The Glasgow Story

[Music] glasgow has been called the most exciting city in the world it claims to be the industrial commercial and intellectual heart of scotland in a country of 5.5 million glasgow embraces nearly 1 million of that population the city like its people is renowned for true scottish hospitality generosity and warmth of welcome and just as its people are full of exciting contrasts so is its architecture well worthy of its crown city of architecture i'm sitting in a chair next to a fireplace in provence lordship the oldest house in glasgow perhaps it's the same fireplace that mary queen of scots sat by when she came to glasgow and stayed at the house in january 1567 while visiting her sick husband lord darnley but perhaps the most remarkable fact about this building is that it's here at all most of glasgow's medieval and the 16th century heritage has disappeared swept away by 17th and 18th century developers in the latter part of the 20th century the city planners did make some mistakes but perhaps fewer than elsewhere the city is still paying that price but who could argue that the classical neoclassical victorian and edwardian grand designs are anything but a positive contribution to glasgow's highly individual architectural character the building behind me was once owned by tobacco lord william cunningham it's in the commercial heart of glasgow city the city was built on the ruins of medieval glasgow with money earned from sugar tobacco and cotton commodities that owed their profitability to the exploitation of slaves in america this fine mansion currently being transformed into a gallery of modern art was financed with capital withdrawn from the americas and reinvested in scotland's own industrial revolution glasgow's industrialization started with the water-powered cotton industry but soon new capital was financing the exploitation of scotland's raw materials iron ore and coal crafters and crafters sons walked the high roads and low roads to join the swelling workforce manning machines which were moving glasgow and what was to become the industrial conurbations surrounding the city out of the 19th and into the 20th century glasgow was really moving and in more ways than one in 1894 glasgow corporation assumed municipal control of the tramway system but bitterness between the corporation and the glasgow tramway and omnibus company prevented it from acquiring their existing fleet of trams so work was immediately begun on the construction of brand new horse-drawn trams 384 of them the absolute ultimate in lightweight transport at the grand cost of 143 pounds each alas in a few short years horse-drawn transport had become inadequate and in 1898 the first of 21 new electric cars were completed 120 of the horse-drawn trams were also converted to electric operation staying in service until after the first world war like dinosaurs of prehistoric times electric charms became the dominant species in glasgow sailing effortlessly through its streets offering a frequent and regular service they do say that reckless highlanders were caused to wave their caps at them in such a hall street as these monsters of a modern age glided past with consummate environmental [Music] friendships [Music] originally a relatively shallow tidal river the clyde had to be widened and deepened to satisfy the demands placed upon it by all the manufacturing industries that sprang up along its length not the least of which was the building maintenance and refitting of warships [Music] on its banks were founded the greatest ship building industry in the world 25 of all ships that sailed the seas of the british empire had their keels laid in glasgow and every time a captain called from bridge to engine room the scottish engineer had said the sea lanes of imperialism were patrolled by the dreadnoughts invincible armor-plated monsters born on the glide and the spoils of industrial might returned to the empire's second city the distribution of wealth was as always uneven but the affluence of these travelers at weems bay is clear for all to see there are ships officers and the well-dressed ladies and expensive hats dresses sown by the skillful hands of glasgow's seamstresses the suburban gentleman and his wife and they're so well cut clothes look at the set of that overcoat one can almost hear the tap of their glasgow handmade shoes on the station tiles and there's enough money in glasgow purses for a trip on the caledonian battle steamer leaving guruk bay for a day out and perhaps there'll be a drama saloon as the wee wifey watches the wings and always the perennial pleasure of sand castles of the beach even if overdressed edwardian respectability did not permit casual clothes these children and families enjoy a day out or perhaps even a summer holiday at the noon west bay [Music] oh [Music] the day we went to rossio to see the piros at the end of the pier show they are not of course singing glasgow empire favorites but discreet melodies for a family show and after the pieros and pirates a stroll along the esplanade to view the latest technological innovation the monoplane they didn't know that they were looking at the future at etric bay there's more sand and donkey rides in the western sun a more expensive pastime is yachting on the clyde and you can hoist a sail to cruise past one of the rich men's steam yachts more than likely built in the glide with money from linen or bleach or sugar or britain's first chain of grocer's shops or a hundred different profitable commodities or artifacts glasgow's workers could turn their hands to or you could just end the day like these little edwardian mermaids with a climb among the seaweed and the crab