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The Orient Express A Golden Era of Travel Season 1 Episode 1
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00:00For over a hundred years, the Orient Express, the world's most iconic train, crossed Europe.
00:13If you were to be travelling on the Orient Express in its golden age,
00:17this is the kind of carriage you would be travelling on.
00:21Until it's withdrawn, the train tied Europe together.
00:25Prince Ferdinand was quoted in saying that the Orient Express is of vital interest to us.
00:31A service famed for its glamour and luxury.
00:35This space was for the creme de la creme, the best of the best.
00:39That became world famous.
00:41The Cold War made the Orient Express the hotbed of spice.
00:46And whose legacy is still felt.
00:49Let's say 150 years ago you came here with the Orient Express.
00:53You would have seen exactly the same mosque of today.
01:00In this series, we'll take a 2,000-mile journey across Europe.
01:06It's always a very exciting moment when we are doing a route for the first time.
01:11And follow a new luxury train as it retraces the fabled route.
01:17Exploring the history of a golden age of train travel along the way.
01:23During the railway golden age, passengers could buy a ticket that would take them from London all the way to Istanbul, the gateway to the east.
01:39Orient Express passengers caught a connecting boat train to the south coast of England.
01:46Before crossing the channel by ferry to northern France and onwards to Paris.
01:53There they joined the iconic train and travelled through Munich, Vienna and Budapest.
02:00Before arriving at its final destination, Istanbul.
02:07On the first part of the journey between London and Paris.
02:14The height of luxury.
02:16People who were spending quite a bit of money to be on the Orient Express.
02:21This is the experience that they want.
02:23The cutting edge of cool.
02:26People who were travelling with the Orient Express and just have a look at what was the most modern part of the world.
02:37And a night passengers would never forget.
02:42For the passengers of the Orient Express, the Moulin Rouge really was a must-do.
02:46It was at that time already the most famous cabaret in the world.
02:51Interwar London was a wealthy imperial capital.
03:03And by the 1920s, the largest city in the world.
03:08The wealthy and influential expected the height of sophistication.
03:13And train companies did not disappoint.
03:16The Orient Express never called at London directly.
03:20But passengers from the city boarded a boat train that connected with the Orient Express in France.
03:29Passengers boarded here at Victoria Station.
03:33It's such an impressive station.
03:35Victoria Station, the gateway to the continent.
03:38And here we have beautiful Portland stone.
03:41And it's a beautiful Baroque design.
03:44Hazel Baker is a historian and tour guide who has a deep love for this station.
03:50We have four mermaid caryatids.
03:53Here they are holding up the station themselves.
03:56Also with boat trains under their arms.
03:59In the middle we have a beautiful festoon here.
04:03Shrouded with the cornucopia, horns of plenty.
04:07Filled with beautiful fruits and really exotic flowers.
04:11And on top of all these beautiful festoons is the crown.
04:15Reminding us, Victoria Station is named after Queen Victoria.
04:20Opened in the 1860s, the station was originally run by two companies, who were arch rivals.
04:28Here in the southern railways, and then we've got the Brighton Line on the other side.
04:33Two separate stations, one next to each other, competing for that attention.
04:38A huge wall was built down the middle to make sure that passengers didn't accidentally stray onto their rivals' platforms.
04:47It wasn't until 1923 the two stations were finally united.
04:56And here the archway would have said, the gateway to the continent.
05:00If I'd been standing here, getting on the Orient Express, I think I would have felt real excitement.
05:10You would have smelt the steam and the coal.
05:13You would have felt the vibrations around you.
05:15You would have seen all the porters busily carrying everybody else's luggage as well.
05:19Everybody in their finest attire, eager to look their best and start their adventure towards the continent.
05:26Victoria Station had everything you might need, even a bank.
05:33Of course, you need your travellers' checks, you need your foreign money.
05:36And here at Victoria Station, you were able to do all your banking requirements.
05:43This was the second bank ever to be built on a railway platform.
05:49So this here is the Night Safe.
05:51So this is where people will be able to deposit their money quite safely whilst the bank is closed.
05:56So you'd slide that back and then you'd be able to put your deposit in there nice and safe.
