Local Heroes — Season 1, Episode 5: Northern Ireland
Documentary • 30 min • 5 seasons, 42 episodes
Episode synopsis
Tonight's stories of pioneering scientists and inventors come from Northern Ireland. Host Adam Hart-Davis discovers that the pneumatic tyre, invented by Belfast vet John Boyd Dunlop, began life as a remedy for his son's sore bottom. He also finds out how the name Harry Ferguson became synonymous with the development of the tractor. Taking his bike underwater, Hart-Davis goes in search of the origins of the submarine and wet suit. And, in Armagh, he learns how a child poet and astronomer rocketed to fame.
About Local Heroes
Local Heroes is an award-winning science and history television programme in the United Kingdom, presented by Adam Hart-Davis. Made by Screenhouse Productions and directed by Paul Bader, it was first aired on the ITV regional network Yorkshire Television in 1991. In the show, Adam Hart-Davis, dressed in the pink and yellow cycling clothes that would became the show's trademark, rode around the YTV region on a matching pink and yellow bicycle, stopping in a particular area to tell the stories of scientists that lived or were born there. These stories were embellished by experiments, performed on the street by Hart-Davis, generally using bits of wood and junk from a trailer on his bike.