Local Heroes (British TV series)


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 become 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.
This hobo-meets-Johnny Ball style approach to science-education proved appealing, and after two series, the show was sold to the national BBC2 network in 1994. The move saw two changes: the scope of the show was expanded nationwide, with a different region visited each episode; and the theme tune was changed from No More Heroes by The Stranglers to a twee and plinky number, more in keeping with the programme genre. Eventually this was replaced by a more upbeat theme, by Wallace and Gromit composer Julian Nott, played by a Czech orchestra.
Since then, the series has covered over 200 'heroes', and has seen several special episodes. The first special saw Hart-Davis visit Egypt to investigate ancient heroes, while another took him to Italy for a Renaissance special. Another notable show was the finale of the last series, which was performed in front of a live audience at the Royal Institution, much in the style of the Institution's Christmas Lectures.
The show continued until 2000. Since then, Hart-Davis has moved on to other shows, and the bbc.co.uk Local Heroes pages have now been deleted, suggesting that no further series are planned.

Series 1

  1. South West:
  2. * Sarah Guppy: patented the exercise bed, the breakfast urn and the suspension bridge
  3. * William Watts: invented lead shot
  4. * Humphry Davy: discovered laughing gas, started electrochemistry and made patients breathe gases from cows
  5. * Edward Jenner: introduced vaccination against smallpox
  6. * Mikael Pedersen: designed a beautiful and curious bicycle
  7. * George Pocock : inventor of spanking machine and pioneer of kite locomotion
  8. South:
  9. * John Milne: founder of modern seismology
  10. * Edward Lyon Berthon, who invented the folding lifeboat
  11. * Florence Nightingale
  12. * Colin Pullinger
  13. * John Stringfellow:
  14. Scotland:
  15. * Charles Piazzi Smyth
  16. * Joseph Black
  17. * John Napier
  18. * David Brewster
  19. * David Douglas
  20. * Gilbert D. Malloch
  21. * Nevil Maskelyne
  22. * Charles Hutton
  23. Midlands:
  24. * John Barber : patented the gas turbine
  25. * Matthew Boulton: host of the Lunar Society, a gathering of scientists
  26. * William Withering: made heart cure from foxgloves
  27. * William Murdoch: invented gas lighting
  28. * James Watt: invented the copying machine and greatly improved steam engines
  29. * Dennis Gabor: invented the hologram on a tennis court - before it was possible to make one
  30. * Alexander Parkes: produced plastics, two generations ahead of their time
  31. * Frederick W. Lanchester: built the first all-British four-wheel petrol-driven car
  32. Northern Ireland:
  33. *John Boyd Dunlop: invented the pneumatic tyre
  34. *William Coppin: invented the diving suit and pioneered salvage operations
  35. * George Garrett : invented a submarine, powered by steam and called Resurgam
  36. * John Getty McGee: invented the Ulster overcoat
  37. * John Thomas Romney Robinson: invented the cup anemometer and measured the position of Armagh with rockets
  38. * Harry Ferguson: pioneered the modern tractor system
  39. North West:
  40. * John Mackereth: invented the pneumatic mud corer for taking samples from lake beds
  41. * John Gough : blind naturalist who could identify any plant by taste and touch
  42. * Thomas Edmondson: inventor of the railway ticket
  43. * John Dalton: meteorologist and pioneer of atomic theory
  44. * James Prescott Joule: devised modern ideas about heat
  45. * Joseph Whitworth: revolutionised engineering by defining standard screw threads

    Series 2

1 North West: Isambard Kingdom Brunel:
Henry Moule:
Thomas Savery:
Mary Anning:
2 Scotland: Alexander Bain : Electro-chemical telegraph
Charles Macintosh: Mac
James Clerk Maxwell:
Robert Stirling: Inventor
James Gregory : Mathematician
3 East: William Harvey: Reformed incorrect thinking about the circulation of blood.
Robert Fitzroy: Pioneered storm warning system and invented the weather forecast.
Benjamin Wiseman: Patented a Windmill in 1783.
William Hase: Modified prison treadmills to take power outside the prison.
William Gilberd: Discovered the earth is a magnet.
John Jeyes: Invented a unique three-function toilet cleaner Jeyes Fluid.
William Hyde Wollaston: Invented a clever mirror-and-prism device that lets you see your subject superimposed on your sketch pad.
4 North East: John Walker : Invented the friction match.
Charles Algernon Parsons: Invented the steam turbine.
Joseph Wilson Swan: Invented the incandescent light bulb.
Lewis Fry Richardson: Inventor of sonar and the understanding of the mathematics of the weather.
Thomas Wright : First to understand the Milky Way.
Gladstone Adams: Invented the windscreen wiper.
5 Wales: Thomas Telford: Developed a system for road building & built bridges.
Alfred Russel Wallace: Devised theory of natural selection jointly with Darwin.
William Price : Pioneer of cremation.
Harry Grindell Matthews: Invented a portable radio, and supposed Death Ray inventor.
Richard Trevithick: Ran world's first steam locomotive at Merthyr.
Robert Recorde: Invented equals sign.
Hugh Owen Thomas : Four generations of bonesetters and founder of
orthopaedic surgery.
6 South East:
Samuel Morland: Invented giant megaphones and was master mechanic to Charles II
Hertha Ayrton: Invented way of clearing trenches of Mustard Gas.
Eleanor Coade: Her artificial stone was used for many landmarks.
Henry Maudslay: Founder of precision engineering and first production line.
Thomas Young : Discovered how the eye works and translated the Rosetta Stone.
Liborio Pedrazzoli: Inventor of swimming umbrellas.
Ralph Wedgwood : Invented carbon paper.
William Willoughby Cole Verner: Invented cavalry sketching board to enable cavalrymen to make accurate maps whilst on horseback.

Series 3

1 Devon and Cornwall: Thomas Newcomen et al.
2 London: Cornelius Drebbel et al.
3 South: Robert Hooke et al.
4 Special - Egypt
5 Special - Italy
6 Special - Science Week

Series 4

1 South: Henry Cavendish et al.
2 East of Scotland: James Dewar et al.
3 Cotswolds: William Henry Fox Talbot et al.
4 St Pauls: Heroines