Michael Portillo hits the West End to explore an exotic store, which was a favourite among Edwardian ladies. At Covent Garden’s Royal Ballet School he hears how in 1909 a Russian ballet company took London by storm and how its prima ballerina inspired the school’s founding choreographer.

Leaving the capital from Charing Cross, Michael heads for Dartford in Kent, where he discovers the origins of netball and gymslips at the North Kent College. He finishes this leg of his journey from Warwick to Rye on the Thames at Gravesend, where he is impressed by the pilots of the Port of London Authority, founded in the early 20th century. Show less