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Great British Railway Journeys

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Factual: History

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Documentary series in which Michael Portillo travels the country by train.

All aboard! Armed with his trusty Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo explores the UK the railways made. Uncover hidden gems and fascinating communities from across the nation.

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Great British Railway Journeys: Series 5

Michael Portillo

Alison Kreps

John Comerford

Great British Railway Journeys: Series 5: Episode 13: Wokingham to Bradford-on-Avon

Episode 13

Episode 13: Wokingham to Bradford-on-Avon

Series 5

Wokingham to Bradford-on-Avon

BBC Two - Great British Railway Journeys, Series 5, Wokingham to Bradford-on-Avon

Michael learns how the railways fuelled the development of the modern printing press.

On the third leg of his journey, Michael Portillo learns how demand from rail commuters fuelled the development of the modern printing press.

Steered by his Victorian guidebook, Michael Portillo heads north from the south coast towards the West Midlands. 

The third leg begins in Wokingham, where Bradshaw's reports the proprietor of The Times newspaper resided and where he was a great benefactor. Michael finds out how demand from a growing number of rail commuters fuelled the development of the modern printing press and learns how to print on an iron press. He then heads to Newbury, where he encounters a Tudor captain of industry, who manufactured cloth in enormous volumes. 

Michael's next destination is Trowbridge, where Sir Isaac Pitman invented his famous shorthand. He ends this leg of the journey in Bradford on Avon, where he hears from a local manufacturer how his Victorian forebears were the first in Britain to be licensed to vulcanise rubber. They supplied springs, buffers and hoses for the locomotive industry and now make rubber suspensions systems for bicycles.

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Michael Portillo finds out how railways have impacted on the places they link.

Michael Portillo takes train journeys across Britiain, finding out how railways were used and the impact they have had on the places they link, from the Victorian age of George Bradshaw to now.

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Great British Railway Journeys

Series 5

Episode 13: Wokingham to Bradford-on-Avon

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