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00:00Westminster London known around the world is the iconic symbol of Great Britain
00:13the birthplace of modern democracy these walls have seen entry the fact we got clean away with
00:24that underlined it on created a mystery assassination the plan they hatched upon was to blow up the
00:31chamber of the House of Lords and persecution Westminster has borne witness to 1,000 years
00:40of power struggle between crown and people with unprecedented access we delve deep into the
00:48corridors of power we're going to another world discovering the secrets of Westminster
01:08Westminster is the heart of London the seat of true power in Great Britain but it's more than
01:15just a building it's a rich group of architectural treasures on the north bank of the River Thames
01:20Parliament Westminster Abbey and the clock tower known as Big Ben
01:30Westminster's workings are frequently secret and rarely seen
01:38Chambers witnessing power struggles over generations have hidden stories rarely told
01:45but we have unique access to the riches of this sumptuous palace
01:56and to hidden places holding the secrets of one of the world's oldest democracies
02:05their story stretches back through a millennium and starts at the Abbey a site of religious worship since the
02:14the year 800 and since 1066 the place where every British monarch has been crowned
02:21most recently celebrating the marriage of queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince William to former commoner Catherine Middleton the building as it stands now begins in 1245 it's a gothic architectural masterpiece
02:51and it has become a treasure house of priceless medieval artifacts
02:57one of its most important treasures dates back to the time when Westminster is establishing itself as the power base at the heart of Great Britain
03:07locating this precious pearl of British history takes us deep into the Abbey to the medieval tomb of an Anglo-Saxon King
03:17Edward the confessor who reigns from 1042 through to 1066
03:25Edward isn't just a king he's also a saint
03:29saints in general are fascinating they're the superheroes of the middle ages the celebrities and they can do all sorts of amazing things they don't need capes to fly they can levitate of their own accord they can cure you
03:36during his lifetime King Edward becomes renowned for curing illness by simply touching his subject he earns an almost godlike reputation and in this time of constant territorial warfare being close to God is a huge advantage
03:57if you've got God on your side there's much more chance that people aren't going to question your kingly authority
04:08the kings who succeed Edward want to be as powerful as him but saintliness such as his is a hard act to follow
04:15you're not meant to be interested in bling in fine clothes in lovely food in sex all of these things that tie you to the earth they make it a lot harder for you to be close to heaven
04:29now obviously a king what is he meant to do if not fight have sex and look kingly and so obviously it's slightly problematic
04:38Edward's successors come up with a solution
04:41they create a cult around him and build the grandest of abbeys where their own coronations can earn God's blessing
04:48short of being able to perform miracles yourself which obviously not everybody is able to do if you can demonstrate that you are the obvious and logical successor to somebody who did perform miracles and was a king
05:02you're sorted
05:04over the following 1000 years
05:0739 monarchs are crowned here in this spiritual and mystical heart of Westminster
05:12in the city of Westminster
05:22Professor Warwick Rodwell devotes his life to studying the abbey and its priceless contents
05:28this is the coronation chair an absolutely wonderful piece of medieval furniture
05:34it was originally all gold a wooden chair that was smothered in gold
05:38but not just gold because there were all sorts of little details like for example up there in the gable where you see those white patches
05:48those are patches of putty to which glass was stuck
05:52the effect of all of this would have been a glittering and magnificent piece of furniture
05:57gold glass sparkling color paint everywhere
06:01the throne made by Edward the first remains to this day the centerpiece of every royal coronation
06:09and hidden among the sumptuous decoration built below the seat is this secret compartment
06:17it exists for one astonishing purpose
06:20there was a stone that King Edward the first brought from Scotland in 1296-1297
06:24and he brought it here and decided to make a chair to hold it
06:31the whole purpose of this chair actually was to house a piece of stone
06:36the stone of destiny as it's known had been the throne of the Scottish kings for over a thousand years
06:42it's said to have magical powers and Edward's action gives birth to centuries of hatred between Scotland and England
06:48of course there is a great space underneath the seat today and we're lacking a stone
06:55a Christmas Day sensation at Westminster Abbey
07:03the stone of destiny which had been there for some 600 years was stolen from the coronation chair
07:08the great stone is stolen from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Eve 1950
07:12Scottish nationalists want to take it back to where they feel it belongs
07:18the stone of destiny has always been associated with the identity of the Scottish people
07:2550 years later now living deep in the highlands of Scotland
