Michael Portillo follows his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide to the unspoilt East Sussex Cinque Port of Rye. On the windswept harbour beach, he hears how, in 1928, a generation of lifeboatmen lost their lives in a tragic rescue attempt at sea. Michael visits the town’s modern day lifeboat station to see how the RNLI’s brave crews train today.

On the beaches at Rye, Michael explores one of 28,000 pillboxes constructed around the British coastline during World War II and hears from a military historian about how the nation prepared for an expected German invasion.

Train heaven beckons as Michael boards the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway to cross Romney Marsh en route to Dungeness. Along the way, he hears about the eccentric inventor of the railway, Count Louis Zborowski.

From Dungeness, Michael heads to the former RAF base of Denge, where he discovers a cluster of giant concrete structures with an intriguing name, Sound Mirrors. The RSPB warden in whose nature reserve they stand explains their history to Michael. Show less