The People's History Show Season 5 Episode 5

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00:30Hello and welcome to the People's History Show, where we bring you all sorts of amazing stories from Scotland's past.

00:34I'm Jennifer Reuch.

00:35And I'm Fergus Sutherland. Coming up on tonight's show...

00:39Atta Yacoub tells us a unique story from Scotland's footballing history about Neil Patterson,

00:45who went from captaining Dundee United to winning an Oscar.

00:50And I discover how big an impact the thread industry had on Paisley with the story of GP Coates.

00:56But first, Colin Stone is travelling back to his hometown in Caithness.

01:03He's discovering more about Doonray, a nuclear power site which has become an unlikely local landmark.

01:08It's a stone's throw from the most northerly points in the British mainland,

01:28but Doonray was once the centre of nuclear fast reactor research and developments in the UK.

01:33In 1954, nine years after the end of World War II,

01:39it became clear that Britain needed more electricity to help rebuild its economy.

01:45But the uranium needed to create nuclear energy was scarce,

01:49and the government's priority remained on developing their weapons programme.

01:53However, scientists persuaded the government they could generate electricity from a new type of reactor,

02:00without jeopardising their defence plans.

02:04This fast reactor would convert unusable uranium to plutonium that could be recycled,

02:09and eventually result in electricity in abundance.

02:12But how did it work?

02:17So this is what the inside of the Doonray nuclear reactor would look like,

02:21and to explain what's going on is physicist Dr Craig.

02:24So tell me, what is happening here?

02:26Simply, the reactor core is taking uranium, splitting it apart to release energy.

02:31The energy is then heating the core,

02:34and that heat is used to boil water, to create steam, to turn a turbine, to create electricity.

02:40So Doonray is essentially a giant kettle?

02:42A very expensive one.

02:44Nuclear power was, and still is, a contentious issue,

02:47with concerns relating to contamination and safety.

02:51One of the reasons why the sparsely populated area of Doonray was chosen,

02:55was fear of a major incident.

02:59In 1955, construction of Doonray began.

03:03August 1957, the first nuclear reaction took place.

03:06It's an incredible structure, you see it on the horizon.

03:09What went into building this site?

03:11There were 3,000 people constructing Doonray over a period of four years.

03:16180 facilities, two reactors, there was a huge amount of work.

03:23It's roughly one mile long, and a quarter of a mile wide.

03:26Doonray community accepted the fact that the benefits outweighed the risks,

03:31and they basically accepted it.

03:33By 1962, Doonray's fast reactor became the first in the world to provide electricity to a national grid.

03:41It continued operating until 1977.

03:45But the creation of Doonray also had a longer lasting impact on the nearby town of Thurzo.

03:50Doonray has been responsible for developing the infrastructure and the community in the area,

03:56and it's given a great deal of people a really good standard of living and education.

04:01The number of people employed was nearly two and a half thousand people,

04:04and half of them were local, so there were 1,200 locals having jobs.

04:08Thurzo, the population expanded from 3,000 to roughly 9,000, with 1,800 new houses.

04:15The wages that came in, there was new shops, new hotels, new schools, technical college,

04:22so it changed it quite a lot.

04:25Thurzo grew so rapidly thanks to the impact of Doonray that it became known as Atom Town.

04:32I'm an atomic, and that's what the locals call us.

04:34And they call us that because our husbands work at Doonray.

04:37I've been here for five years and I love it.

04:40My husband and I have been up here for ten years, we're married up here,

04:43and we're raising our family.

04:44We like it here very much, but we do miss the shops and the theatres.

04:49Doonray's landmark feature is its golf ball-esque dome,

04:53and like many of the other buildings on site, it was constructed in the 1950s.

04:58The dome's design was considered to be the best shape of structure

05:01to contain gases from the reactor if there ever was a breach,

05:05but the dome, like the majority of the buildings here at Doonray, is said to be dismantled.

05:10In the late 1980s, citing expensive running costs and the surplus of uranium,

05:17Britain decided to stop using fast reactors.

05:20This signalled the beginning of the end for Doonray.

05:23It was a really active operating station at the time, producing electricity, generating results then for the future.

05:31And now, of course, it's all changed and we're pulling the place apart.

05:36So some people have taken it quite hard because it was their life.

05:41A plan to decommission the site was announced at the turn of the century,

05:46six years after the closure of the fast reactor in 1994,

05:50and today's clean-up is recognised as one of the most complex nuclear projects in the whole of Europe.