06:01Right here, there used to be the departures board.
06:04All manually changed.
06:06All the different destinations.
06:08You had Vienna, Brussels.
06:10Over 400 destinations from this station alone.
06:14Really quite remarkable.
06:16And you also had a map of Europe.
06:18So you could see exactly how far across the continent we were able to get to from right here.
06:25The station was rebuilt in the 1980s and 1990s, sweeping away a lot of its original grandeur.
06:33But it's still there if you know where to look.
06:36This hotel opened in 1862.
06:42It was supposed to be the greatest hotel to be built at the time.
06:46And if you look at it, you can tell.
06:49We've got these fierce, majestic lions looking down at us.
06:53And also there are two familiar faces.
06:55We have Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort.
06:59I think we're in good company.
07:00Originally named The Grosvenor, this Grade II listed hotel was designed to impress.
07:18Wow, this is gorgeous.
07:23The chandelier would have been gas lit, of course, so extra sparkle there.
07:27And all of this gold is actually real gold. Exquisite.
07:38During its most recent restoration, the columns were regilded and the original white marble pillars brought back to their former glory.
07:48You know you've made it when you've been here.
07:50I love this place.
08:01This was the first class waiting room.
08:04Look at it, the size of it. I love it.
08:06I came here and I want to feel a little bit bougie, have a nice cocktail and soak in that atmosphere.
08:12This space was for the creme de la creme, the best of the best.
08:16There's something quite special also about being able to see the concourse through these huge glass windows.
08:24And you're up above it all.
08:26Above all the normal haupoloi on the streets.
08:29You're able to see your train, you'll be able to see all the porters.
08:32You'll be able to see maybe your maid sitting on a bench waiting to get onto the third class train as well.
08:38You're above it all and you can relax before your journey begins.
08:42A hundred years ago, sitting at this bar, it would have been filled with smoke for a start.
08:49And that's not from the train stations.
08:51That's from the pipes and the cigars that you could also buy here.
08:55You would have seen celebrities here.
08:57You would have seen foreign secretaries here all waiting to get on the first class carriage of their train.
09:05And there would have been a quiet ambiance, I think, rather than the hustle and bustle from the concourse.
09:11And when it was time to leave, you'd use your very own private exit.
09:15And you'll probably be escorted across the concourse onto your luxury train.
09:20The days of opulent transcontinental trains may have passed here at Victoria.
09:27But on special occasions, you can still relive the golden years.
09:36On this, the Sussex Bell, a steam-hauled heritage train service that goes to the south coast, like the boat trains of old.
09:45And, like today, those passengers would have been excited to have started their adventure.
10:09A hundred years ago, with London fading into the distance,
10:33passengers' 2,000-mile journey to Istanbul on a luxury train service had begun.
10:40The first section of the journey was the 77 miles from London to Folkestone on a connecting boat train.
10:48There, passengers would disembark and catch a steamship to France.
10:53Wealthy passengers connecting to the Orient Express in France would take a boat train, such as the Golden Arrow.
11:00This first-class-only service offered effortless luxury, with an onboard bar and dining car,
11:07and luggage checked through to your final destination.
11:11The trains were a popular haunt for dignitaries and film stars.
11:17But it was an altogether less flashy passenger who would make the Orient Express infamous.
11:25Agatha Christie.
11:27So, Agatha Christie is the world's best-selling author.
11:30She's only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare.
11:34And her novel, Murder on the Orient Express, is still as popular today as it was when it was first released.
11:41Tina Hodgkinson is a guide and Agatha Christie historian who has researched the real-life inspiration behind her novels.
11:51One of the worst periods of Agatha's life was the late 1920s, when her mother died and she got divorced.
11:58So, she decides to book a holiday and she's going to go off to the Caribbean.
12:03However, two days before she's due to sail, she goes to a dinner party.
12:09And amongst her friends is a naval officer.
12:11And what he tells her stories of the wonderful treasures that are coming out from Nassabertonia.
12:19And Agatha is enthralled by this.
12:22So much so that the next morning, she basically changes her plans.
12:27She's going to travel on the Orient Express to have a look at the artefacts that have been found.
12:33Agatha had seen the Orient Express when she was a child.
