Local Heroes — Season 1, Episode 6: North West
Documentary • 30 min • 5 seasons, 42 episodes
Episode synopsis
The last in the series about pioneering scientists and inventors comes from the north west of England. Host Adam Hart-Davis discovers the connection between botany and Wordsworth the poet when he learns about his friend, John Gough, a local botanist who identified many rare plants despite being blind. A bicycle pump and a disgusting jelly help unearth the history of Lake Windermere. Adam climbs to the snowy summit of Helvellyn to try to reproduce John Dalton's weather forecasts. Finally, in Manchester, he learns about Joseph Whitworth, whose move to standardise the nuts and bolts of the engineering industry has endured to the present day.
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.