Series 8 Reversions: The Joy of Coast

What brings joy to Ruth Goodman is knitting. To get some tips for completing a complex fisherman's jumper, Ruth heads to pretty Polperro. Ruth learns how 150 years ago in this picturesque Cornish harbour town, women and men's livelihoods depended on their skills at 'contract knitting', making workwear to order. Polperro's famous woollens were sold all around British shores and beyond. Ruth discovers why seafarers placed so much faith in their fisherman's jumpers and why they should never actually be called jumpers! She also meets the charming 'Graffiti Grannies', a mysterious bunch of public- spirited women who hide their identity; knitting in secret, they leave little woollen treats scattered around the Cornish coast for people to enjoy for free. Tessa Dunlop takes the plunge into the glamorous history of British lidos, those temples of sun-worshipping pleasure which sprang up around our shores in the 1930s. Series 8 Reversions Episode 13 of 24