05:55My dad used to work here at Doonray's prototype, Fast Reactor, where he became a senior shift manager.

06:02He was chosen to be the person who shut down the reactor for the very last time.

06:07He really didn't want to do it.

06:09It was his life's work here, and he really believed in the future of fast reactor technology.

06:16Doonray is unique.

06:17It's the only site in the whole of the UK that had fast reactors.

06:21Nuclear power has always had its critics, but arguments aside,

06:26it's important to remember that Doonray represented more than a power station.

06:30It was a remarkable feat of engineering in one of the most remote areas in the country.

06:36It showed that nuclear power could be generated safely in Scotland.

06:40Growing up in this area, for myself and many other local people,

06:44there was and still is a massive sense of pride.

06:47Keith Ness was helping pioneer the future of generating energy.

06:58Atom Town. Now, that's a cool nickname.

07:00It is cool. Not as cool as Atomics, though. That was a good one. I like that.

07:05Now, Neil Patterson is a name which holds a very special place in the history of Scottish football.

07:09After having captained Dundee United, Patterson hung up his football boots for good,

07:13but he went on to become a very accomplished writer, as Atty Jakob finds out.

07:28From playing outside left at Tannendice to wooing the glitterati in Hollywood,

07:33this is the unlikely story of Neil Patterson.

07:36Being captain of a professional football team would be the pinnacle in most people's lives,

07:46but for Neil Patterson, it was just the start of a remarkable career.

07:51If you ask any Scottish child of five or six where their passion for football starts,

07:59it probably starts in the street, kicking it around with all your friends.

08:02Born in Greenock in 1915, Neil moved to Bucky with his family at an early age.

08:10At Banff Academy, he played for the school. He then played for Bucky Thistle.

08:16He went to Edinburgh University and started to play football as a hobby with Leith Athletic.

08:21It was there he was spotted by then Dundee United manager Jimmy Brownlee,

08:25who was quick to sign him up.

08:29So what are we looking at here, Tom?

08:31We're looking at a scrapbook which was compiled by Neil's mum.

08:36There's a lot of stuff on Leith Athletic and then it's noted by mum

08:41that on the 3rd of July 1936, that's the end of Leith Athletic.

08:45It's now Dundee United. He signed there yesterday.

08:48The rest of the scrapbook then contains pictures and reports of his...

08:52His time at Dundee United.

08:53Absolutely.

08:53Tom is a historian at Tannadice and an expert on all things Dundee United, including Neil Paterson.

09:04How did you first find out about Neil Paterson?

09:07It was in some of the Dundee United publications, histories of Dundee United,

09:10and it just fascinated me immediately.

09:13He came here, he played one season and lit the city up.

09:17He was a wonderfully talented footballer, according to all the reports.

09:21The headline in his very first game was,

09:24Paterson impresses.

09:25We did win, strangely, away from home.

09:28And he continued to impress throughout that season.

09:33The Dundee Evening Times described him as a real find, well-built, fast and full of football.

09:40Actually, what was very unusual about Neil is the fact that he maintains his amateur status

09:44and gets to captain a professional side, which I'm not aware of anybody else who's done that.

09:53Just seems to have been a very, very special player.

09:56And it was the players, they were, I don't know how this came about,

10:00the players selected him as captain.

10:02As an amateur player, it was a bold move for Paterson to be given the captaincy straight away,

10:07an opportunity he grasped with both hands, scoring nine times in 26 league games.

10:13Under pressure to join United on professional terms,

10:17Paterson decided to leave the club he loved to pursue a career in journalism and writing.

10:23He touched something and it turned to gold, I think.

10:26And I wish he had remained a wee while longer at Dundee United,

10:31because we could have done with a wee bit more of that.

10:34Initially, Neil worked as a journalist for DC Thompson in Dundee,

10:38but his literary journey was just beginning.

10:40We have to take a quick break now, but stay tuned to find out more about Neil Paterson

10:49and some never-before-seen footage.

10:52And I'll be finding out about the company that helped to build Paisley.

10:55That's all still to come on the People's History Show.

10:58Welcome back to the People's History Show.

11:17Still to come, I'll be looking at the impact the thread industry had on Paisley.

11:21But first, let's continue looking at the remarkable story of footballer turned writer, Neil Paterson.

