Great Britons: Isambard Kingdom Brunel Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson - BBC Documentary
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- čas přidán 15. 07. 2014
- Jeremy Clarkson follows in the footsteps of the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel whose designs for bridges, railways, steamships, docks and buildings revolutionised modern engineering. But his boldness and determination to succeed often led him to repeatedly risk his own life. Jeremy Clarkson, discovers for himself just how terrifying that was.
The one thing Jeremy Clarkson does better than anything else in the world, Is being a proud English man.
Some say that he is England and England is him.
Nar he's a brit. England is being destroyed by the British.
Anyone can get a British passport. One can only become an English man by being born to and English man.
People think pride is a good thing.
There's a reason it's a deadly sin. Maybe the worst one of them all
POWER!!!
I was laughed out of the classroom when the humanities teacher asked us to vocalise our British heroes. All the boys said different footballers of the day - Michael Owen, David Beckham, Alan Shearer, etc. I said Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I still stand by my choice, despite it contributing to the years of bullying and ostracism I suffered afterwards.
Well said!
I'm sorry you got bullied.....you and me both. Being the odd one out, or the black sheep has resulted in a lot of bullying in my life (59 now), but standing up for what you believe in, is always the way to go.
Imagine kicking a ball across the lawn back and forth is more important than literally changing the world...
mate, you never deserved that, he was a great man who created some of the world's finest builds to date.
Fuck em, history will tell who was right muckkah...
I got the same treatment in Grade school 50 years ago, and for the same reason. Everyone else's 'heroes' were football & baseball players, and mine were men like DaVinci, Brunel, Socrates, etc. Apparently I was supposed to worship sports like everyone else, but didn't. Go figure, lol!
This documentary would be pretty good if all Brunel's achievements were all in the past. The fact that most are still intrinsically part of our modern world is simply staggering, all completely timeless too. What an exceptional man.
It's only an hour long show, everyone in Britain should attempt to watch this as a starting point in elevating Brunel to the heights that he deserves.
Lovely comment.
True
So until now, why wasn't Isambard celebrated or given the recognition he deserves?
One of Brunel's strengths, was his lateral thinking. If someone said it couldn't be done, he damn well did it. But then, Frank Lloyd Wright faced the same negativity too, with his architectural designs, let alone the creations that came from his plans, and others of the same credibility. The fact that great men didn't get weighed down by fuddy duddy thinking of the time, and now, made society more advanced. If man had listened to the fuddy duddys, we'd still be riding in a horse and carriage. Carbine Williams faced the same negativity with his gun, but proved everyone wrong.
Agreed
A designer truly unparalleled; but a shout out to the back breaking efforts of those men that assisted Brunel in realising his dreams.
aye people forget about the 100,000 workers gettin paid hardly nothing for something they will never really see in full flow, i suppose they were all black tho thats why we got the uproar we got now
@@Gally89714they weren't all black, stop buying that misinformation
@@Gally89714 lmao no.
The prodigious Brunel was probably the greatest engineer of all time. Jeremy Clarkson would have to be Britain's most engaging storyteller. This is a well crafted documentary. No one comes across with the enlightened wit & enthusiasm in telling a story as Jeremy. His salesmanship is unparalleled.
As a yank, he was a nice start for what we achieved you're welcome
Great comment I can breathe a sigh of relief and get on with the show.
@@davet.5493 why what did you achieve? 70% of what you have was invented in the UK, 29.9% in Europe and asia and 0.1% you invented. Can't even manage a functional railway system in the 21st century.
What did you achieve exactly?@@davet.5493
I first learned of Isambard Kingdom Brunel when I was 10 and was researching the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable, laid by the ship Great Eastern. The photo of Brunel standing in front of the anchor chains of the ship was simply awe-inspiring, to say the least. After that, it was all I could do to find every bit of information about the man, and what an endless wealth of information there was. To my dismay, there was never a word spoken here in the States of Brunel in any textbook of any history class, and only brief mention in any engineering texts. The man was almost single-handedly responsible for bringing transportation and industrialization out of the dark-ages. I put him alongside Samuel Colt, Nikola Tesla, Rudolf Diesel, and Soichiro Honda as the greatest engineer of all time. Frankly, all the other so-called "legends" of modern industry, stood on the shoulders of this amazing man! Indeed, all of modern society owes the man an incalculable debt of gratitude!