invested pools on the rocks at the river's edge back in the city there's an outing to rook and glenn for the kids and mums of springbone fun days out that are few and far between for glasgow city kids on the other side of town it's sunday on great western road and the pavements are thronged with glasgow suburban middle classes from their three to four story tenement blocks can they still be called tenements and perhaps a few from kelvin grove not for them thank god the 80 in 1 000 child mortality rate in the globals but for now let the clerks shipping agents teachers accountants and officer soldiers confidently tread the flagstones and the children hop and skip avoiding the cracks for across the german ocean kaiser bill was going to blow all those edwardian sundays away in 1914 came the guns of august and the highland light infantry marched off to that big picnic at eep and armontier aras ocean villas festoo bear and the somme where the pipes called scottish boys from the trenches into the hell of no man's land [Music] [Music] [Music] scotland has always had a strong military tradition but this time glasgow fought the war with her industry just as much as with her members and for the first time women were making a vital contribution after victory there would be a coming home fit for heroes for those that did return there were no vectors laws and there were jobs for only a few boom had turned to bust no one had heard then of the peace dividend the great capital industries that glasgow thrived upon were the first to go in the depression if work was to be found it might be in the railways but as england had just won control of scottish railways through lms that too dried up there might be work on one of the puffers made famous by neil monroe like this one passing under the jamaica bridge glasgow university one of the oldest and greatest universities in britain it was moved here to this new building in the 19th century after having stood for over 400 years in the old city of glasgow now if there's an institution that remains basically the same in form and content throughout the land it's the university rag procession at least in the glasgow of 1926 there's a real scots pipe band and scots men and women in scott's dress as they say when greek meets greek they open up a restaurant when englishman meets englishmen they dress up as women and maybe [Music] there's no consideration given to political correctness the empire stereotypes make good subjects for this charity fundraising event it must have seemed like taking in each other's washing as the children of the onlookers must have solely needed the charity they were subscribing to while glasgow's workers struggled with unemployment or for those lucky enough to be in jobs with massive cuts in the paper cuts that were to cause the general strike another flat of the city life went on perhaps there's one important concession being made to historical reality the lorries these students were mounted on were we hope albions made in glasgow no this isn't another student ragweek float it is the benny railplane this futuristic venture had a short life on 420 feet of lner track it was the brainchild of george benny who later formed the airspeed railway company to further his project the monorail and the cigar-shaped carriage was powered by push and pull air screws driven by aero engines the engineering was done by harold johnson and merlich watson there were plans to have a line to edinburgh and one from blackpool to stockport there was even talk of a line from djibouti to addis ababa in ethiopia but mussolini would fade into that mussolini and his pal hitler which paid to quite a lot of things even the great queens project had been abandoned during the depression and number 534 later the queen mary had been years rusting the dereliction of 534 was perhaps one of the greatest disappointments endured on clydesdale the decision to build the queen had been greeted with expectations of jobs for life it was only when the project was revived that glasgow and clyde bank were convinced that economic recovery was on its way there were wage packets once again and workers pride was rekindled as they walked down the road to john brown's yard there were commentators who said the results were visible in weeks as children went from bread and dripping to proper food housewives began to shop again [Music] it is perhaps ironic that the first full passenger compliment queen mary was to have for american soldiers she thousands of gis from the states to guru when america entered the war she and her sister ship's great glasgow built engines gave them the speed easily to outpace the fastest german u-boat glasgow and clyde bank went into the second world war full steam ahead and paid for it by being a prime target of the luftwaffe this is the memorial to clyde bank citizens at donota cemetery killed by enemy action in 1941. only seven houses were left undamaged in clydebank during the luftwaffe blitz [Music] these children at wenchboro gala day in august 1942 could well have been the children of some of the victims of the blitz as it is they look well fed and well-dressed with the sun shining on both of them and their home guard onlookers so they waved their union jacks for the camera and we are glad that they did for this picture of wartime scotland bridges time [Music] ginger has never tasted so good to these innocents caught up in the terror of a war they just do not understand the smiling mums enjoy a moment's escape from reality there are few dads they are either away on war work or overseas within a couple of years some of those glasgow dads would be with the 15th scottish division in normandy landing a