11:26Having retired from football, Neil set his sights on a different kind of goal.

11:44He then became very well-known as a novelist,

11:46and that really was his achievement in a lot of ways,

11:49and wrote five or six quite well-known novels,

11:53which had some acclaim, and most certainly in Scotland.

11:58One of the short stories he wrote was called The Scottish Settlement,

12:02which was made into a film called The Kidnappers,

12:05and that went to Cannes.

12:07Paterson was then asked to write the script for the 1959 film Room at the Top.

12:12The film was a massive box office success

12:15and was nominated for six Oscars at the 1960 Academy Awards,

12:19including a nod for Paterson for Best Adapted Screenplay.

12:22At the Pantagious Theatre, it's Hollywood's Big Night,

12:26the 32nd Annual Oscar Awards,

12:28with a dazzling crowd of Tumden's great names packing the house.

12:32The Oscars in those days probably weren't as widely thought of as they are today.

12:37It rather passed us all by.

12:40It wasn't made into a big deal in any way.

12:43I think now the bottles of champagne would be opened and all sorts of things.

12:47Susan Hayward announces the award for Best Actor.

12:50Also nominated in the same category was the American epic Ben Hur.

12:57Charlton Heston, Ben Hur!

13:00Unless you were absolutely certainly going to get it,

13:02or you were the director who would get it on behalf of other people,

13:06you didn't always attend from abroad.

13:08Neil didn't like his chances

13:10and chose not to make the long and expensive journey

13:13from Scotland to California.

13:15But the results came through the next morning.

13:19In those days, you had a telephone attached to one part of the house.

13:23And I do remember there being a call

13:27and he came down and he just said,

13:29well, I've won the Oscar.

13:31Neil passed away in 1995 at the age of 79,

13:46living a life that could be made into a movie itself.

13:49His story is surely one of the most remarkable in Scottish football history.

13:53He did talk in his later days

13:57that of all the honours and everything that had come through his life,

14:01he was still most proud of the fact he had captained Dundee United.

14:07I became very aware of the fact that your father is very well known.

14:14You would get known as being the son of...

14:17I think he was both a very impressive person,

14:22a very private person,

14:23and I'm certainly very proud to be the son of...

14:26A star footballer and an award-winning writer.

14:42It's just not fair.

14:43Truly a man of many talents.

14:44He really was.

14:45Now, at one point, J.P. Coats was the biggest textile business in the world

14:49and it all started in Paisley.

15:10In the 19th century, Paisley was a small market town,

15:13but with the Industrial Revolution,

15:15it became the centre of the world's thread industry.

15:17It began with James Coats, who opened his own mill in 1826.

15:24At one point, Coats was Britain's largest manufacturing concern.

15:28It made more money than anyone else

15:30and it was the biggest thread manufacturer in the whole world

15:33and it was one of the first international manufacturing companies.

15:36So, to find out how it all started, I'm catching up with one of the volunteers

15:53at the Paisley Threadmill Museum, Clark Wallace.

15:55So, Clark, tell me, how did the Coats family begin?

15:59What was the beginning of the Coats family journey?

16:03Well, we'll have to go back to the weaving

16:05because James Coats was a weaver to trade

16:07and the first business that he staffed in Paisley

16:10was manufacturing canton crepe

16:12and after a while, his wife suggested to him

16:15that he should move into the thread industry

16:18and manufacture thread for sewing his canton crepe.

16:22James Coats took his son, Thomas, into the canton crepe business

16:25but his other two sons, James and Peter,

16:28they went into the thread industry.

16:29So, it's James and Peter, hence the name, J.P. Coats.

16:33J.P. Coats, that's correct.

16:34Yeah, that all makes sense.

16:35So, the thread industry became massive in Paisley, didn't it?

16:39How did that all come about?

16:40Weaving went into decline

16:41and the Paisley shawl became unfashionable

16:44and a lot of the weavers were turning their hand to thread.

16:47Now, there were about 50,

16:4950 small manufacturers of thread in Paisley at one time

16:52but two rose to the top,

16:55the Clarks and the Coats.

16:56Throughout the 1800s, Clarks and Coats

17:00dominated the thread industry

17:01which naturally led to some serious competition.

17:05The rivalry between the Clarks and the Coats

17:08from a management level right down to a worker level

17:11was quite fierce.

17:12There was rivalry inside the factories

17:14and there was rivalry outside the factories

17:17when people were out in the town in Paisley as well

17:19which, I'm maybe better not getting involved in.