He died hours after that picture was made.
Great comment!
Jeremy clarksons documentary’s are so underrated
I really feel as though Isambard is often overlooked and we learn very little about him in history classes. What an amazing man, we spend so much time learning about wars and power hungry monarchs. This is part of British history that I am proud of, what a man, what an inspiration. A great role model.
@Ralph Reilly Slabs?
mate I was taught loads at secondary school about isambard brunel, he is on banknotes and coins in the uk, I also live ten mins from bristol and he is everywhere 😂
This is one of the best documentaries JC has ever done in my opinion. Clearly passionate about Brunel as many of us are, I reckon JC could have put another hours worth into this documentary and I still would have been glued to it, ignoring my missus calls that laying in bed on a sunny Sunday morning isn't getting her lawn cut. I wish you had done more like this.
Love him or loathe him, Clarkson is an excellent presenter,proved here with a brilliantly informed documentary on Brunel. Superb!
+Adrian B
Hear, hear !
Agree. It is a massive shame that he has followed the easy money and played the baffoon for most of the last two decades when it is clear that he would have been one of the best documentary makers and communicators TV has ever had. He could have been for engineering's equivilent of Attenborough. It says as much for the modern world that he has earned far more for being a clown.
Easy Money ?? clown ?? There are hundreds of motoring journalists and car presenters in every country with each producing their own schtik and yet none of them have gotten to the heights of the trio ...He might not go doen as Engineering's attenborough but he will go down as the man who created and hosted the world most watched factual program ...TG in its prime had about 350 million viewers a week , Im sure even Planet earth would struggle to keep up with that number ...As for documentaries and shows , All 3 of them have made good ones check out JC's war stories , or May's cars of the people or Hammond's Engineering shows
...he is also hilarious when cut loose
it is interesting how good all three of the top gear originals are at documentaries or educational programmes
Jeremy Clarkson probably the greatest technical subject broadcaster in the world.
Perhaps Jeremy will be more appreciated when he's gone too. Brilliant documentary. Absolutely captivating.
My school in Portsmouth changed it's name from Drayton road secondary modern for boys to Brunel in 69-70 ish And we painted murals of his work in the entrance in art classes.
My old school ( long since re-named) in Portsmouth was partly on the Isambard Brunel Road and facing the IB named car park too…
Got to love Jeremy Clarkson's documenting skills
This has to be sarcasm.
Engineers in UK today still underated. Jeremy is fun, outrageous and in this, passionate about our father Isambard. Fred Dibnah another who gives us majic. Thanks. Dave
The greatest man...
In the world...
+Joseph Bissett I hope you are talking about Brunel and not Clarkson
Isambard Kingdom Brunel put kingdom in united . yet most kids have never heard of him. great man
well they are already telling them that the original britons were black
ALL humans were black at first !
john m I can confirm this is partly false. I know about Brunel. We aren't told capitalism is evil, hell we are told about the soviets crushing uprisings. But I wish we could be learning more about obscure history rather than learning about the important parts all the time.
No they were not.
Really, this is a fantastic presentation. Just the bridges, for example -- we see bridges every day, but after hearing Jeremy talk about them, they've become much more interesting to me. I could spend a weekend watching a Jeremy Clarkson playlist on CZcams.
Watching this in March 2023 and think “ahhhhh something from back when the BBC was good.”
I grew up in St. Ives, Cornwall. Sadly I moved away but have travelled back over the years and I always drive down the A38 rather than the easier A30. There is one reason why I take this longer route and that is so I can marvel at the Royal Albert Bridge. Apart from the emotional aspect of crossing the Tamar to enter Cornwall from England, seeing this magnificent structure, built by the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel, never fails to impress. A wonderful programme, I voted for Brunel in the BBC series, I wish he had won.
Damn this dude was baller. I feel like a lazy piece of crap.
