What the Stuarts Did for Us

Episodes

Episode one: ''Desygner Livinge''

Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in architecture and life-style.

• Neo-classical architecture was introduced to London by Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London.
• The fountain pen was first mentioned in the diaries of Samuel Pepys and it allowed him to write on the move.
• Coffee houses drew people from far and wide with their pleasant smell and allowed sober social intercourse.
• Gyms were born from bell-ringing clubs with dumbbells invented for those that could not make it to the church towers.
• Colourfast dyes were created in Britain's first chemical works at Ravenscar when supplies of the mordant alum were cut off.
• The three-piece suit and necktie were created by Charles II as a political weapon in his war against France.

Episode two: ''The Applyance of Science''

Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in science and engineering.

• Experimental science was introduced by the Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon who died inventing the frozen chicken.
• Properties of gases investigated by Robert Boyle and Richard Towneley led to Denis Papin's invention of the pressure cooker.
• The steam engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen to drain water from the coalmines of the Midlands.
• The pendulum clock based on Galileo's principles was invented by Christiaan Huygens and led to the establishment of GMT.
• Principia by Isaac Newton established three simple laws that revolutionised our view of the universe.

Episode three: ''The Organysed Isle''

Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in economics and politics.

• The Union Flag was designed for King James who united the kingdoms of England and Scotland into Great Britain.
• Public transport was introduced to England by Captain Bailey who standardised fares and issued licences for London Hackney Carriage.
• Road signs and the first road atlas by John Ogilvy further revolutionised the transport system and standardised the mile.
• The seed drill allowed Jethro Tull to put his revolutionary new planting techniques into practice leading to modern agriculture.
• The Fire Office of Nicholas Barbon led to the development of the first professional fire service.
• The Bank of England founded by William Paterson led to the creation of paper money and the national debt.
• The constitutional monarchy introduced following the restoration of Charles II is the backbone of the UK's modern political system.

Episode four: ''Newe Worldes''

Hart-Davis travels around Britain to introduce the idea and inventions of the Stuart Period in science and science-fiction.

• The microscope as refined by Robert Hook and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek allowed the microscopic world to be viewed in detail.
• The diving bell as refined by Edmund Halley allowed the investigation of the depths of the ocean.
• Lunar observations of John Wilkins based on the previous observations of Galileo challenged long held views of the heavens.
• The micrometer devised by William Gascoigne proved Johannes Kepler's theories of elliptical planetary motion.
• Science-fiction was developed through the imaginations of Cyrano de Bergerac and Bishop Francis Godwin.