07:29the leader of the thieves Ian Hamilton gives a first-hand account of how they did it
07:34you insert a crowbar called a jemmy and you break away a wee bit of the door and then you get the curve in
07:45and you push and then you pull the door finally bust open with a great clatter and in we went
07:53the abbey is very very dark at night we went round past the high altar to the coronation chair and there was the stone waiting to be taken
08:07we pushed from the back and the stone slid out and it came down with a thump onto the floor
08:14I took my coat off and we lifted the big bit onto my coat and you can drag a great weight on a coat and then we took it
08:29News that the stone has been stolen from Westminster is met with delight in Scotland
08:34we didn't expect the reaction which which came the action was absolutely outstanding people were out in the streets
08:46tears running down their faces when I have bad
08:50for the first time in 600 years the border between Scotland and England is closed
08:55cars are stopped and searched
08:58but undeterred
08:59Hamilton and his gang wait for a week and then risk driving the stone north
09:05it would be wrong to say that we were afraid because remember we had succeeded
09:12we knew the Scottish people were cheering us on
09:16if we had been caught then it didn't matter and when we finally came over the border
09:21it was exaltation not fear
09:24the thieves are hailed as heroes
09:26and parliament is stumped
09:29a shiver run along the benches looking for a spine to run up
09:36the fact we got clean away with it
09:40just underlined it all and created a mystery for three months because nobody knew where it was
09:46parliament finally announces that the thieves will not be prosecuted
09:50if the stone is returned
09:53we had tripped the big people up and ordinary people like myself laughed
10:02after three months Hamilton finally decides the stone isn't his to keep
10:08he leaves it wrapped in a Scottish flag for the police to find
10:11and the stone is taken back to Westminster Abbey just in time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth
10:19but inspired by Hamilton's actions the Scottish people demand its return
10:26and in 1996 Westminster finally gives in
10:30when you light a fire you don't know how far it's going to go
10:35and it went far, far beyond my hopes
10:43I was delighted of course, meant I'd been right
10:46the stone of destiny has been a constant presence at many coronations over the years
10:52but there are other even more extraordinary stones in the Abbey
10:58designed to bestow the incoming king or queen with mystical powers
11:02and some have been hidden for centuries
11:07uncovered as recently as 2010 in the floor at the high altar
11:11the most sacred spot in the Abbey is an ancient mosaic
11:15this is one of the great treasures of medieval Britain
11:18it's a highly complicated and wonderful design
11:22the like of which had never been seen in this country before
11:25the mosaic is made up from marble, pieces of coloured glass and gemstones
11:30including some recycled from monuments 1,000 years older
11:35its purpose, a glorious stage for coronations
11:41the coronation chair is placed on that central roundel there
11:44facing the altar and that is the point at which the king or queen
11:50is crowned and anointed with the holy oil
11:53historians like Lindy Grant have been struggling to decode the symbolism of this medieval puzzle
11:59there are some very odd things about this pavement
12:04one of them is that central roundel
12:06it looks just like 13th century images in manuscripts of the world as God creates it
12:17and it's clearly supposed to be the beginning of the world, the beginning of the universe, the beginning of history
12:25the pavement's design puts the monarch at the centre of the universe
12:29both supremely powerful and tiny compared with the infinite stretch of time
12:33it says as the king stands on it at his coronation
12:39that he is merely a man in this great perspective of history
12:46he owes his worldly power to God
12:50it must have been a very humbling, very terrifying thing to stand on this pavement at the moment of the coronation
13:00and think of that
13:05close by there's another work of art warning new monarchs of the perils of evil
13:10look carefully
13:12monsters lurk here among the kings
13:17and hidden elsewhere in the abbey are yet more unnerving images
13:21designed to inspire the imagination of medieval minds
13:24a hidden staircase built into the walls of the abbey leads into a maze of lost chambers
13:44we're nearly there, just a few more steps
13:46even people who know this place can get lost up here
13:47even people who know this place can get lost up here
13:59this gallery hangs unseen high above the floor of the abbey
14:13it's designed as a hiding place for church officials
14:17so they could meet in secret
14:19the best thing about this place is the fact that nobody knows it exists really
14:24this is the great joy of it
14:25it is a wonderful huge space
14:28in fact a quarter of the floor area of the abbey is upstairs here
14:32where no one except people like me ever come
14:35up here are intricate stone carvings
14:39keeping an eye on the proceedings below
14:42if we walk round a little way
14:45and look up here above these arches
14:48and see the heads of figures
14:50there's two there and in the middle is a lion
14:52and that lion has still got pink paint on his tongue
