Industrial Revelations - Season 2

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Bread and Beer

1 - Bread and Beer

Air Date: January 10, 2005

Comedian Mark Williams explains how 19th-century Britons drank beer as a healthy alternative to water because the fermentation process killed many harmful bacteria

What to Wear?

2 - What to Wear?

Air Date: January 17, 2005

Mark Williams discovers how 19th-century hats were made of rabbit fur that had been shrunk in urine

Gas on Wheels

3 - Gas on Wheels

Air Date: January 24, 2005

The use of gas to power the machines and inventions from the Industrial Revolution are explained by Mark Williams

Print and Paper

4 - Print and Paper

Air Date: January 31, 2005

In a look at the history of printing, Mark Williams discovers why early typesetters arranged lower-case letters according to their usage, with the most common being in the middle

Under Pressure

5 - Under Pressure

Air Date: February 7, 2005

Mark Williams visits a pub cellar and bridges across the Tyne, all powered by hydraulics, revealing how the beer pump started a power revolution

Building a Revolution

6 - Building a Revolution

Air Date: February 14, 2005

Documentary exploring how the massive construction boom triggered by the Industrial Revolution forced the building industry to find new materials to cope with increasing demand.

Bright Sparks

7 - Bright Sparks

Air Date: February 21, 2005

How the electricity industry was created from scientific experimentation and entrepreneurial enthusiasm - becoming the world's main power source.

Heavy Metals

8 - Heavy Metals

Air Date: February 28, 2005

The development of the Cornish mining industry, from pebble-picking in streams to the building of a honeycomb of mines below the sea

Cutting it Fine

9 - Cutting it Fine

Air Date: March 7, 2005

How silk was instrumental in the invention of the binary code, which went on to inspire the computer revolution.

Machine Tools

10 - Machine Tools

Air Date: March 14, 2005

Mark Williams learns about Joseph Whitworth, the man who standardised the threaded screw. Plus, the total cost of wood required to build HMS Victory