12:37It was on her wish list. That was something she really wanted to do.
12:42The archaeologist, Leonard Woolley, was excavating the ancient city of Ur in modern-day Iraq.
12:49A key member of his team was his assistant, Max Malawin.
12:54And when Agatha arrived, Max was tasked with the job of showing her around.
13:00Agatha, at the end of the trip, was due to go and do some travelling.
13:07However, she gets a message that her daughter Rosalind is seriously ill.
13:13And what she decides to do is go back on the Orient Express.
13:17Max decides to travel with her.
13:22And he supports her through that anxiety.
13:25Because we're talking about a trip that will take four, five, six days to get back.
13:30And all that time, she's worried about the welfare of her daughter.
13:34And really, for me, that really cements the relationship.
13:37That's when she knew he was a keeper.
13:41Christy's daughter recovered, and over the next ten years,
13:45she and Malawin travelled frequently on the Orient Express.
13:49It was the inspiration behind her most famous novel,
13:53featuring the detective Hercule Poirot, who is also a passenger on the train.
13:57Poirot retires to bed in the evening, only to wake up the next morning
14:05to find that one of the neighbouring compartments,
14:09a businessman called Ratchet, has been murdered.
14:13His bedroom door is locked.
14:16The window is open.
14:19And there's been a snowstorm during the night.
14:24They can't progress any further.
14:26But there are no footprints in the snow.
14:29And it's for Poirot to investigate.
14:32The incident was based on a real-life episode.
14:36In 1929, the Orient Express was just outside Istanbul,
14:40when it got caught in enormous snowdrift.
14:44It had been a terrible winter,
14:46and the train was stuck in the snow for several days.
14:52Agatha had her own trapped in the Orient Express story as well.
14:56There were floods which wiped away some of the railway track.
15:01And she was stuck on the Orient Express for two days.
15:05And while she was on the train, she made observations.
15:10And what she captured was the other guests, how they behaved,
15:15how they responded, what they were like.
15:18And they would help to create the characters that would appear in the novel.
15:25Even today, over 90 years since Murder on the Orient Express was first published,
15:30it is still the most famous novel about a train ever written.
15:40Seventy miles from London, the boat train approached the south coast of England,
15:44and for its passengers, the final stretch of their journey on British soil.
15:48Today, trains stop at Folkestone Central Station, but passengers bound for the Orient Express would have headed straight towards the harbour.
16:00On tracks that are long abandoned and visible only from above.
16:06This steep, one-mile branch line took passengers down from the main line to Folkestone Harbour.
16:13Initially built for freight, it soon started to transport passengers heading to the continent.
16:19So if you were stood here 100 years ago, this is a really busy, bustling port.
16:28There's a lot of freight coming in, there's a lot of coal going out.
16:32We've got big ships, we've got small ships, the fishing fleet.
16:36But we've also got the passenger lines coming through direct from London.
16:41It's the first rail-sea rail link in the world that actually takes you from one country to another.
16:49It comes down the viaduct, which we're standing on now.
16:53So this line really made Folkestone special.
16:57Helen Sharp is a journalist and broadcaster who writes about Folkestone and its past.
17:04Coming down the viaduct on two lines would be steam trains going back and forth from the harbour.
17:11And behind us is one of the steepest inclines up to Folkestone Junction.
17:14It's a 1 in 30 gradient, so that's for every 30 feet you go horizontally, you're dropping one foot at a time.
17:22And so it was a real effort to get the trains going back up to Folkestone Junction to meet the line that goes to London.
17:29People talk about watching two steam engines at the front of the train, pulling it up the hill,
17:35with another steam engine behind, pushing it up in order to get it back up that steep incline.
17:42So it takes a lot of effort.
17:45In the 1850s, the very first rail-sea rail service from London to Paris passed through Folkestone Harbour,
17:52taking around 12 and a half hours to complete.
18:01Here is the first time that you do get off the train.
18:04You're entering into Folkestone Harbour Station.
18:07The train is slowing down, and this is where you're going to get off,
18:10and you're going to go all of it under cover so that you don't have to brave the elements.
