparation.
13:11Now, in balloons, we must find our way about the skies as we've already done on land.
13:15These, these will be obsolete in a few years.
13:18People will be going to work by flying machine.
13:20But we haven't perfected these yet.
13:22The whole world is buckling and changing its shape while we look at it.
13:27We've got to keep up, keep abreast of what's happening.
13:29There's no time to perfect everything anymore before you pass on.
13:32That's Victorian.
13:33Victorian? What do you mean, Victorian? What's that supposed to mean?
13:36Don't you realise?
13:38They have petrol engines.
13:40Eh?
13:42The flying machines work on petrol.
13:45And the problem that held them up for so long was getting an engine light enough to be practicable.
13:51Precisely the problem that you solved with the Light 20.
13:54You're not, you're not suggesting...
13:56Think of it!
13:57To be able to reach almost any part of the Empire in a few hours.
14:00The King will be cock-a-hoop.
14:02Are you serious suggesting we should go in for these string and paper contraptions?
14:06We should do more than that. We should plan to drop these altogether.
14:13It's lucky I know you.
14:15I was never more serious in my life.
14:17As you were with the bicycle.
14:19Then the motor car. Then ballooning.
14:21Now aircraft.
14:22None of them mastered.
14:24Just hop-hop from one to the next.
14:26Amateur, dilettante.
14:27The same thing when you're tired of flying machines.
14:29What'll it be then? Rockets?
14:31No, forget that. I didn't say that.
14:35What about my men? And all the others depending on you, eh?
14:38We've got to expand.
14:40Terrifying gamble though it is.
14:42I know that!
14:44God knows where the money's coming from but we've got to go public and open the new factory at Derby.
14:48New factory! New factory!
14:51We're bursting at the elbows!
14:53We can't output fast enough and you're taking off all the working capital and for what?
14:57Always the plotter, aren't you?
14:59The plotter, aren't you?
15:01The copier.
15:03Just look at the features on these machines of yours.
15:06They're dull.
15:08They're dull. They're safe and they're dull!
15:11I design cars that are robust, trouble-free, long-lived, smooth-running and silent.
15:15And that's something I'm not ashamed of.
15:17Not one of these features is original. Not one. They're all copied from...
15:20Adapted. Adapted, eh?
15:22Adapted and improved upon. I never claimed anything else.
15:24You've no flair! You've no real style!
15:29What's the matter?
15:31Nothing.
15:33Nothing.
15:38You ought to be at home in bed.
15:43Well, I think we must all congratulate Rose on his tremendous achievement, a double crossing of the Channel.
15:48Indeed.
15:49Not every day that one finds oneself on the same board as a national hero...
15:52Yeah, yeah.
15:53...who receives congratulatory telegrams from the King.
15:55Yes. Yes, that was Johnny Deason of you.
15:57I hear they're displaying you at Madame Tussauds.
15:59Yes.
16:00That's because I'm the only Englishman known to have taken ten gallons of petrol in and out of France without paying duty on it.
16:06Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
16:08Ha, ha!
16:10So, actually, it's a terrible likeness. Have you seen it?
16:13No.
16:14Horribly no.
16:15Could we now take item number three on the agenda, Mr. Chairman?
16:17Mr. Rowles using the Lily Hall works to manufacture parts of an airship.
16:22Airship?
16:23Yes, it's in the agenda.
16:25I didn't get that.
16:26It's still there.
16:27Perhaps Mr. Rowles will tell us about it.
16:31Yes, I made drive shaft and casings for Colonel Capper's airship. Why shouldn't I?
16:35Under contract? He paid you?
16:38Certainly.
16:40You should not accept outside contracts without the consent of the board.
16:47Damn it! It's my works!
16:49It's the London service station of Rolls-Royce Limited of Derby.
16:56Yes.
17:04Perhaps I ought to resign as Technical Managing Director of this company.
17:09Good idea.
17:13Gentlemen, remain on the board.
17:16Yes.
17:18I think this news should not be made known outside this room.
17:21The company is public face.
17:22Quite so. Quite so.
17:24Well then, if you'll excuse me.
17:25The rest of the meeting?
17:27There's no point.
17:28I have a flying display at Bournemouth.
17:30A great deal of preparation to be done.
17:41Sales report.
17:43Since the last board meeting, 53 Silver Ghosts have been sold.
17:46Customers include four members of foreign princely houses,
17:49two Dukes, two Earls, a Viscount, seven British Barons, 15 foreign ones,
17:53four Baronets, and two High Court Judges.
17:57Oh, and Mrs. Pankhurst.
18:01We're now producing four Ghosts a week, retailing at 985 pounds.
18:04I think that is satisfactory.
18:06For our motors, certainly.
18:09Mr. Ford has also adopted one model policy, a Model T.
18:13He's producing 200 a week.
18:16Need that worry us.
18:18It's the beginning of the end, whether you like it or not.
18:21We're aiming to produce 15 million cheap cars.
18:26Murdering will become a hell.
18:29That's the thing about golden ages.
18:32They're over before you realise they've started.
18:35And it's all a lark to him.
18:37Rolls?
18:39What does he care with his flying?
18:41He's got money, position, looks, the world before him.
18:44And he's got what I envy most, and never shall have.
18:47You or I neither, Johnson.
18:50And that style.
18:52I mean real style.
18:54The golden boy of a golden age.
18:57Mean as hell, though.
18:59Fragile.
19:00That's what I find about him.
19:02Eh?
19:03Something fragile.