14:57because these we must remember were not just stone sculptures
15:00they were painted and highly decorated
15:03and meant to be alive and looking down upon you
15:07for medieval man carvings can assume the powers of the animals they portray
15:12each beast can terrify all who view it
15:17and this gallery high in the abbey has one further revelation
15:20the best kept secret in the abbey must be the views
15:25and in particular this view from the east end
15:28it is something which you cannot see anywhere else
15:31just look at that
15:33isn't it the best view in Europe
15:37Westminster Abbey plays a critical role in underpinning the absolute power of a monarch
15:42but less well known is that this is also the original home of English politics
15:48this is called the chapter house and it's a very remarkable building
15:53eight sided as you can see
15:55this is the origin of the English parliament
15:58until 1257 kings rule from wherever they live
16:02but in that year Henry the third adopts the chapter house as his seat of government
16:09Henry used it as a council chamber
16:13and all his subjects would sit around
16:15and wait outside in the vestibule sitting on the on the benches out there waiting to be called
16:21the hallowed location of this first house of commons elevates Henry's status even further
16:27it had that aura of sanctity so that the king was in a sense receiving the blessing of the church on his transactions
16:36he would feel that that by having his meetings here and transacting his business in the heart of a great royal abbey
16:43that that was somehow above the plane of the ordinary common world
16:52but in 1547 King Edward the sixth relocates the commons across the road from the abbey
16:59to Westminster Hall
17:03in the 11th century this arched oak roof was an astonishing feat of engineering
17:08when it was finished it was the biggest single span arch in Europe
17:14massive vertical timbers known as hammer beams are fixed to the walls
17:20they take the weight of the roof held up by arches 60 feet wide
17:25allowing a vast clear space unobstructed by a single column
17:30the hall serves as the first British law courts
17:33and these angelic carvings bear witness to the prosecution of some of Britain's most famous traitors
17:44in 1606 Guy Fawkes was tried here for attempting to blow up Westminster itself
17:51with 36 barrels of gunpowder
17:53every fifth of November since that trial people in Britain have marked the failure of the gunpowder plot
18:06bonfires are lit and fireworks are let off on the anniversary of the conspiracy which came close to destroying Westminster and everyone in it
18:14the plan they hatched upon was to blow up the chamber of the House of the Lords during the state opening ceremony
18:22in 1603 Protestant King James throws the country into religious turmoil
18:28he instructs his spy master Sir Robert Cecil to banish all Catholic priests
18:35an incensed group of young Catholics decides to take action
18:40these people were essentially fanatics they were terrorists
18:45and they obviously gone to a good deal of trouble to plan this
18:49they hire Guy Fawkes a 33 year old soldier and expert in explosives to do the deed
18:56but first they have to get the explosives into position
19:00they tried initially tunneling under the building
19:05not surprisingly that wasn't successful so they adopted another strategy
19:09which is to put barrels of gunpowder directly underneath the chamber of the House of Lords
19:14in what was essentially a basement
19:17Fawkes instructions are to wait in the cellar until the appointed hour
19:21and then light the fuse
19:23but things don't go as planned
19:25a few days before the state opening I think it was about the end of October
19:29Lord Monteagle who would have been attending the state opening
19:32received a tip-off in the form of an anonymous letter
19:35the origin of this letter is shrouded in mystery
19:39but it warns Monteagle to stay away from Westminster
19:43Guy Fawkes hears about the letter but ignores it
19:47he's determined to blow up Parliament along with the King and all his ministers
19:52meanwhile the King is shown the letter and orders a search of the cellars
19:59in the early hours of the morning Fawkes is found and arrested
20:05assembled in the upper house of Parliament upon the fifth day of November in the year of our Lord 1605
20:13suddenly to have blown up the said whole house with gunpowder
20:17an invention so inhumane, barbarous and cruel as the like was never before heard of
20:21reading this I think one can sense the paranoia horror and relief that was prevalent in British political society in January 1606
20:36only months after the failure of the gunpowder plot is extraordinarily vivid and really brings it to life when one reads it
20:43Fawkes is taken to the Tower of London and tortured on the rack 48 hours later with his body broken he confesses his guilt
20:55as a result Catholics in Britain are persecuted for centuries after
21:00The Palace of Westminster survives and serves the country for another two centuries
21:08But this spectacular landmark is not the building Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up
21:15The original Palace of Westminster was a collection of much older buildings built from the medieval era onwards
21:22These expanded as democracy grew until 1834 when a great fire raged through the building and destroyed almost all of it
21:37The new Palace of Westminster is built on the same spot in 1858 and opened by Queen Victoria