18:14And it would have been around about here that there would have been double doors which would take you through,
18:19and so that you can complete the last bits of your boarding before you get onto the ferry.
18:24It's absolutely the height of luxury because you've got people who are spending quite a bit of money.
18:30This is the experience that they want.
18:33So you would have walked through from the waiting room, totally under cover,
18:38out onto what is now what we call the harbour arm.
18:43It was called the pier.
18:45And so here we've got an example of where the boats would have been tied up on these mooring kidneys.
18:54And I reckon that first step onto the boat, which is going to rock gently with the lull of the water,
19:01is that moment where you know you're leaving the UK,
19:04and you're really set on your adventure right the way across the sea and onto the continent.
19:12So if you are on the most luxurious train in the world,
19:15then your ferry has really got to come up to those standards as well.
19:20What was a ferry that would have had maximum capacity of 1,700 passengers,
19:26but when you've got the Orient Express on there, then you are catering for about 400 people.
19:31And so therefore you've got space to move around.
19:35In 1936, a new service launched, the Night Ferry, which left from Dover.
19:41Operated by the same company that ran the Orient Express,
19:45its first-class carriages were shunted onto rail ferries,
19:49which sailed across the Channel, while its passengers slept.
19:53Some heading for the Orient Express swapped to this more luxurious and quicker service.
19:58Dover becomes far more viable.
20:01It's got a floating dock so that the trains can actually roll straight onto the ferry.
20:05You don't have to get off your train anymore.
20:08Almost 60 years later, train travel between England and mainland Europe
20:13was revolutionised even further by the Channel Tunnel.
20:16A £4.65 billion project between Folkestone and Calais that took six years to complete.
20:25The idea of a rail link beneath the Channel dates back to the 19th century,
20:30when Britain and France first began digging.
20:32Tunnelling the English Channel, by the silent film pioneer Georges Méliès, was first shown in 1907.
20:43It shows the ambition behind one of the most complex engineering challenges of the time,
20:49connecting Britain and France via an underwater tunnel,
20:52an idea that would take almost a century to realise.
20:57It wasn't until 1986 that construction was finally approved,
21:03long after the golden age of luxury train travel had passed.
21:07In fact, the day the Channel Tunnel opened was the day that the boat train stopped to Dover and Folkestone.
21:14Today, the historic station and harbour have been repurposed into a vibrant cultural and leisure space.
21:21Having opened it as an entertainment site, as a visitor destination,
21:26with food and drink opportunities, with a marketplace which has got creative artisans in there selling their wares,
21:32when it comes to summer, it really is a hive of activity.
21:37When Folkestone harbour is alive, it really is the beating heart of the town.
21:55Three and three-quarter hours after leaving London,
21:58passengers would step off their steamer onto northern France.
22:09In the 1920s, Waggon-Li, the company that ran the Orient Express,
22:15had a luxury train network that stretched across three continents.
22:20At the core of this network were their multiple Orient Express services.
22:24After crossing the Channel by ferry, passengers from London would have connected to an onward service in Calais,
22:32or headed south, towards Paris, to experience the City of Light for an evening,
22:39before continuing their journey on the Orient Express.
22:41The next 185 miles followed the Longue-Boulogne line.
22:48Built between the 1840s and the 1860s, it was the main route for trains steaming towards the French capital.
22:56The Orient Express carried travellers from all walks of life.
23:01The Orient Express carried travellers from all walks of life.
23:05And despite the beautiful views, some of them carried ugly secrets.
23:10One man used the service so often that Compartment 7 was reserved for him alone.
23:19A man who became known as the Merchant of Death.
23:23Basil Zaharoff is one of the most enigmatic persons from the 20th century.
23:31There is very little that we know about him.
23:33He burned all of his papers towards the end of his life.
23:36Johan Lardier is a guide and historian who has long been fascinated by Zaharoff.
23:41He was one of the wealthiest persons in Europe, one of the most hated also, and that he boarded the Orient Express in 1885 and changed his life entirely.
23:53Born into poverty in what is now Istanbul, Zaharoff did odd jobs across Europe before he began working for an arms manufacturer.
24:02Zaharoff was tasked to sell submarines and nobody wanted them.