few days after d-day they were thrown straight into the front line for operation epsom in what became known as the scottish corridor as the assault and khan landed on the gentle slopes of hill 112 the 15th scottish division held the flanks of the salient open in the face of determined attacks from two german panzer divisions in some of the most bitter and bloody fighting of the war the scots simply refused to be overrun their stubborn resistance in the face of overwhelming odds cost them nearly 3 000 men was he killed by a bullet shrapnel a mine w dunn how did he die did he have a wife and family below each simple gravestone lies the body of a soldier a man for whom someone somewhere still grieves they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old age shall not weary them nor the years condemn at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them with the end of hostilities there was an optimism an assurance even that times would get [Music] better [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] the river that runs through the city both joins and separates it on that river between the bridges clyde the cluthus the passenger ferryboats that carried glasgow's ordinary folk backwards and forwards in all weathers and all seasons there were of course other ways of getting about [Music] glasgow has always been justly proud of its publicly owned transport system which includes of course an underground railway nowadays called the clockwork orange so proud of the network where the corporation they even commissioned a film to celebrate their range of transport services both past and present glasgow's trams were still in the forefront of civic pride this film was made nearly 20 years before they were finally taken off the streets [Music] foreign [Music] i [Music] so [Music] let glasgow flourish was the ironic title for an attempt made to tell the story of poverty in post-war glasgow this is a description of life in the garbles for many their post-war aspirations were not being met the film was made in 1951 little had changed since the first world war this close was like thousands of other glasgow slam closet the short narrow yard and passage leading up to three landings and through to a grassless broken brick back coat the small communal washers in such back courts the women of the tournament took their weekly turn in the washoes and hung out the family washing they were the only playground of many thousands of the city's children in them youngsters played football and children's games climbed on the midden and wash house roofs and escaped death or injury from the perilous trafficking streets the film narrative tells its story and pictures how a little girl is struck down directly as a result of having nowhere to play except for the streets she dies in the family's single land tenement in a little box bed in contrast this next film shows how the same environmental culture can be romanticized and in fact made almost this is the clyde at glasgow a hustling bustling waterway given over to trade commerce and industry cranes walls and warehouses crowd both banks of the river at glasgow where the clyde becomes one of the world's great waterways here ships of all sizes and nationalities load and discharge their cargo small in size but start of heart are a familiar sight on this stretch of the river as their nose in and out of dockland the network of keys basins treads and railway sidings that make up the port of glaucoma puffers too have their place in dockland for these dumpy little maids of all work carry their cargos right up to the shallows under the city's bridges in dockland even the cats go about the business with a serious purposeful air the dockers with a forest of cranes to help them handle each year on an average six million tons of goods brought from or dispatched to every quarter of the globe in ships of all sizes and classes and the seagulls well they keep an eye on things in a fourth the size of glasgow general cargos include practically everything from nuts and bolts to railway engines up river from the docks the clyde is crossed by many bridges this is a suspension bridge for pedestrians only and this is one of the many bridges which take the city's traffic over the river downstream back in the center of the dock area there are ferries instead of bridges passenger ferries knows their way from bank to bank at various points along the river and there's always something about the shipping to catch the eye on a ferry crossing these ferries provide on the river the kind of service that buses give on the road they're small they carry only a limited number of passengers but they cross and re-cross almost continuously all day long passenger ferries save many people a long roundabout journey up one bank of the river across the bridges and down the other bank by 30 they just go straight across in addition to the small passenger carries there are big ferries for cars and lorries these are useful not only because they're a shortcut but because they bypass the crowded city bridges occasionally the ferries have to wait for ships to pass up or down the river just like waiting at the traffic lights the streets of dockland are as bustling and traffic laden as the clyde itself the horse dawn lorraine still pays its part in the transport of goods slower perhaps than car van or diesel lorry but an important link nevertheless in clydeside's fallage system docks mean ships ships mean seamen and seamen like to have a home ashore when the ships in fort see men's missions another familiar sight in dockland provide just such a home where a good bed and good food can be had at reasonable prices everywhere in dockland and at