SDandRnRoll Well hey - not many of us are absolute geniuses. I don't think you likely have anything to feel lazy about :).
Breda Jake That's a very good point! He was a pretty astonishing guy. I'm glad I ran across this video, in part because I love learning new stuff but also because this was a terrific new thing to learn :).
Wow! Had never even heard of Brunel until watching this. Magnificently well done video. Thanks!
Olympic Opening Ceremony?
no books at home?
How's that even possible? Youth of today jesus
Flammen. i blame minecraft and mobie phones, we should go on a march or something?
Flammen. Hey! I'm the so called "youth". Plenty of people of my age are far more informed than many people of older generations. A few bad apples spoil the bunch...
IKB is buried in Kensal Green cemetery. Worth a visit to pay respects to an engineer like no other.
Out of all the amazing things old British (and other colonial empire did), Brunel is one of the few we can revere without thinking of atrocities etc. (I mean sure, people died but hazardous jobs have always existed even today) This guy truly made the world better overall.
True, they sacrificed everything but think how many lives have been saved as a result. I'd place a bet that more people have been saved due to being able to get rapid medical treatment in rural areas over the last 160 years than died in all the construction of the lines.
This bloke was a complete genius - though by todays standards, the HSE (Health and Safety) would have probably put him out of business
saving lives and preventing unnecessary deaths is literally health and safety gone mad
Oll1000 Yes.......but we only know Fire is dangerous because a cave man dared to put his hand in the flames.....
ToonandBBfan We also tend to shun nuclear energy these days because the folks at Chernobyl did not adhere to Health and Safety guidelines.
Oll1000 The point is, without Brunel our country wouldn't be what it is today
As a friend of mine put it, nuclear power done right is almost a zero carbon footprint for bountiful energy. Nuclear power done wrong (Chernobyl) is a 1,000 square mile wildlife preserve, where the animals' normal life spans are over before radiation is a risk.
That was amazing. As a GWR fan I've always been an admirer of IKB. The man was a genius, no doubt.
Presentation by Mr Clarkson is just brilliant, good to see him again. I still miss the old Top Gear team, but he's in his element here. Well done Mr C.
Just saw this now Jeremy; you packed so much into one hour, no one was seeing what Brunel was seeing, especially the stability of the wider gauged rail lines, which would nowadays incorporate the much faster trains far more safely and also carry greater loads.
I'm finding it hard to argue with this. Unless someone offers evidence that Alexander of Macedon was actually born on a council estate in Liverpool, Brunel is probably the greatest Briton in terms of accomplishment.
Not often a "fan" of Clarkson, but this programme is absolutely brilliant!
Isambard is also someone I greatly admire, and Clarkson described so well exactly what I think!
An amazing programme I thoroughly enjoyed, thank you for sharing.
This is excellent. Jeremy should consider doing more historical engineering documentaries like this.
E÷÷÷÷÷÷3:#÷÷:÷÷÷÷÷÷÷:÷#÷÷÷÷#÷#= ❤❤❤lp
this is one of the greatest documentary films ever made. absolutely brilliant.
Man, he sure could engineer well.
Bridges and tunnels, boats with big funnels.
artman40 , which were NOT dissimilar to his stove pipe hat.
DeepSpaceDogs **uses a hammer to fix the engine**
What did Brunel's head in & wrecked his health, was stress from county councils --- wanting his work, then disputing its feasibility after he'd invested ages in producing designs. Then they didn't want to fund things in case they failed; he ended up having to use his own money and prove the things worked, before they'd pay him. Then he had stress about raising the cash, on top of focussing on the projects. In particular, there was that stretch of railway line he had to lay across a marsh. Nobody had b able to do it, not by driving in piles to support trackbed, or anything. The marsh swallowed the lot. The problem had baffled everybody. So they gave it to IKB. He solved it by treating the marsh as water and floating the trackbed on 7' deep of brush. The council withdrew funding after he had the project all set up, ready to assemble. Then he crashed & burned with stress. So he had to carry the whole enterprise himself, with no backup, or lose everything he'd already invested in good faith. Did the project anyway in a state of PTSD, then council paid up, but he collapsed after. His life just went on like that so often, it was too much...