24:06So he started with Greece where he sold them cheap.
24:10Then he jumped on the Orient Express and went to the Turks and said,
24:13Look, the Greeks, they have submarines.
24:16So they bought submarines but this time for the full price.
24:19He then persuaded the Russians that the Turks knew submarines posed a threat to their interests.
24:25And the Russians that were not interested in the first place started to buy submarines.
24:30A good scheme for a man like him.
24:32And he became extremely wealthy thanks to that.
24:33And now meet the big shot himself, Sir Basil Zaharoff, mystery man of Europe, maker of kings and the greatest munitions salesman ever known.
24:42Zaharoff used the Orient Express to criss-cross Europe, selling arms to countries in the Near and Middle East.
24:49He became one of the best customers of the Orient Express to the point that they reserved a compartment just for him, Compartment No. 7.
24:57During World War I, he sold machine guns, Maxime machine guns, and he sold them to both sides, to French, to the Germans.
25:06And it's been said that for every dead person, he received one pound of gold.
25:11There were 10 million people dead during World War I.
25:14That made him the wealthiest person in Europe, but definitely the most hated.
25:19Of Zaharoff, it has been said that the tombstones of millions killed by the munitions he sold will form his monument, and their dying groans shall be his epitaph.
25:27Zaharoff owned properties across Europe and beyond.
25:32But none is more mysterious than this.
25:35The Chateau de Balincourt, 40 miles from Paris.
25:40Built around 1780, its original owners were guillotined during the French Revolution.
25:45It was later owned by King Leopold II of Belgium.
25:52He grew rich on the back of colonial exploitation of the Congo.
25:58He was also a proud sponsor of the Orient Express from its inception.
26:04King Leopold II had bought that castle for his mistress, and she was the owner of this place,
26:10and all his illegitimate children were living here also.
26:13Zaharoff bought the house from him for one million francs.
26:19Then cut himself off from the world.
26:23And when you're the most hated person in Europe, of course you're going to think about security.
26:29And actually, if you're this way, you can see how high the wall goes.
26:34So the whole estate is completely walled up, and we can't see anything from the outside.
26:41When everybody wants you dead in Europe, when you've been responsible for so many dead people during World War I,
26:47and all the other walls in Europe at the time.
26:49There's nothing around us, except this chunky wall here.
26:53It's at least three meters high.
26:55Oh, here you can see better actually.
26:59You can see how high it goes.
27:01It's actually quite thick as well.
27:03It's been there quite a while, so you have all this grove on it.
27:06And you can see here the columns on each side, how they build it.
27:09Put those stones in the middle, and then you get the columns to support it.
27:13So really, it's a very strong wall, so it was very well protected.
27:17There's an archway right there.
27:19Yeah, here you can clearly see the difference between the colouring.
27:22Like the stone here at the very bottom, that's the original archway.
27:26That must have been built during the 18th century when the castle inside was built.
27:33The arch was decorated with fleur-de-lis, a powerful and enduring symbol of the French monarchy.
27:40As if it was not enough, you had to add even more luxury, and that's why we have those statues on top,
27:46that this royal arch was not enough.
27:48So you can see at the bottom, that looks like it's been there since 1780,
27:52at the construction of the castle.
27:54And then the statues up there have a different colouring,
27:57really proving that they've been added by Zaharoff afterwards.
28:00There is a story that Zaharoff, who, remember, came from nothing,
28:05actually bought the bed of the most famous king in France, Louis XIV, the Saint King, Le Roi Soleil.
28:11And, allegedly, that bed is here in this castle.
28:14Is it still there? We don't know.
28:16Today, the chateau is still owned by his descendants.
28:21This is what we have, just a glimpse.
28:23And because that's the closest we're ever going to get, nobody's allowed inside,
28:26so a lot of mystery around this person.
28:29It was on this estate in 1924 that Zaharoff married the love of his life,
28:34the Duchess de Villafranca.
28:37They met unexpectedly on the Orient Express
28:40when she was married to her first husband.
28:43At 2.32am, someone bangs on the door,
28:47and there's this woman, semi-naked, covered in blood,
28:50trying to escape her husband, who, out of a fit of madness, tried to kill her.
