Witham to Felixstowe

Michael Portillo's railway journey through 1930s Britain from Canterbury to Skegness reaches Witham in Essex. Here he visits the factory of the world's oldest supplier of metal-framed windows, which became popular in the 1930s.

Crossing into Suffolk, Michael alights at Ipswich and discovers the story of a group of child refugees whose history is intertwined with that of Michael's family.

In the village of Newbourne, over a pint with the locals, Michael hears the story of the rural resettlement scheme that helped over a thousand unemployed industrial workers from the north.

Last stop on this leg is Felixstowe, where Michael boards a boat to reach an isolated country house, where secret research was underway in the 1930s. When war came, the experiments performed here saved Britain from defeat.