Jay Blades' West End Through Time, follows Jay as he discovers how the West End helped make London a world city, capturing the global imagination.Meeting a host of experts and historians, he explores how the area was shaped by its close connections to power, royalty and wealth. Home to royal palaces and world-renowned luxury hotels, Jay learns how the West End attracted all walks of life as it became a place of entertainment, and glamourous shopping streets.Through fascinating stories, from an incredible discovery of a roman sarcophagus at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, to how the world famous store Fortnum & Mason owes its existence to recycled royal candles and how the Savoy Hotel was stormed by angry East Enders in the Second World War, Jay discovers that there is much more to the West End of London than he could have ever imagined.
In the first episode, Jay hops in a black cab and goes ‘Up West' to discover how the West End of London began. Starting his journey in St Martins-in-the Field Church in Trafalgar Square, Jay hears how an incredible discovery made in 2006 changed people's opinions of the origins of London.Fast-forwarding to the 17th Century when things really got going in the West End, he traces back to the visionary Henry Jermyn, whose ambitious building development close to St James's Palace, transformed fields into homes for the country's most wealthy, earning himself the name the ‘founder of the West End'.Next, Jay visits one of his favourite luxury food stores, Fortnum & Mason, to find out how it fits into the West End's long history of shopping, and learns of its humble origins, selling the Queen's discarded candles, and he samples some of their most iconic products, including scotch eggs which they claim to have invented.A visit to the West End wouldn't be complete without a theatre trip, so Jay pops into Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, to find out how theatreland all started thanks to Charles II.Going out in the West End you'd need to wear your glad rags, so Jay pays a visit to one of the area's oldest tailors, Henry Poole & Co, on Saville Row, to hear how the road became known as the Golden Mile of Tailoring.Over lunch at Wiltons, Jay gets a taste of how restaurants first started in Britain and how there was nowhere better for fine dining than the West End. He finishes up in Hyde Park, one of the West End's Royal Parks, that attracted wealthy West Enders who wanted to show off the latest fashions.
In episode two, Jay learns how the West End went from an area for the very wealthy, to a place for all. His first stop is the West End's most iconic junction, Piccadilly Circus. Busy around the clock, Jay uncovers the origins of its world-famous lights, an advertisers dream dating back to the end of the 19th century.Next, Jay visits London's oldest hotel, Browns, where he has a snoop around their most exclusive suite. He hears how people flocked from all over the world to the luxurious hotels on offer in the West End.Jay takes a ride on the London Underground, getting off at Baker Street, one of the first stations. Opening in 1863, the world's first ever underground railway line was a game-changer for the West End, opening it up to the masses, and the area flourished like never before.On Oxford Street, Jay learns about the history of the world-renowned department store, Selfridges, that revolutionised shopping, making the West End the destination for spending your cash, and also spending a penny in the first ladies' toilets in a shop!When WW2 struck, even the West End had to blackout, but at the Dorchester Hotel, Jay discovers how the glitz and the glamour carried on despite the bombs dropping, and he hears how a group of East Enders protesting at Savoy hotel, opened up bomb shelters in the East End.Over his favourite Chinese meal, Jay makes the shocking discovery that London's Chinatown was originally in the East End, and only set up home in the West End after the docks had been heavily bombed. And finally, retracing his steps as a teenager out on the town in Soho, Jay finds out that the area saw the birth of the very first British night clubs.
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