21:43It contains two completely separate institutions
21:50At one end the elected House of Commons
21:53And at the other the House of Lords
21:56Together they form the British Parliament
21:59Here in the House of Lords
22:01Men and women selected for notable achievements share power with landowning aristocrats
22:09One of those aristocrats is Lord Palmer
22:13The House of Commons is completely and utterly elected
22:17Whereas the House of Lords contains aristocrats
22:20Some of whose title goes back literally six, seven hundred years
22:25The House of Lords can delay but never veto legislation
22:30Every bill has to go through both Houses of Parliament to get approval
22:36We then often get into the situation which is called ping pong
22:38And literally if we say no it gets pinged to the House of Commons
22:44And if the House of Commons say yes it then gets ponged back to us
22:48The key to understanding the power of Westminster lies in the layout of the building
22:54Which is designed to represent British democracy
22:56We're standing in central lobby which is really the core of the building and in some ways the core of the United Kingdom as well
23:11We have the House of Commons that way behind us
23:15The House of Lords that way
23:17It was designed as a meeting place for the peers, for the Lords and for members of the Commons
23:24And also for the public if they wanted to lobby their MP
23:27MPs are the British equivalent of members of Congress
23:33They can be seen by any citizen here in Westminster's central lobby
23:39This chamber gave birth to the word lobbying
23:42The free access to elected representatives
23:45Which remains central to the concept of an open and free democracy
23:48But access to the houses at each end of the building is strictly limited
23:58Only a privileged few get to see the richly decorated interiors
24:05These are the brass gates, the very heavy brass gates which lead inside the House of Lords chamber
24:12And you can see straight away
24:15The incredible sumptuous decoration
24:20The ornamentation of carved wood and gold leaf is rich with ancient symbols
24:25Full of hidden meaning
24:28And in the centre sits the royal throne
24:31Used just once a year when the Queen visits Parliament
24:34It's designed to look like an altar
24:37With a canopy above indicating that only heaven is above the Queen
24:43Right in the opposite direction and facing the Queen's throne
24:48You can look right through the axis of the building
24:51To the far end, the House of Commons chamber
24:53And the Speaker's chair, directly opposite
24:56This simple layout, a direct line of sight from the Queen's throne
25:01Into her elected chamber and back again
25:03Links royal power to people power
25:06But it also keeps them quite separate
25:08Because the reigning monarch is never allowed into the House of Commons
25:14The Queen never comes into the House of Commons
25:18Because of an incident in 1642
25:21When Charles I swept into the Commons chamber
25:25And demanded to see five members and arrest them
25:28King Charles is furious that Parliament has attempted to resist his wishes
25:34He feels they should simply obey him
25:38But the politicians refuse, saying they serve only the people
25:44This was a pivotal moment in our history
25:47Because it meant for the first time
25:49That the will of the people was placed above the will of the King
25:53By marching into the House of Commons, the King sets himself against his own people
25:58There's complete uproar, outrage at what he's done
26:03From that moment, the tension has built up to such a crisis point
26:08That really it's a road to civil war after that
26:10The war is fought between Royalists, led by the King
26:17And the Puritans, led by a charismatic new general, Oliver Cromwell
26:25Over the next ten years, 190,000 people are killed
26:30A tenth of the English population
26:32In 1651, Cromwell finally claims victory
26:38But he has a problem, what to do with the King
26:41Cromwell believes by this stage that the King is a man of blood
26:46He's responsible for the civil war
26:49It's not clear when he decides that the King has to be killed
26:53But he does decide that
26:55Cromwell announces the unthinkable
26:58The King will be tried for treason
27:00It's an enormous, earth-shattering event
27:04He's sacred, his sacred majesty
27:07You can't do this
27:09News of it goes right round Europe
27:11Nobody has ever tried a King before
27:13Nevertheless, the trial is held
27:16In Westminster Hall
27:18The King is found guilty
27:20And sentenced to death by execution
27:22On January 30th, 1649, King Charles is permitted to take a last walk with his dog in the park
27:32Before being led to a scaffold erected within sight of Parliament
27:36Today, tourists are completely unaware of the grisly drama that unfolded on this very spot
27:43The King awaits his end, watched by huge crowds
27:49He kneels to receive the blow
27:53But there is a problem
27:55The executioner is too afraid to kill a King
27:58Nobody can quite believe that it's really going to happen
28:03This is such an extraordinary event
28:06Kings have been killed before by assassination
28:10But nobody has ever tried this judicial, semi-judicial execution of a King before
28:16In public, with everybody watching
28:21Cromwell's soldiers fear a riot
28:26But a second executioner is persuaded to do the deed
28:29Under one condition
28:31That he wears a mask so no one will ever know who he is
28:38And he does it