If people had treated him right his life could have been twice as long.
Absolutely brilliant to see this film put together, with close-ups of the ironwork in the station roofs. IKB had sussed out that organic structures have a strength, hence the leaf~ and branch~like patterns between the more rectilinear parts. Really good to see so many of his different structures one after the other --- gives a perspective into his mind.
Thankyou Jeremy Clarkson!
Today is the 6th of April. Did anyone go and look to see the light emitting from the railway tunnel near Bath?
One day, I might just make that journey.
My father was an engineering draughtsman. He was born in Bath, but came to Australia after WW2. He told me about I K Brunel, and when I went to UK for the first time in 1976 I made a pilgrimage to Clifton Suspension Bridge. It took my breath away.
I wanted to call my youngest son Isembard. After watching this I wish I had. (His name is Bill.)
This man has inspired, and moved me my entire life. I could never measure up to his achievements, but his indomitability buoyed me over the rocks and shoals of my life. Thanks to him i have been an artist, an engineer, a metalworker, a ship owner and a dreamer.
I'm sure most people in Britain are familiar with names like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, and Frank Lloyd Wright. But Americans do not know anything about, or have ever heard about Brunel. What a shame.
+Jeffrey Ornstein I am American, and first discovered Brunel around the age of 12, via my keen interest in steamships. It is the timeframe as much as anything else; comparing some of the massive 20th century transformational giants to Brunel, who died before the American civil war, while certainly accurate for being in the same set of men, is perhaps still not the best comparison where the average reasonably intelligent citizen is involved. How many people in either nation remember Robert Fulton?
+Jeffrey Ornstein I'd start to panic if they did. Nothing more reassuring than a stupid American, it's comforting.
+dan taylor Yes, as there is hardly a thing more comic than another miserable, angry little Euroboy slinging his group-think insults as though they were original or of interest to anyone whatsoever.
Vic McLaglen Go back to your Utopia land untouched by the wreckage of bombs falling from the sky, I have no time for those who have never lost anything nor sacrificed anything to keep iron rain falling from the skies in their cities. If you'd been to Coventry you'd know about that.
***** Germans? The same Germans that put Neil Armstrong on the Moon? The same Germans that designed your B 2 bomber? The same Germans that gave you jet engines? Yes they certainly did kick everyone's ass, they were efficient and intelligent.
I am so glad this is back, never take it down, this is my favourite documentary on YT and I will gladly increase the views with regular rewatches. Absolutely fantastic, you have my 👍🏻 and sub for as long as this remains, thank you so much.
Brunel's engineering feats do speak for themselves, but this impassioned documentary delivers the story with a panache and impact that few documentaries ever achieve. It goes to show that when he puts his mind to it, Jeremy Clarkson can make brilliant television. Such a shame that his own conceit ruins it so often.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel MUST stand at the top of the heap for engineers. What a great mind.
Quite educational for me. A bit of British History I was quite ignorant of. Cheers Mr. Clarkson and thanks for the look back.
WOW Jeremy Clarkson. This is beautiful...
What a talented man. It's such as shame his talent wasn't realised whilst he was alive. As always, a very informative documentary JC. Thank you
Fantastic piece of work by Jeremy Clarkson. He's a fantastic documentary maker, it's a shame that most people know him because he says controversial things that he doesn't really believe.
Jeremy Clarkson to Alistair Campbell (SIARPC): "I don't believe what I write any more than you believe what you say"
BRILLIANT programme, and a BRILLIANT presenter in Jeremy Clarkson! Thank you...
remember watching this when it came out, all the other Britons presented a good case, I was tempted to say Churchill won it, but in this programme Jeremy struggles to fit all Brunels achievements within the hour timeframe, you could make an entire series on the things he made, simply a stunning man, who's ideas were too big for this world
I adore architecture and great works like trains and ships. It's mind bogglingly incredible to look at and imagine.
