Ronald Top discovers how technology opened up the Alps to Europe’s first tourists. He goes on board the early paddle steamers that took them across the lakes, the ingenious funiculars that carried them up the lower slopes and the cog and rack railways that transported them up to the mountain peaks.
EP2 Bread, Beer and SaltJan 01, 0001
How did the production of food become industrialized in order to keep up with an ever expanding urban population? Ronald Top investigates. Industrialization leads to more mouths to feed and fewer people to work the land, causing food-production complications.
EP3 Exploding EnginesJan 01, 0001
Examining historical attempts to build motor cars, and revealing the stories behind several plans to construct steam-powered road vehicles, he also investigates one of the world’s first oil fields in Poland.
EP4 The CityJan 01, 0001
Top visits Berlin and Prague and explores how cities coped with rapid population growth once society entered the railway age. His journey also takes him into the subterranean world of sewers hidden beneath the city.
EP5 High FliersJan 01, 0001
Ronald Top finds out how paper, fire, a cockerel, a duck and a sheep helped man learn how to fly.
EP6 Eiffel's TowerJan 01, 0001
Built in 1889, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was the tallest building in the world. Since then it’s had 200 million visitors, Ronald Top reveals the link between the Towers construction and the making of the humble cooking pot in England.
EP7 Building EuropeJan 01, 0001
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
EP8 Cotton, Linen and RopeJan 01, 0001
Ronald Top discovers what happened when machines took over from manual labour in the creation of clothes, and what the effects were on rope making.
EP9 Swedish WaterwaysJan 01, 0001
Plot of this episode is not specified yet. Please check back later for more update.
EP10 Perfect PorcelainJan 01, 0001
Top goes in search of how many Europeans learned the ancient Chinese secret of porcelain manufacture. His journey takes him from the mysterious “Cornish Alps” to his native Holland, were he makes some unusual pancakes.