28:40The accounts we have of it
28:42Tell us that a huge groan comes up from the people watching
28:46The person who writes this says a groan such as I never wish ever to hear again
28:51The King has fought his people and lost
28:55Parliament declares England a Republic
29:00The problem with that system is that a vast number of people in the country
29:05Don't believe that it has any legitimacy at all
29:08They've lost the thing that they really believe is the foundation of government, i.e. the King
29:14Cromwell has huge charisma, but he's simply no match for a King
29:18Parliament won't act upon his wishes
29:22And when he dies in 1658, Parliament decides it wants a monarch
29:27So in May 1660, Charles II is invited to return from exile
29:33Britain has been a monarchy ever since
29:37But the story echoes down the ages
29:39Even today the Queen's visits to Parliament are restricted
29:47It's an extraordinary, the Queen is allowed into the House of Lords
29:52But she's not allowed into the House of Commons
29:54This limit is carefully adhered to when the Queen visits Westminster officially to open Parliament
30:02When she arrives, she has her own ceremonial entrance
30:05If you imagine the Sovereign arriving downstairs outside the Victoria Tower, outside Sovereign's entrance
30:13She then processes up the staircase behind me
30:16And then into the roving room on this side
30:18These sumptuous inner rooms are rarely seen by the public
30:29We're in the Royal Gallery, the largest of the State Apartments
30:36The Queen passes through here on her way into Parliament
30:39And it's tremendous pomp and circumstance and she walks up and she goes into the Royal Roving Room
30:47Where physically she puts on her crown, having worn a tiara to come up the stairs
30:53And then on the dot of 2 minutes to 11 there's a huge trumpet fanfare
30:58And then these doors are then thrown open and the Royal Party then process through the Royal Gallery
31:05So down the centre with banks of people on the left and the right
31:09And then into the House of Lords and sits on the throne in the House of Lords
31:17And then Black Rod, who is our sort of head of security, etc.
31:22Is then told by the Queen to go and get the rabble from the House of Commons
31:27And he goes down the main corridor
31:30And as he gets to the House of Commons, the House of Commons slammed the door in his face
31:35And he hits the door three times with his rod
31:44It's opened and he walks in to the Commons chamber and commands that they attend the House of Lords to listen to the Queen's speech
31:55It is only then that the House of Commons comes to see the Queen speak
32:00And then Parliament can begin a fresh year running the country and instituting new legislation
32:06While the Lords and Commoners of Parliament have many names and high titles
32:14One name at Westminster stands tall above the rest
32:17Big Ben
32:22This is the most photographed building in London
32:26And millions of foreign tourists make a special trip to see it
32:30But none are allowed inside
32:34High up in the Tower there is a hidden world that has kept London running on time for the last 150 years
32:40Ian Westworth holds the key
32:49He climbs these steps three times a week to tend a device that few people have ever seen
32:55Over 200 feet from the ground
32:59A huge mechanism built in 1854 powers the four-sided clock
33:02The hour hands are nine feet long
33:10The tip of each minute hand travels 118 miles a year
33:14But the unique size of the clock poses several problems
33:19The problem is we've got four minute hands
33:23They're 14 feet long so if they get a good gust of wind
33:28They act like a sail and the hands try driving the clock
33:31Instead of the clock driving the hands
33:35This huge machine has been wound by hand three times a week
33:39Every week for 150 years
33:42We wind the clock up which takes about an hour and a half
33:45The clock is still mechanical
33:47We have to keep on doing this
33:49And we check the time
33:53At the third stroke the time will be 5, 28 and 20 seconds
34:02One of the stipulations was the clock had to be within two seconds of time
34:07If you had a Victorian turret clock
34:10You were lucky if you got it within two minutes of time
34:14It took five years of experimentation finally to crack the problem of accuracy
34:19The solution is an enormous pendulum
34:23The pendulum we've got here is 14 and a half feet long
34:27It goes from just above my head through the floor into a room beneath us
34:32It's an absolutely massive pendulum
34:34And the reason they used a big pendulum is that it's very very stable
34:39But the huge pendulum brings its own problems
34:43Its swing varies according to the temperature and air pressure
34:46The clock makers of the time come up with a solution
34:49The secret of the clock's accuracy
34:52Are old pennies
34:54So I have one penny here
34:56And if I put it onto the little stack
34:58That will speed the clock up by two fifths of a second in 24 hours
35:02Again, if I take it off
35:04Just by removing that penny
35:06It's slowed the clock down by two fifths of a second
35:09This technique is used from the moment the clock is built
35:13You probably find the clock makers had an old coin or two in his pocket
35:17And the clock was running fast or slow
35:19And they've just put it on just to adjust it
35:21Because we do have little proper timing weights here as well
35:24But for a fine adjustments we still use traditional pennies
