Local Heroes S01E06 · North West

Overview

The last in the series about pioneering scientists and inventors comes from the north west of England. Host Adam Hart-Davis discovers the connection between botany and Wordsworth the poet when he learns about his friend, John Gough, a local botanist who identified many rare plants despite being blind. A bicycle pump and a disgusting jelly help unearth the history of Lake Windermere. Adam climbs to the snowy summit of Helvellyn to try to reproduce John Dalton's weather forecasts. Finally, in Manchester, he learns about Joseph Whitworth, whose move to standardise the nuts and bolts of the engineering industry has endured to the present day.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. South West1996-01-02Tonight, he travels to Bristol and the south west of England where he pays tribute to the woman who invented a bed with built-in exerciser and a breakfast maker. He also discovers
2. 2 2. South1996-01-09Tonight, Adam's journey takes him south, and in Chard, Somerset he recreates the world's first powered flight - which was made 50 years before the Wright brothers by John Stringfel
3. 3 3. Scotland1996-01-16Tonight, Adam's journey takes him to Scotland, and includes the story of Neville Maskelyne, the man who weighed all the planets of the solar system from a bothy on a Perthshire mou
4. 4 4. Midlands1996-01-23Tonight's stories of pioneering scientists and inventors come from the Midlands. Host Adam Hart-Davis investigates the Lunar Society of Birmingham, known as "lunaticks". Its membe
5. 5 5. Northern Ireland1996-01-30Tonight's stories of pioneering scientists and inventors come from Northern Ireland. Host Adam Hart-Davis discovers that the pneumatic tyre, invented by Belfast vet John Boyd Dunlo
6. 6 6. North West1996-02-06The last in the series about pioneering scientists and inventors comes from the north west of England. Host Adam Hart-Davis discovers the connection between botany and Wordsworth t