Kendra Fitzpatrick If you love architecture and machinery try and see if you can visit the ALICE detector at CERN. It's astounding how dense the technology is and the grandeur of the scale needed to detect collisions that are literally the size of an atomic nucleus.
Jack Morris Where is this place? It sounds amazing
Kendra Fitzpatrick Geneva, Switzerland. It sits in 20km of underground tunnels. Though it's unlikely you'll be able to see the actual detector up close since it is going back into operation soon the visitor center there will defiantly still be worth the trip.
Jack Morris Oh man, Switzerland is nowhere near California. That trip may have to wait a long while =(
Love the Dianna burn at the end.
Mud Crab Why?
29:00 "Still the widest, flattest, brick arch in the world"....Damn. I really enjoyed this.
It's sad so many people in western countries aren't taught to respect their societies own achievements anymore. We stand on the shoulders of giants, yet so many of us are told to hold nothing but contempt for our ancestors.
RickRudesMustache Give me an example.
RickRudesMustache Very few places where that actually holds true. Now had you said its a shame we do not teach our young about the great legends of our past, such as Brunel, because they become ignorant of what difference one man could make, i would have been with you. But you seem to think all western countries ignore their heritage. We don't. We just don't do a good enough job of teaching about it.
And that kind of thinking, the unhealthy obsession with ones own ancestry, is what leads to extremism and xenophobia. And one should be wary of such thinking.
ShadeOnTheUtube I agree, It's better to focus on the man's achievements as an individual rather than the embodiment of the time he came from.
+RickRudesMustache Indeed. according to some, on the left at least, we are/were nothing but a collection of xenophobic knuckle dragging racists, who exported nothing but terror and arrogance upon the world.
Now, say the government started proposing that we do focus primarily on great Britons in history at schools, who would be the ones objecting?
Why am I only seeing this now. In 2023. What a fantastic documentary.
An incredibly supreme man,immeasurably beyond his time. Wonderful. Thank you for this video Jonathon!
I'm watching in 2023 - good grief how things have changed, and I don't mean since IKB but just in the last 20 years.
This man was an utter genius
The picture of IKB in front of the S.S Great Eastern chains was taken at the Brown Lenox chainworks, Pontypridd. Around 10 miles north in Aberdare, you can find the remains of one of the tiny number of timber-framed structures IKB built, in the form of the Gamlyn viaduct.
To this day when I catch a train I say I'm catching Mr Brunell's supersonic iron snake.
amazingly written and presented a perfect tribute to a an ENGLISH genius who changed the world IKB respect oh and Clarkson SPOT ON!!!!!
One of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen
RESPECT.
How had I never heard of this guy until today. He isn't a well-known figure in the U.S. He certainly should be though.
Another great 19th Century man you should look up is Cyrus West Field. He even used Brunel's Great Eastern to lay some of his cables. Here is a good video:
czcams.com/video/JNCxCQJPrN4/video.html
Don't feel bad. I'm a Briton, and not once in my schooling did his name come up.
SalfordianBlue i was at primary school 20 years ago and we learnt about him then
Even in Britain we rarely speak about him in or learn of his achievements in school, there are some pictures of him on our currency, that's about it. What a shame.
@@MarquisSmithas an American out of curiosity what kind of history do British schools cover?
When Jeremy Clarkson makes a point in his documentaries, it is almost irrefutable. Indeed Isembard Kingdom Brunel is the greatest Brit who had ever lived.
Clarkson's documentaries firmly shows why ' the old Top Gear' with him, Hammond and May were such as a success.
All three have brilliant minds. They are consistently self-effacing and never boorish.
Really looking forward to their Grand Tour.
I've all ways liked the work of Brunel but I never knew how much he had achieved until I saw this programme thanks it was very enjoyable
As all of what Mr.Clarkson presented us with, high interest is aroused. Thank you. I knew nothing of this masterpiece. To my shame TODAY! , again, thank you and I am proud to see you proud. A genious, merely one!
A great series this, and this was one of the best episodes. I wish Jeremy would do more documentaries.
Try to find his docs about The Campbeltown and the Victoria Cross.
Good documentary. I enjoyed the use of Aphex Twin music.