35:27This is a little well-kept secret for clock makers
35:33Again, this happens all the time
35:38Above the mechanism room hang five bells
35:49Four quarter bells that chime every quarter hour
35:52And the biggest and most famous
35:55The hour bell
36:04Most people think the tower itself is called Big Ben
36:07But in fact Big Ben is this big bell
36:12Big Ben's chime rings out at an impressive 117 decibels
36:16That's like the roar from a full football stadium packed into one small room
36:23This is Big Ben
36:25This is the world famous bell that everybody comes to London to hear
36:29And is heard all over the world
36:31Because we broadcast it live twice a day
36:33Big Ben is named after Benjamin Court
36:35Who was a bare fist fighter in London at the time when the bell was being made
36:39When he was actually fighting his ring name was Big Ben
36:42Apparently he was about six foot four
36:44Which for Victorian time he was enormous
36:47And so they named the bell after him
36:52The foundry which made Big Ben still uses the same techniques
36:59Today's casting will produce a replica Liberty Bell for Boston Library
37:03It's tiny in comparison to Big Ben
37:06The Liberty Bell weighs less than a ton
37:09While Big Ben is almost 14 tons
37:12When the foundry was given the job to recast Big Ben
37:16It would have been terrifying I guess
37:18It was the biggest bell ever cast in the country
37:21Another foundry had made a mess of it
37:23And at short notice and for the government of the day
37:27We suddenly got the job to make a replacement
37:30Big Ben was designed to weigh about 14 tons
37:34Which was twice the weight of any other bell in the country at the time
37:38So it was a real monster in 1858
37:43And the foundry has kept the original invoice for the making of the world's biggest bell
37:49To a bell of 13 tons, 100 weights, 3 quarters and 15 pounds
37:55That's Big Ben
37:57Value of that bell, 2,401 pounds
38:00But we also gave credit for the metal on the old bell at 15 tons
38:05And the credit was 1,829 pounds
38:09So the bill at the bottom, at the end of the day
38:12Is about 572 pounds to recast Big Ben
38:15Today that would be nearer half a million dollars
38:21From the foundry the bell is pulled across London to the tower by 16 horses
38:26A festival atmosphere fills the streets
38:29But when it finally arrives the problem is how to get the huge bell up the 300 foot tower
38:34The bell was brought to the bottom
38:36At the bottom of the clock tower there's a big set of doors
38:39The bell wouldn't go through the door so they had to turn it on its side
38:42Because it's actually wider than it is tall
38:46So they had to put it in sideways
38:48They built a frame around it
38:50Then winched it non-stop
38:51From the bottom of the clock tower to where we are now
38:54Took them 34 hours of hand manual winching
38:59And what people don't know is that the world famous sound of Big Ben has a secret
39:04The bell has a very distinct town, it's flat
39:08And that's caused by, there's a great big crack just on the skirt of the bell
39:12And this is the crack here
39:13And that's what's causing it not to have a pure note as it was designed to have
39:17To have this off, but very, um, individual tone
39:24Big Ben's tower was originally called St Stephen's
39:26And renamed the Elizabeth Tower for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
39:31But few people know the purpose of the tower at the other end of the palace
39:36This is Victoria Tower
39:39At its base is the Sovereign's Gate
39:42Where the Queen enters when she visits Parliament
39:45But high inside the tower is a rarely seen world
39:50The priceless archives of government are kept here, under high security
39:58This is the original act room
40:01Every one of the roles on the shelves is an original act of Parliament
40:06A law
40:08This particular one looks like it's about a locality
40:10It's about a township and a manor
40:12As you can see, it's not made out of paper
40:14It's made out of something much different and more durable
40:16It's made out of parchment, which is animal skin
40:19There are 60,000 rolled acts in this room
40:22They hold the details of 500 years of British Empire
40:26Right up to the present day
40:28The acts vary an awful lot in size and shape
40:30There are some very, very large ones like this one here
40:33And if you unrolled it end to end, it would be about a quarter of a mile long
40:36And there's quite a few of those acts which are big
40:38Also there are some very tiny, teeny little ones like this one here
40:42These are about personal things like divorces, naturalisations
40:46Changes of name
40:48The acts record almost every aspect of British life
40:51From small events to moments of seismic change in international history
40:56One of the most significant is the Stamp Act of 1765
41:01It imposes a tax on paper used in the colonies
41:05When America still is ruled by Britain
41:08But demanding a tax from people who have no vote in the UK
41:11Is controversial
41:13There was outrage in the colonies when this happened
41:16Because they didn't have any representation in the UK Parliament
41:19And so the cry that went up was taxation without representation is tyranny
41:24In British America, Samuel Adams forms the Sons of Liberty
41:29The Patriots reject the authority of Westminster to govern them
41:33And expel all British officials from America
41:37Although the government backed down here very quickly and the Stamp Act was repealed
41:41Nevertheless, the damage was done