17:22However, in 1896, J.P. Coats amalgamated with Clark & Co.

17:26to form the new, enlarged firm of J.P. Coats

17:29with a market value of around £22 million.

17:38The Paisley thread industry was thriving

17:40with over 10,000 people employed

17:42in the massive mill complexes by the 20th century.

17:46In fact, it was odd to find a family in Paisley

17:48that didn't have a member

17:49who'd worked in the mill at some point.

17:53Well, a lot of the women who went to work in the mills

17:55were following in the footsteps of their mums

17:56and their aunties and their friends as well

17:59so you'd have whole generations of people

18:00working side by side in the textile flats

18:03and whole streets and communities

18:04were relying on the thread mills for their living.

18:08For a lot of women, it was just going straight from school,

18:11leaving school on the Friday, starting on the Monday

18:13and bringing that wage pack at home for your mother

18:15to keep the family afloat.

18:18My two older cousins had secretarial jobs in there

18:22and they loved it and said

18:23it was an amazing company to work for.

18:25So I thought, well, this is my chance

18:27and I never looked back.

18:29I was there for almost 30 years.

18:31During the 20th century, working in the mills

18:34was like being part of a community

18:35and a place where many traditions were enjoyed

18:38amongst the workforce.

18:38When I got married, in particular,

18:42my office, my desk was all decorated up

18:45with balloons and festooned with steamers and stuff

18:48and my lab had paper flowers and L plates and everything on it

18:52and then I was taken along to the dye lab

18:55and one leg was put in a blue dye

18:57and one leg was put in a red dye

18:59then I was taken and put in a bogey

19:01and with the bogey, all your friends

19:03wheeled you around the entire mill.

19:06I needed to kiss every man that they could find

19:08which was pretty unpleasant, I have to say.

19:11I think there was money involved.

19:13I do believe that they took a collection

19:15for everybody who kissed you got some money

19:17towards your wedding, so it wasn't all bad.

19:20Another part of the mill's unique culture

19:23was the fact that they were incredibly noisy places to work

19:26so much so that many of the staff

19:27learned to lip read to communicate

19:29an important skill to have

19:31if you wanted to catch up on the weekend gossip.

19:33Oh, the noise was deafening

19:35and we didn't have ear defenders

19:37and when you went into the mill flats

19:39and the women were working

19:40they all had signs to explain to each other

19:43what they were wanting to do.

19:45They could carry on conversations with each other

19:47and they had to turn their back on the gaffer

19:50or the foreman

19:50because he could lip read as well.

19:53By 1986, diversification, global competition

19:56and mergers meant that the mills were starting to close.

19:59One person described it as the death of a thousand cuts

20:04and that just meant that the buildings were closing

20:06one by one, they were becoming disused

20:08the Fergusley mill got left in a state of disrepair for decades

20:11and it got torn down

20:13despite the fact it was a grade A listed building.

20:17The lights went out in Anchor in 1993

20:20and since then there are very few buildings

20:23mill buildings that still remain.

20:26The leaving of the Paisley anchor mills itself

20:30it was really quite sad

20:31all these people their entire lives had been there.

20:35For a long time the mills were Paisley

20:36and Paisley was the mills

20:37it was the same thing

20:38so losing that big part of your identity like that

20:41was devastating on the town.

20:42But the impact that Coates had on Paisley

20:49can still be seen today

20:51from the Coates Observatory

20:52the Coates Memorial Church

20:54and the Grand Fountain

20:55but it wasn't just buildings that they left behind.

20:59What Coates did for Paisley was

21:01they invested in people

21:03they invested in people

21:05everybody that comes into the mill now

21:07there is no one has got a bad word to say about it

21:10everybody speaks about the mills' wealth fondness

21:13a genuine fondness

21:14you can feel the warmth when they're speaking to you

21:17there's a great saying

21:18Paisley made Thread

21:19and Thread made Paisley

21:20and it's true.

21:23Despite the mills no longer being active in Paisley

21:26they're still a big part of the town

21:28and deeply woven into its history

21:30without Coates

21:32Paisley just wouldn't be the place it is today.

21:36It's amazing to think that Thread used all over the world

21:39came from Paisley

21:39It's quite incredible isn't it?

21:41Brilliant.

21:42Thanks for watching the People's History Show

21:43We'll see you next time.

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