28:55This moment would be the start of a love story that would carry on for 38 years.
29:00This woman was very pious, so she would not divorce her husband.
29:04And when he died, she finally married Zaharoff.
29:07After they got married, they moved here to Balancourt,
29:10and they lived here only for a very short period of time,
29:1318 months, because she died of an infection.
29:15That left Zaharoff completely heartbroken.
29:18And two days after her funeral, he took the Orient Express for the very last time.
29:23He asked a bodyguard that after his death,
29:27he was to bring a photo of him and his wife,
29:30a photo that Zaharoff always carried,
29:32to compartment seven of the Orient Express.
29:36And at 2.32am, on the dot,
29:39the bodyguard would have to shred and throw through the window
29:43as a last romantic gesture,
29:45showing that his whole life started and ended in the Orient Express.
29:49Around seven hours after leaving London,
29:59Orient Express passengers finally arrived in Paris.
30:08Here, at Gare du Nord, Europe's busiest station,
30:12this neoclassical monument to the railway, built in the 1860s,
30:17was designed to impress.
30:23Its 23 statues represented major cities served by the railway.
30:32And its soaring iron columns were cast in Scotland,
30:35the only country with forges big enough.
30:42Then, as now, the station offered an unforgettable welcome
30:47to the French capital.
30:49Orient Express passengers with just a night in Paris
30:53would have been keen to enjoy the city at its most vibrant
30:56before connecting to the legendary train.
30:59Here, we are probably in the most exciting district,
31:03in the most exciting city in the world.
31:06Elsa Noel Gaynor is a tour guide and historian,
31:10an expert on early 20th century Paris.
31:15To fully appreciate Paris in the 1920s,
31:18you need to consider the trauma of the First World War
31:21and how artists were searching for new forms of expression
31:25and a deliberate break from the past.
31:30Paris was at the centre of it all.
31:33People wanted hope to create a new society.
31:38So, everywhere in the city, there were artists
31:41who were enjoying the fact that we were in peace, finally,
31:44after years of war.
31:46And here, we are in Montparnasse,
31:48probably the most exciting district of the 1920s.
31:53Montparnasse was a magnet for artists, writers and models
31:59who were drawn to the area's vitality and its cheap rents.
32:04Here, we are in front of one of the most iconic workshops
32:08of Montparnasse.
32:10And here, you can see three remaining workshops.
32:13The one just behind me was used by Chaim Soutine,
32:16the famous painter who arrived there in the 1910.
32:20These studios were basic, with no running water or electricity.
32:26But they were all the artists could afford.
32:29Most of these workshops were also made of two parts.
32:33The main room was made to work, to live,
32:36and you had a sort of little mezzanine.
32:39If you were not able to afford a house,
32:42you could live in this little mezzanine,
32:45having your bed and all your stuff.
32:48These were not only places to work, but also places to live.
32:52So it means that creation was at any time in these artists' lives.
32:57These studios have a connection to Paris' most famous monument.
33:02These workshops were all made of upcycled materials.
33:07I mean that what you can see here is a part of the ancient pavilions
33:12that were built for the Universal Fair of 1889.
33:16You know, the one when we built the Eiffel Tower.
33:21As Montparnasse thrived, its cafes became the centre of cultural life,
33:26where art and ideas collided,
33:28and a magnet for travellers in search of the new.
33:32People who were travelling with the Orient Express had to do a stop,
33:37just have a look at what was the most modern part of the world.
33:43Montparnasse was considered as the centre of the artistic world,
33:47so obviously you had to see what was happening.
33:51You can really feel this very cosy feeling of the 1920s,
33:57and it's also very marked by what's called art deco.
34:01You can see that inside it's very geometrical,
34:04and you have a lot of decorations,
34:06so it's typical of the French café of this time.
34:11So at night, the artists had their habits together in the café
34:14in order to have something to eat, something to drink,
34:17and most of all, to get warm.
34:19You were meeting people who became your friends.
34:22So it was more than just going to a place to have dinner, to have a coffee.
34:27It was a way to show that you belong to a clique,
34:30and also maybe to an art movement.