41:43And it led to the Boston Tea Party a few years later
41:46And then American independence
41:50Elsewhere in the Tower are precious archives that document Parliament's history
41:53One of the most important tells the story of the women who fought for the right to vote in the early 1900s
42:01The suffragettes
42:04This is my favourite document in the Parliamentary Archives
42:07It's really special
42:09This is a banner, a suffragette banner
42:11There was a lot of campaigning by women in this country
42:13Some of it was peaceful and some of it was violent and militant
42:16For those fighting for the right to vote, Parliament is an obvious target
42:20At times it was like the place was at the siege
42:23There were attempts by large groups of women to rush the building to break their way in en masse
42:28There were women who chained themselves to statues to make a protest
42:32The protests reach a climax in 1912 when thousands are arrested
42:37But one protester is prepared to go further than most
42:44Hidden deep under Parliament is a secret place that tells her story
42:51On the night of the 1911 census
42:53The official count of the British population
42:56Suffragettes protest that since they have no vote
42:59They won't take part
43:01But one of them, Emily Davison
43:04Decides to take her descent right into the heart of the Palace of Westminster
43:10This is the room cupboard where Emily Wall and Davison hid on census night in 1911
43:14So that she could write on her census form that she was resident in the Houses of Parliament
43:19The next morning Emily is discovered, arrested and held in prison
43:25Here the conditions for suffragettes are especially harsh
43:29Many go on hunger strike to protest at their treatment
43:33Women were in a police cell
43:35They were held down by maybe five or six doctors
43:37Women put thick rubber tubes down their mouth or more often in fact
43:41Down their nose all the way into their stomach
43:43And they would pour down a mixture of bread and milk
43:46And some women had this two or three times a day, hundreds of times
43:50I think there's no denying it, this is torture
43:52Emily is forcibly fed 49 times
43:56But such brutal treatment doesn't break her spirit
43:59There was one occasion where in prison Emily could hear sort of screams and shouts from all over the prison
44:04Where many women were being forcibly fed one at a time
44:08She tried to protest herself, she threw herself over the banisters of prison down a staircase
44:12And she wrote later that she hoped the sacrifice of one person might save the many
44:16Soon after, at Epsom Derby races, Emily pursues that principle to the limit
44:25She steps onto the track
44:28And is killed
44:30Trampled by the King's own racehorse
44:32Her funeral is attended by tens of thousands of the public
44:39Testimony to the importance of her sacrifice
44:43In loving memory of Emily Wilding Davison
44:47She was a brave suffragette campaigning for votes for women
44:50At a time when Parliament denied them that right
44:52Finally, in 1918, the tireless campaign of Emily and her fellow suffragettes bears fruit
45:01Women over 30 are given the vote
45:04And a year later, Nancy Astor, the first female elected representative, takes her seat in Parliament
45:11What's not so well known is that Astor is American and very self-assured
45:17She was a very good-looking woman, she was always very beautifully turned out
45:24But then, alongside that, you had this very, um, forceful, almost sort of puckish personality
45:31She was very willing to push people, to perhaps be a bit daring in the things that she would say
45:37She shocked them to the core, but they very quickly, particularly a young man
45:41Saw this, she was beautifully turned out, a very attractive, vital sort of woman
45:46Uh, they came round, and although she was an American, simply not on in the hunting field
45:49Here was this spark, uh, lighting them all up
45:54Despite being American, Nancy Astor can enter British politics because she marries a British citizen
46:00And her electric personality serves her well at Westminster
46:04She was very good with male politicians
46:08Uh, she very famously said to Winston Churchill
46:11Winston, if I was your wife, I would put poison in your coffee
46:14And he said back, Nancy, if I was married to you, I'd probably drink it
46:19These witty verbal duels become famous, but they disguise the opposition Astor faces in the previously all-male Westminster club
46:28Churchill is characteristically frank
46:32He said, well, um, we thought we could freeze you out
46:36We felt as though a man would feel when he was having a bath
46:40And a woman came into the room, and he had nothing to defend him, his dignity, but a sponge
46:45And she just said, Winston, you're not nearly handsome enough to worry about things like that
46:50Undaunted, Astor realises that real power lies not at Westminster, but in the privacy of her country house, Cliveden
47:01She holds parties where the luxurious setting makes even her enemies relax and come to terms
47:06They become the high point in the social life of the English elite
47:12If you got an invitation to a party at the Astor's, you didn't turn it down
47:17It was a very exciting, um, um, exclusive gathering
47:22So, and, and what was striking about it, she liked to bring together big personalities
47:26Often people with, with quite disparate political beliefs, and really just see what kind of debate and, uh, argument would ensue
