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The People's History Show Season 5 Episode 5 - Full Movie
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00:30Hello and welcome to 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 development 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.
01:44But 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.
02:58In 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.
03:17180 facilities, two reactors.
03:20There 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, but 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 2,500 people, and 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, so 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, and 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, and 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, and 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 to 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, Britain decided to stop using fast reactors.
05:20This signaled 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, and 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, six 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, it was his life's work here, and he really believed in the future of fast reactor technology.
06:16Doonray is unique, it'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, it'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, there 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, but he went on to become a very accomplished writer, as Ati Jakob finds out.
07:28From playing outside left at Tannadise, to wooing the glitterati in Hollywood, this is the unlikely story of Neil Patterson.
07:36Being captain of a professional football team would be the pinnacle in most people's lives, but 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, it probably starts in the street, kicking it around with all your friends.
08:03Born 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, who 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 that 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.
08:57Tom is a historian at Tannadise and an expert on all things Dundee United, including Neil Patterson.
09:03How did you first find out about Neil Patterson?
09:07It was in some of the Dundee United publications, Histories of Dundee United, and 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, Patterson impresses.
09:25We did win, strangely, away from home, and 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 and 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.
09:56As an amateur player, it was a bold move for Patterson to be given the captaincy straight away, an opportunity he grasped with both hands, scoring nine times in 26 league games.
10:12Under pressure to join United on professional terms, Patterson 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, and I wish he had remained a wee while longer at Dundee United, because we could have done with a wee bit more of that.
10:34Initially, Neil worked as a journalist for DC Thompson in Dundee, but his literary journey was just beginning.
10:45We have to take a quick break now, but stay tuned to find out more about Neil Patterson and some never-before-seen footage.
10:52And I'll be finding out about the company that helped to build Paisley.
10:56That'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 Patterson.
11:28The People's History Show.
11:38Having retired from football, Neil set his sights on a different kind of goal.
11:44He then became very well-known as a novelist, and that really was his achievement in a lot of ways,
11:50and wrote five or six quite well-known novels, which had some acclaim, and most certainly in Scotland.
11:58One of the short stories he wrote was called The Scottish Settlement, which was made into a film called The Kidnappers, and that went to Cannes.
12:07Patterson was then asked to write the script for the 1959 film, Room at the Top.
12:12The film was a massive box office success, and was nominated for six Oscars at the 1960 Academy Awards,
12:19including a nod for Patterson for Best Adapted Screenplay.
12:22At the Pantagious Theatre, it's Hollywood's Big Night, the 32nd Annual Oscar Awards, with a dazzling crowd of Tundon'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 was, it rather passed us all by. It wasn't made into a big deal in any way.
12:42I 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, or 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, and chose not to make the long and expensive journey from 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, and it came down, and he just said,
13:29well, I've won the Oscar.
13:33And then we had breakfast, and nothing more was said.
13:38Neil passed away in 1995 at the age of 79, living a life that could be made into a movie itself.
13:49His story is surely one of the most remarkable in Scottish football history.
13:55He did talk in his later days that of all the honours and everything that had come through his life,
14:01he was still most proud of the fact that 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...
14:18I think he was both a very impressive person, a very private person,
14:23and I'm certainly very proud to be the son of...
14:26A star footballer and an award-winning writer, it's just not fair.
14:43Truly a man of many talents.
14:44He really was.
14:45Now, at one point, JP Coates 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, it became the centre of the world's thread industry.
15:17It began with James Coates, who opened his own mill in 1826.
15:24At one point, Coates was Britain's largest manufacturing concern.
15:28It's 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.
15:38Although no longer based in Paisley,
15:40Coates now employs more than 19,000 people in 60 countries,
15:44and turns over approximately £1.1 billion a year.
15:49So, to find out how it all started,
15:51I'm catching up with one of the volunteers at the Paisley Threadmill Museum,
15:55Clark Wallace.
15:56So, Clark, tell me, how did the Coates family begin?
15:59What was the beginning of the Coates family journey?
16:03Well, we'll have to go back to the weaving,
16:05because James Coates was a weaver to trade,
16:08and the first business that he staffed in Paisley
16:10was manufacturing canton crepe,
16:13and 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 Coates took his son, Thomas,
16:24into the canton crepe business,
16:26but 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. Coates.
16:33J.P. Coates, that's correct.
16:34Yeah, that all makes sense.
16:36So, the thread industry became massive in Paisley, didn't it?
16:39How did that all come about?
16:40Weaving went into decline,
16:42and 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,
16:53but two rose to the top,
16:55the Clarks and the Coates.
16:56Throughout the 1800s,
16:59Clarks and Coates dominated the thread industry,
17:02which naturally led to some serious competition.
17:05The rivalry between the Clarks and the Coates,
17:08from a management level right down to a worker level,
17:11was quite fierce.
17:12There was rivalry inside the factories,
17:15and there was rivalry outside the factories,
17:17when people were out in the town in Paisley as well,
17:19which, aren't they better not getting involved in?
17:22However, in 1896,
17:24J.P. Coates amalgamated with Clarks and Co.
17:26to form the new, enlarged firm of J.P. Coates,
17:29with a market value of around £22 million.
17:38The Paisley thread industry was thriving,
17:41with 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.
18:07For a lot of women,
18:09it was just going straight from school,
18:11leaving school on the Friday,
18:12starting on the Monday,
18:13and bringing that wage packet 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,
18:28and I never looked back.
18:29I was there for almost 30 years.
18:31During the 20th century,
18:33working in the mills was like being part of a community
18:35and a place where many traditions were enjoyed
18:38amongst the workforce.
18:39When I got married, in particular,
18:42my office, my desk,
18:43was all decorated up with balloons
18:46and festooned with steamers and stuff,
18:48and my lab had paper flowers
18:50and L plates and everything on it,
18:53and 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,
19:02all your friends wheeled you around
19:04the entire mill,
19:06I needed to kiss every man that they could find,
19:09which 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,
19:16you got some money towards your wedding,
19:18so 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
19:28learned 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,
19:38and when you went into the mill flats
19:39and the women were working,
19:41they 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,
19:51because he could lip-read as well.
19:53By 1986, diversification,
19:56global competition and mergers
19:57meant 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 one by one,
20:07they were becoming disused,
20:09the Fergusley mill got left in a state of disrepair for decades,
20:12and it got torn down,
20:13despite the fact it was a Grade A-listed building.
20:15The lights went out in Anchor in 1993,
20:21and since then,
20:22there 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.
20:32All these people,
20:33their entire lives had been there.
20:35For a long time,
20:35the mills were Paisley,
20:36and Paisley was the mills.
20:38It was the same thing.
20:39So losing that big part of your identity like that
20:41was devastating on the town.
20:47But the impact that Coates had on Paisley
20:49can still be seen today,
20:51from the Coates Observatory,
20:53the Coates Memorial Church,
20:54and the Grand Fountain.
20:55But it wasn't just buildings that they left behind.
20:58What Coates did for Paisley was,
21:02they invested in people.
21:04They 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 on this.
21:13A genuine fondness.
21:15You 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.
21:24Despite the mills no longer being active in Paisley,
21:26they're still a big part of the town,
21:29and deeply woven into its history.
21:31Without 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.
21:44We'll see you next time.
21:56Paisley's History Show.
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