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Great British Railway Journeys

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Factual: History

Factual: Travel

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 12: Winchfield to Crowthorne

Episode 12

Episode 12: Winchfield to Crowthorne

Series 5

Winchfield to Crowthorne

BBC Two - Great British Railway Journeys, Series 5, Winchfield to Crowthorne

Michael Portillo is put through his paces when he visits the army camp at Aldershot.

Michael Portillo's journey continues in a military vein, as he views the Duke of Wellington's funeral carriage and visits the army camp at Aldershot.

Michael Portillo continues his journey from the Hampshire coast to the West Midlands in a distinctly military vein. 

At Winchfield, he discovers the vast carriage which carried the Duke of Wellington's coffin to his state funeral at St Paul's Cathedral in 1852 and hears how the duke's chestnut stallion also received full military honours when he was buried at the duke's seat, Stratfield Saye. Michael then heads for Farnborough and the army camp at Aldershot, where, after the Crimean War, greater physical fitness among rank and file Victorian soldiers became a priority. Private Portillo joins the regulars to be put through his paces under military instruction. 

Sanctuary is not far away in Farnborough North at the Benedictine Monastery of St Michael, where Michael visits the tomb of the French emperor Napoleon III and his family. He ends this second leg of his journey in Crowthorne, where, in the year his Bradshaw's was published, there opened a notorious new institution, England's first Asylum for the Criminally Insane, Broadmoor.

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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 12: Winchfield to Crowthorne

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