all hours of the day there's an air of busyness the rumbling traffic on the keysight streets the throbbing engines of the tugs on the river the staccato din of the shipyards on the banks but there's more to it than this the pattern of life in dockland is woven from many different strands a few people have time to stand or sit [Music] i'm of nature but most people go about occupied busy with their own affairs [Music] [Music] well there she goes oh there she goes peter heels look at your feet she thinks she's neat back stockings and dirty feet [Music] [Applause] [Music] is in glasgow shipping and learning rubbed shoulders for the university is only a stone's throw away from the docks and looks down on kelvin grove park a green oasis amid the city streets and [Music] buildings [Music] is foreign [Music] oh [Music] we [Music] to a step out of kelvingrove park is to step into the workaday world of dockland there are the workmen on their way to or from the ships or falls or railway sightings the men who keep the port of glasgow going there is the traffic the ceaseless stream of vans lorries buses trams and private cars that rumble over the bridges from early morning until gathering dusk and there is the river itself strangely beautiful in the grooming when ships and sheds and bridges and buildings are silhouetted against the evening sky this is the river which not so long ago was a shallow salmon stream and is now a great international waterway the river which gave rise to the saying the clyde made glasgow but glasgow made the clyde [Music] [Music] post-war there were great plans for glasgow as the reality of slum squalor remained slum clearance had begun in the 1930s and was considerably assisted by the luftwaffe but it wasn't until the 1950s that it was given urgent priority glasgow had plans to build a city and new town of and for the future there are some among us who are perhaps thankful for the changes in population government and economic conditions that caused such plans to be filed in the waste paper basket then came the 60s and 70s and the age of the motor car and the motorway glasgow's highway plan proposes a four and a half mile inner ring road round the center of the new city making the central area easy to bypass fast to get into fast to get out of more accessible on june 26 1970 a symbolic stage of this crucial development was reached when her majesty the queen mother opened the largest urban bridge in the united kingdom built at a total cost of 11 million pounds the kingston bridge has a span of eight hundred and eighty feet over the waters of the clyde its five northbound and five southbound lanes will carry seventy thousand vehicles a day in 1975 120 000 a day in 1990 it was said that glasgow would be destroyed only to provide a means of entering it and leaving it there were 75 miles of urban motorway planned for the region london a metropolis overstatement only plan 35. [Music] uh [Music] so [Applause] [Applause] in 1960 work began on the biggest urban redevelopment program in europe a 20-year program involving five square miles a twelfth of the city's area between 1960 and 1970 52 000 houses were demolished in glasgow a further 75 000 are scheduled for demolition up to 1980 to make room for new life in the city for new houses industries schools and colleges hospitals social and cultural amenities for new roads linking a planned and integrated community noise dust confusion sometimes painful transformation of familiar landmarks this is cheering cross victorian grandeur the duke of wellington and a bank for the 1980s the best of the old keeps its place in the new glasgow glasgow's overspill means that in 1980 the population of the city will be eight hundred thousand people they will have good houses and a revitalized environment that will free them from the cramped conditions of the past so basil spencer's high-rise flats and hutchison town gorbals the first of the comprehensive development areas at ibrox and in other parts of the city low medium and high-rise housing are grouped together the future of any city develops out of its past and this is not forgotten in the process of change some of the best of glasgow's traditional four-story sandstone tournaments are being modernized but as glasgow prepares for the 21st century the pattern of life changes tenement life with its julie pieces and we shops is disappearing in its place shopping precincts located with new housing and new roads in mind shopping 1980 is convenience safety supplying the needs of material and physical excellence [Applause] glasgow made up for not inventing football by creating celtic rangers and the hamden roar the city also has a strong schools and club rugby tradition [Applause] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Music] well that was the forecast on film for 1980 so much for predictions it was before the thatcher years responsible for what has been called the deindustrialization of britain and glasgow as always was first in the firing line it was before that most successful of all publicity campaigns glasgow smiles better before the 1990 european city of culture so much is yet to change for glasgow and there are those eager for change but many others nostalgic for the old glasgow and the old clyde and a trip doom the water from the city that is the gateway to scotland [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] so my [Music] so [Music] so [Music] blue [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Alex Glass

Views: 36,332

Rating: 4.9012346 out of 5

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Id: UXNSgcPUfOY

Length: 54min 32sec (3272 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021