34:33Pablo Picasso was a frequent visitor,
34:36as was Mexican artist Diego Rivera and Spanish cubist artist Juan Gris.
34:42So now these artists are, like, famous,
34:45they are considered as the most important for the 20th century,
34:49but at this time, I think that they were more considered as, like, weirdos, you see?
34:54People were not really understanding what they were doing.
34:58Its owner, Victor Libion, was a very generous man,
35:03and he understood that what was happening in his district would change the world.
35:08And he said, OK, I'm just letting them stay the whole day in my café,
35:14just buying only one poor little coffee,
35:17but I know that one day they would become famous,
35:20and they will bring me more and more people.
35:22And I think that he was absolutely right,
35:25because even today this place is one of the most famous in Paris.
35:32The café's frequent visitors,
35:34some Americans who had travelled on the Orient Express,
35:38were so captivated by the city that they decided to stay.
35:43Paris was considered as the main place to live your life in a sort of freedom,
35:50in sort of, like, effervescence.
35:52Ernest Hemingway is one of the most famous.
35:54He was a part of what we call the lost generation.
35:57So the people who consider that their generation was totally wasted by the war
36:03and the future was uncertain.
36:05So they were just trying to forget about this by enjoying Paris.
36:09At the time, one of the most influential Americans
36:13was the writer and art collector Gertrude Stein,
36:16who lived here at 27 Rue de Fleurus.
36:20Every Saturday at 9pm here,
36:22all the most famous artists of the district had the habit
36:26to do a giant meet-up at Gertrude Stein's apartment
36:30in this building just next to me.
36:32Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce,
36:37but also Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani.
36:41So you see all the most famous writers, sculptors and painters of the era.
36:46Stein was a pioneering writer in her own right
36:49and her weekly salon was a magnet for young avant-garde artists.
36:53She lived openly here with her lover, Alice B. Toklas.
37:06I mean that in Montparnasse at this time, it was not only about doing art,
37:10but it was also about enjoying freedom.
37:12By enjoying all the life's pleasures
37:14and also by living some, like, love stories without getting married,
37:19living love stories with men or women, with your friends,
37:22one day and not the other, etc.
37:25So it was a very, very free way to live.
37:28If Paris is still a highly important capital for culture and art in the world,
37:33it's because of this garden age
37:35and all the people were converging to Montparnasse in the 1920s.
37:39Paris might have been exciting during the day,
37:42but it was when the sun set that the city really came to life.
37:58With just one night in Paris before catching their onward train,
38:02Orient Express passengers would have wanted to make the most of it.
38:06Luckily for them, the City of Light delivered.
38:11Paris in the 1920s exploded with nightclubs and jazz bars.
38:17And African Americans fleeing racial prejudice in the US
38:21flocked to the city.
38:24At the heart of this cultural explosion was Josephine Baker,
38:28who would become the wealthiest black woman in the world.
38:31Baker became a symbol of Paris itself,
38:36an icon who drew audiences from across the globe.
38:40Arguably, Paris's most famous cabaret was and remains,
38:45the Moulin Rouge, which opened in October 1889.
38:50Fanny Rabass is its press relations and events manager.
38:59The Moulin Rouge became successful straight away for many reasons.
39:03It was a beautiful place, brand new,
39:05and there was a lot of artists who wanted to inspire themselves.
39:09Henri Toulouse-Lautrec designed its first poster with the dancer La Goulue.
39:15And it created a huge scandal because La Goulue on the poster,
39:18because she showed her bottom.
39:21Everybody was shocked, but a big scandal attracted.
39:24So everybody rushed to the Moulin Rouge to see La Goulue.
39:27This is how it started.
39:28During the two wars, the Moulin Rouge really was the iconic venue
39:34of the Paris artistic scene.
39:37The most famous artist during that time was Miss Sangette,
39:41and she's the one we created the kind of show we still do at the Moulin Rouge.
39:45A lot of people on stage, big costumes, feathers, jewelry,
39:50and she was really a character.
39:52Miss Sangette reigned as queen of the Moulin Rouge until the mid-1930s.
39:57She was called the general because she was very tough.
40:00If a dancer was too pretty next to her, the girl was put behind
40:04because she always wanted to be the star.