Brunel put my hometown of Swindon on the map. So many things named after him here.
I am watching this on what would be Isambard's 210th Birthday! Thank you, Mr Brunel!
Fuck, this documentary was depressing, inspiring and beautiful at the same time
+Blackforest98 The best ones are
The Jeremy Clarkson envy is palpable in the comments section. Good documentary - excellently hosted.
He is a brilliant story teller
Mundify66 yes grumpy old racist fuckwits are the source of all envy.
DaDamuse Really - my goodness, you articulate old thing you...
Mundify66 i do my best muffin.
A documentary about the greatest Briton narrated by the greatest living Briton. There’s a pleasant symmetry to that.
EXCELLENT !! I had this taped on My V.C.R. !!!! Years ,Years Ago !!! Jeremy Clarkson.Presented it Very Well Indeed ! Many Thanks Indeed ! I Enjoyed it Immensly FROM, U.K. (2024).
53:45 Brunel's face.
It's heartbreaking.
Such a great man.
JC needs to do more like this
Quality viewing
Just a fact check about the tunnel. Dynamite was not invented by that time. The blasting would have been done with black powder.
And he was never Knighted for his remarkable achievements. And incredibly, today the likes of Elton John to Ian Botham are???????????
Really enjoyed that, thank you.
thank you for uploading. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
we visited the S.S. Great Britain and it is super...and of course the Clifton suspension Bridge is very close by...I'd like to have seen that suspension bridge which looks so unusual....thanks for a superb video :)
2 legends here Brunnel and Clarkson
Brilliant, thank you Jeremy and BBC.
Fantastic. This video ( program) must be shown
To all pupils at all schools period
God, I miss Jezzer. Come back to us soon.
Without Mr. Brunel we 'murcans would not have had the technological know-how to help in the 1940s. There is a distinct possibility that German would have been the official language of Britain at least for a while.
For good or bad, Mr. Brunel made the world as we know it possible.
+winkerdude Except there wasn't a possibility of German becoming Britain's official language, we won the battle of Britain and ruined Mr. Hitler's plans of even trying to invade, the Germans needed air superiority to be able to even think about invading mainland Britain, something they didn't have.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for America's help in the war (2nd, you lot did pretty much naff all in the 1st, no hard feelings like) But you need to stop going around saying to everyone that if it wasn't for America's involvement the war would have been lost as it's only really a semi-truth, exchange America for Britain/Russia and its the same semi-truth.
+winkerdude sorry but the British won the war without the need for American help.
Read a history book not published in America and you will learn this.
They should show documentaries like this in schools. It would be far more productive than social studies!
Look what happens when engineers focus on quality rather tha cost, or 'brand awareness'. It's all still here and functional after more than 100 years. Is there any possibility we could learn from this ?
The BBC wouldn't make a series like this now, it would be considered 'offensive and pompous' of Britain to 'blow its' own trumpet' ...
That was great :))
when I was a young boy, I used to watch the 60 wheel low loader transport these turbines from parsons to the tyne for shipment to other countries around the world, also stephensons high level bridge over the tyne is a work of art, and armstrong what could we do without hydraulics, geordies gave a massive contribuition to the world, trafagar another geordie was also a hero
Incredible.
thanks dan, i enjoyed this
Hello guys, I am from Norway and England and I recently found out Brunel is my great x9 grandfather
Its hella crazy
Well come and make love with me, I want my kids to get those genes!
I remember this. They were doing a profile on a famous Brit each week I think and then there was a public vote for who was the greatest Briton. We followed this at school and we had to do a profile of them. I copied Jeremy Clarkson and said Brunel. Everyone else did Churchill.
Churchill won it and Brunel came second.
thank you for this video it has really helped me
Thank you Jeremy
Thanks for the great post. I know that Jeremy has a bit of a reputation for opening his mouth and putting his foot in it...:0) but the programs he does are very informative.
jesus... if this guy died in the tunnel, we would be fucked.
The full hour documentary, top drawer Mr Thomas 5 gold stars.
Excellent show.
brunel is hendrix of maths