This is a programme in the Clegg’s People series, with Michael Clegg giving a historical tour of Hull.  Here, is focuses on its seafaring history and relationship to the monarchy.  As Clegg embarks on a lazy boat ride along the River Hull, the viewer can see the remnants of Hull’s grand history as well as how busy it still is in 1983.  As well as visiting various museums, Clegg gets to explore the Plotting Parlour in Hull’s oldest pub, and two highly impressive public loos. The film begins...

This is a programme in the Clegg’s People series, with Michael Clegg giving a historical tour of Hull.  Here, is focuses on its seafaring history and relationship to the monarchy.  As Clegg embarks on a lazy boat ride along the River Hull, the viewer can see the remnants of Hull’s grand history as well as how busy it still is in 1983.  As well as visiting various museums, Clegg gets to explore the Plotting Parlour in Hull’s oldest pub, and two highly impressive public loos. The film begins with Michael Clegg stood near the recently opened Humber Bridge.  Here he explains that that his grandmother came from Hull and was known as a “wooleyback.”  His grandfather, who came from New Holland located on the other side of the Humber, and was therefore a “yellow belly.”  Clegg cruises up the Humber in the company of the head of piloting, who gives an account of the history of piloting, originating with Henry VIII in 1841, and we see a pilot boat in action.  He states that currently there are 139 pilot boats, and that 23,500 ships come into the port of Hull each year.  They then take a boat trip along the River Hull, passing William Wilberforce’s House.  At this point Clegg visits the House, now a museum, and he gives a brief history of Wilberforce and the slave trade of “negroes”.  Clegg then visits a group of Equal Opportunity Youth, YOPs, who are up scaffolding painting a mural on the side of a wall for the end of the Marine Year of 1982, commemorating Hull’s fishing history.  He continues on the boat journey along the River, passing the eighteenth century warehouses, now converted into apartments. They pass the entrance to the Old Queen’s Dock, where the first enclosed dock in the country can be seen.  They pass Hull College in the distance and the North Bridge House as they approach North Bridge. They pass the docks, with ships and barges, and carry on serenely through Hull Old Town, past the Whalebone pub.   Next Clegg is in the Town Docks Museum, now named the Maritime Museum, where he is stood behind a harpoon inside a whaling boat.    He gives a brief history of whaling in Hull, explaining the different products that were made from whales, especially from baleen, and how they looked out for the right whale, so-called as these were slow and floated when dead.  He is next seated in a blubber pot, explaining how this was used for rendering down the rubber. We next see Holy Trinity Church and the statue for Queen Victoria, before Clegg is stood underneath the statue of William III.  The Treasurer of the Hull Civic Society, Ian Ashley Cooper, emerges out of a toilet next to the statue, and enjoins Clegg to take a look at it with him.   They next go to the public loo on Corporation Pier.  As they enter the Ladies, a party of schoolgirls come out.  They are shown around inside by the attendant, Mrs Dasdale, with its potted plants, mahogany doors, porcelain cisterns and marble floor.   She points out the certificate for the best kept loo in Humberside.  The pair then takes a walk along the Land of Green Ginger, where Clegg is shown the small window, a slit in the wall, which was a spy hole for the coach house.  They visit the Ye Olde White Hart, and have dinner in the Plotting Parlour where they discuss the various plots that have been hatched there, including the refusal of entry to the town to Charles 1st in 1842.   Clegg is next scene stood near the river, with the North Bridge behind him, and he gives a potted account of the history of the relationship of Hull to the various monarchs.  The film finishes in the city centre where Clegg explains the cream coloured telephone boxes. End Credits: Cleggs People is introduced by Michael Clegg Camera – Mostafa Hammuri Sound – Ron Gunn, Alan Bedwood Film Editor – Chris Sutton Director - David St. David Smith Producer - John Wilford  Yorkshire Television