40:06For the passengers of the Orient Express,
40:09the Moulin Rouge really was a must-do.
40:11It was at that time already the most famous cabaret in the world,
40:15and it still is, 135 years after its opening.
40:19The Moulin Rouge in the 20s was already avant-garde.
40:22The show today has the same spirit, but of course we have more technical,
40:26you know, it's more grandiose and it's more impressive for the audience.
40:30We have 60 people on stage, so people are stunned by our show.
40:34The costumes have always been important.
40:37We have 1,000 costumes unmet in our workshop, shoe workshop, feather workshop.
40:43And for example, one of my favourite costumes, the pink finale,
40:49we have 50 dancers on stage wearing this amazing pink costume.
40:54And the cost for one costume was 15,000 euros, so multiplied by 50,
41:07750,000 euros just for four minutes on stage.
41:12The total budget of the costumes since the opening of the show 25 years ago
41:18is now 10 million euros.
41:21.
41:26In the 1920s and 30s,
41:27multiple dancers were on stage at once to create a great spectacle.
41:30.
41:34In the 1920s and 30s,
41:40multiple dancers were on stage at once to create a great spectacle.
41:46Today, there are around 80 people in the troupe,
41:50and Portia Seker is one of them.
41:53I started dancing when I was two years old,
41:56and I just kind of never stopped.
41:58I fell in love with it.
41:59I trained almost every day.
42:01I performed as much as I could growing up.
42:06To become a dancer at the Moulin Rouge
42:08is even more competitive now than it was 100 years ago.
42:12It's one of the hardest auditions I've ever done.
42:15We do cartwheels, kicks, walks, combinations,
42:19everything you can imagine.
42:21So there's a height requirement,
42:23so girls have to be 175 centimetres.
42:27I'm probably a little bit short.
42:29But I stood up as tall as I could the whole audition.
42:35I don't think I slouched once.
42:37I really wanted the job.
42:39And then finding out I booked it
42:41was probably one of my happiest memories.
42:44I screamed.
42:45I jumped up and down so much.
42:46My neighbours probably thought I was,
42:48I don't know, dying or something.
42:49There has been hundreds and thousands of girls before you,
42:57and you suddenly feel like you're part of the legacy, I guess.
43:03You know, Moulin Rouge, it's an institution.
43:05It's iconic.
43:06It's historic.
43:08You need to be flexible.
43:09You need to be able to perform and command the space
43:12because at the end of the day, you know,
43:14we're all on stage together,
43:16but you want to stand out a little bit.
43:19In the 1920s, there was typically one show a night.
43:23Now there are two performances a day, six days a week.
43:27It is very hard, but, you know, we love it.
43:33It's what we've trained our whole lives to do.
43:36It doesn't feel like work at the end of the day.
43:40I think we're all very grateful that, you know,
43:43we get to do what we love.
43:46My favourite number in the show,
43:48I think Can Can is the most rewarding.
43:52The Can Can was first performed in 1861.
43:55It soon became synonymous with the Moulin Rouge.
43:58For its time, it was provocative, daring and risque.
44:02There's intention behind each movement,
44:30which is, it's so incredible, Dan,
44:32and it's nice to, you know,
44:34follow in the footsteps of the greats
44:36that have come before us.
44:51I think it's just incredible that, you know,
44:54a hundred years ago,
44:55people could step off the Orient Express
44:58and come to the Moulin Rouge
45:00and see a very similar show
45:02to what they're getting today.
45:04Next time, a modern luxury train
45:30follows the Orient Express's most iconic route,
45:33an epic transcontinental adventure
45:37from Paris to Istanbul.
45:40Let some light in.
45:44Reviving the golden age of rail
45:47with all its glamour and its charm.
45:50It's a great honour to be travelling
45:52at the footsteps of the great historical Orient Express.
45:55Along the way, luxury transformed.
46:00What you see here is the translation
46:03of the Orient Express idea
46:06into individual mobility.
46:09A unique artistic form.
46:12Here we store about six to seven hundred different puppets.
46:17And Hitler's dark obsession.
46:19It showed that the Nazi were able to run
46:24the Orient Express just as well as another country.
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