47:39Astor begins to invite diplomats and politicians from both sides of the Atlantic
47:45They would mingle together, meet at meals, chat in quiet corners, really get to know each other
47:50Uh, in circumstances which would be impossible in the public realm
47:58The Astor hospitality plants the seed of the British-American special relationship
48:04And Americans, for the first time, began to get to know English people well, and vice versa
48:09And they laid friendships which were later to become of vital importance
48:13When, um, the threat of Hitler arose
48:14By the time Astor withdraws from Parliament in 1945, she's used her unique position to introduce issues that had never been debated in Westminster before
48:25Divorce, labour conditions, nursery schools
48:31And she raises the drinking age from 14 to 18
48:35Astor changes Westminster and British politics, forever
48:39Because she was American, I think, she didn't have any of the English inhibitions which were very strong at the time
48:45You know, we can't do that sort of thing here, old boy
48:47She paid no attention to any of that
48:49And was quite brash enough, if you like, and strong-willed enough
48:53To force open the door
48:55She did that by her personality
48:58And as a result of which, all sorts of dominoes fell
49:00While Astor is busy exerting her influence on Parliament, there is a shocking constitutional crisis between monarchy and government that rocks Westminster to its core
49:17In 1936, King George V dies
49:21And his son Edward automatically succeeds to the throne
49:25But politicians quickly become concerned
49:27Edward is showing little regard for the established constitutional conventions
49:34And only months into his reign, he proposes marriage to the American socialite, Wallis Simpson
49:41There's nothing wrong with Mrs. Simpson as such
49:45I mean, she came from a decent family and was well-educated, wise-cracking, good-looking
49:50She had all the potential for winning over the British people
49:55But Wallis Simpson has an awkward secret that the Westminster establishment simply cannot accept
50:02She was not merely divorced, she was twice divorced, with two living husbands
50:08And this, in the eyes of the British at that time, absolutely ruled her out
50:13Top secret papers recently discovered in a Westminster archive
50:17Reveal a covert plot hatched against the King, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury
50:24It was above all, I think, the Archbishop of Canterbury who soured the King's relationship with the establishment
50:31When Edward insists that he will marry Wallis and make her his queen, the Archbishop acts
50:39He arranges a secret meeting with the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
50:44To persuade him to do something traitorous
50:47To force out the King
50:50The Archbishop and the Prime Minister formed the United Front
50:54They made it clear that, in their view, if the King went ahead and married Mrs. Simpson, he could not remain on the throne
51:07Next, the Archbishop calls upon the help of another member of the Westminster establishment
51:12The editor of the Times newspaper, Geoffrey Dawson
51:15Together, they privately put pressure on the King
51:21The establishment closed ranks
51:24They, in effect, made it absolutely clear to the King
51:28That if he stuck to his guns, if he insisted on this marriage
51:33Then he could not be King
51:35As the pressure mounts, Edward gives in
51:39On December the 11th, 1936, he chooses Wallis
51:43And has to do something that no British King had done for hundreds of years
51:49He announces his abdication
51:52I have found it impossible
51:54To carry over heavy burden of responsibility
51:58And to discharge my duties as King
52:02As I here would wish to do
52:05Without the help and support of the woman I love
52:11The Westminster establishment has won
52:15Ultimately, the King has got no power at all
52:19He was a puppet
52:21Once the King had irrevocably committed himself to marrying Mrs. Simpson
52:27Then he was finished
52:29Edward Windsor marries Wallis Simpson in Paris on June the 3rd, 1937
52:34They live together abroad for the rest of their lives
52:39After the abdication, Edward's brother and the current Queen's father, Albert, reluctantly inherits the crown
52:48He takes the title George VI to give a sense of continuity
52:53And restore confidence in a country rocked by the scandal
52:58Monarchy and Parliament settle back into their comfortable, traditional relationship
53:05And in 1953, after the death of King George, his 26-year-old daughter Elizabeth is crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey
53:24Her reign brings a thousand years of history full circle
53:31From the saintly exploits of the King whose people believe he has the power to cure all illness
53:37Down through the ages to the present day
53:40The story of Westminster is the story of the struggle for power
53:45From battles for possession of the crown
53:47To the battle for proper representation
53:51As monarchs have got less powerful
53:55The people have become more powerful
53:58And democracy has prevailed
54:02All the while, Westminster has remained at the heart of Britain
54:07Where tradition and continuity trump everything
54:17The meaning of the kingdom of God
54:21The important place is a country and the world
54:23The limit of the kingdom to the Archangel
54:39The country is a country that has its own country
54:43It is a country that has a country that has become more powerful