Hidden Killers Of The Victorian Home Page #7

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every day, like their bosses.

And they couldn't afford to launder

them, so by the end of the week

they must have been chaotic

with numbers all over them.

Then along comes celluloid.

You can do all the numbers you want

on your cuff during the day,

take it home at night,

put it under the tap, rinse it,

shake it dry

and put it on again in the morning

looking pristine, just like the boss.

And it was an amazing sociological

success all over the world, 1885.

For as these affordable celluloid

products found their way

into items all over the house -

a terrible discovery was made.

It's a wonderful material

but it's not a perfect material

because it's inflammable, it burns.

Chemically

it's very similar to gun cotton

and gun cotton we know

is an explosive material.

So cellulose nitrate, Parkesine,

celluloid, it burns very fiercely.

Ignoring its flammability,

celluloid was such a useful material

that canny manufacturers saw

numerous opportunities to produce

those must-have items.

When the invention of plastics

allowed brooches, hair combs

and mirrors to be as ornate

and attractive-looking

as the much more expensive ivory,

they were eagerly swept up.

The middle-classes wanted to look

wealthy and modern

and these products allowed them

to look just that.

This Victorian evening bag,

for example.

This looks like a piece

of hand-carved ivory, but it's not,

it's a piece of pressed celluloid.

It wasn't a real ivory comb,

it was made of celluloid

and it wasn't a real wooden bath,

it was painted like wood

and that's

because the Victorians were

so delighted by innovation

and by science,

and they loved the idea

of tricking themselves,

and also they loved the idea

of a cheap bargain.

Maybe not such a great bargain.

I want to find out just how

flammable celluloid really is.

This is a ping pong ball from China.

It's one of the few products in

the world that you can still buy

that's made of celluloid.

Assisting me is Martin Shipp from

the Building Research Establishment.

Martin, the flame please...

Wow! A surprisingly fierce flame -

definitely not something

to try at home.

Martin estimates that celluloid

is five times more flammable

than plywood.

Celluloid's chemical composition

meant it could not only

go up in flames easily, but it was

also unreliable in other ways.

Over time, it degrades.

Light and chemicals can cause it

to gradually break down,

And in that breakdown process,

it releases camphor

and it releases alcohols

and other things that are flammable.

And those flammable gases in

the atmosphere can then be ignited

by a spark or a flame,

without anybody igniting

the celluloid itself.

That's what made celluloid

so dangerous.

And there were other problems too.

Celluloid items could also

spontaneously combust,

as this cartoon of the time

illustrates.

And billiard balls -

traditionally made of ivory -

were now made from

the cheaper celluloid -

until it was discovered

that they would explode on impact.

This is an example of

one of the very first billiard balls

made from cellulose nitrate.

And the inventor

of this billiard ball

had a letter from a Colorado

saloon keeper, that he didn't mind

when the balls crashed together

and you got a mini-explosion,

because it's an explosive material,

but what he did object to

was that every man in the room

turned round and pulled out a gun!

But even worse was to come.

Celluloid was so versatile,

it replaced materials like ivory

and bone, in clothing - items

like corsets and lace, brooches,

bracelets, and all sorts

of accessories were either made of,

or featured celluloid -

without concern for

the accumulative effect.

This is a hair comb

used in the 1890s.

And the fashion and the style

was to have a hair comb

pushed in the back -

not just one but several.

But when you consider this is

a highly flammable material...

There were reports of people

passing too closely to gas lamps

or leaning too close to the fire,

and...BOOM...they burst into flames.

There were terrible tales

of misadventure,

like the woman who failed to notice

a cigar roll

under her celluloid-enhanced dress

until it was too late.

She immediately ran outside to try

and get away from the smoke.

Unfortunately,

that change in conditions

from fairly restricted

within a small area in a home,

to outside where there was

a lot of oxygen and some wind,

the skirt started to burn

with flames.

And she was immediately

engulfed in flames.

In her pursuit of cut-price fashion,

the Victorian woman had been

transformed into

a walking fire hazard.

Although in 1922 there was an act

enforcing better safety in premises

where raw celluloid film was stored,

there was never any legislation

to stop the use of celluloid in

fashionable items and in clothing.

It was only over the course

of the 20th century,

as more improved, less flammable

plastics were invented,

that the use of celluloid declined.

But while its introduction

had been a dangerous one -

it developed into a far safer

product that is still with us.

One that a British inventor

had been responsible for.

I think you can look around today

and virtually everything

you look at, touch, control,

everything you do, involves plastics.

It controls our lives today,

which you may think is a good thing

or a bad thing, but it does,

we can't avoid that.

He set the wheels in motion

for all that.

He laid the foundations

for a massive industry

that controls and affects everybody's

lives throughout the world.

From the food they ate, to the

clothes they wore, and the gadgets

and products championed by the new

exciting advertising campaigns,

Victorian homes were brimming

with killers.

They lay dormant

until scientific progress,

consumer concern

or a brave new pioneer

raised their voice above the clamour

and forced a change for the better.

But the Victorian ideal of "safe as

houses" was never really fulfilled.

Many of the domestic fatalities

of late Victorian Britain can be

explained by middle-class desires

to make their lives easier,

cheaper and more convenient,

and to conform to ideals of morality

and respectability.

But we mustn't forget

that they were pioneers,

and progress always comes at a cost.

As the century reached its close,

Britain was leading the world

and was on the verge of a golden age

in which scientific advances

would really start to make

a difference.

But would the Edwardian home

be any safer?

Next time, I'll be discovering

how a new century, a new monarch

and extraordinary new inventions

would have an impact

on the Edwardian Home.

She covered her face in poison.

Absolutely lethal.

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