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Inside Michael Portillo's career: From politics to presenting

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Former Conservative politician Michael Portillo has many strings to his career bow, but is currently known as the presenter of BBC series, Great British Railway Journeys.

The 67-year-old began his career in the public eye in 1979, and worked to become a Cabinet Minister.

However, after his retirement from politics in the early Noughties he chose instead to focus on TV roles.

Here’s how his career developed over the years:

Portillo joined the Conservative Research department.

Following the Tory victory of the same year, Portillo became a government advisor to David Howell at the Department for Energy.

Portillo briefly left his role in the government to work for Kerr-McGee Oil.

He made his return to politics and ran in local elections, however he lost the seat of Birmingham Perry Barr to Labour politician Jeff Rooker.

Following the loss, he returned to work as an adviser for the government.

Portillo stood in the Enfield Southgate by-election and won.

Michael Portillo shepherds sheep across London Bridge

Three years later, he was given the post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security. A year later, he was promoted to Minister of State for Transport.

Portillo was appointment Minister of State for Local Government. During his time in this role, he stirred up controversy for voting in favour of the Poll Tax.

Under John Major, he was made Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and later that year was admitted to the Privy Council.

Portillo became Secretary of State for Employment.

He then moved into the role of Secretary of State for Defence. He planned to run against John Major if the 1995 Conservative Leadership challenge went to a second round, but it did not come to that. Portillo admitted he regretted appearing indecisive.

Portillo lost his seat in Enfield to Labour’s Stephen Twigg in the 1997 General Election.

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The loss was unexpected, and during an interview with Jeremy Paxman on election night (prior to his loss), he was asked about potentially losing his seat.

He has since revealed he began to expect loss in the days running up to the election, and his defeat became something of a symbol of the Tory’s loss to the Labour party during that election.

Portillo has since said: "My name is now synonymous with eating a bucketload of s**t in public."

Following his political loss, Portillo decided to focus on his TV career. He launched a Channel 4 series called Portillo’s Progress, which looked into the changing political landscape in Britain.

Railway ride through Sweden - in pictures

Portillo returned to politics, and won the by-election to represent Kensington and Chelsea.

He was promoted to Deputy Leader and Shadow Councillor.

He contested the leadership of the party, but was voted down by Conservative MPs.

He appeared on BBC Two documentary Great Railway Journeys: From Granada to Salamanca.

Portillo voted in favour of the invasion of Iraq. He turned down the offer of a Shadow Cabinet post, and eventually chose not to run in the 2005 election.

2003-onwards

He went on to work on a number of BBC documentaries, including My Week In The Real World, Great Britons and How To Kill a Human Being.

Portillo filmed the first series of Great British Railway Journeys, using George Bradshaw's handbook as a guide.

He went on to travel the world, looking at journeys across India, Australia, America, Alaska and more, and is currently presenting Great Continental Railway Journeys.

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From politics to TV: Michael Portillo’s own great journey

Cornerstone host of SBS primetime on success, politics and Australian episodes

The Great Railway Journeys programs continue to be key ingredients in SBS primetime. The UK FremantleMedia-produced series, hosted by Michael Portillo , have been phenomenally successful for SBS – so much so that the host has recently been on air at 7.30pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on the channel. Most weeks one of the various episodes ranks as SBS’s most-watched program of the week.

Mediaweek was able to spend some time with the host recently, albeit on the end of a telephone. Portillo was speaking to us from Spain, where he spends much of his time, “sheltering in the air conditioning”, he said on the day we spoke during a heatwave that had spread from the UK.

After some preliminaries, he adopted the friendly yet formal manner he exudes during the program.

“What would you like to ask, sir,” he said invitingly.

We started with the origins of the Great Railway Journeys format which Portillo revealed track back to 1998 for an episode that was screened the following year. “That happened very shortly after I lost my seat in parliament in 1997 in rather spectacular circumstances.

“It was a landslide win for the Labour Party and I was quite a prominent member of the [Conservative] Government in what was thought to be quite a safe seat. And I might add quite an unpopular Government.

“The moment that I lost my seat unexpectedly has gone down as the ‘Portillo moment’. Even in the recent UK election people were asking if there would be a Portillo moment, which now means the unexpected loss of a seat in Parliament by one who is prominent.

“I had to make some sort of recovery after the loss. I was quite happy not to be in Parliament as my party had been reduced to a rump. I had made a couple of documentaries and then I got the opportunity to make an episode for a series called Great Railway Journeys . It had a different presenter each episode and the hosts were encouraged to be autobiographical. They asked me if I would make a program about my father in the Spanish Civil War. My father was on the losing side and became a refugee in Britain at the end of the war.

“While going around Spain by train I was able to talk to my uncles who were still alive. Five of them had been fighting on the other side during the Spanish Civil War. It was a poignant, emotional journey for me.

“It was then fully a decade after that [and another stint as a UK politician] that a television production company was dreaming up a new idea for a travel and history show. They had the idea of using the old Bradshaw’s guidebook. The chairman of the production company remembered my earlier show and suggested me. That was about 250 episodes ago.

“I have been astonished that it has lasted so long.”

The full extent of his Australian success hadn’t filtered back to Portillo. As we explained how his shows were screening three nights a week on SBS, it became clear to Portillo why a trickle of emails from Australia had turned into a “torrent”.

“I am most grateful to Australians for taking it on board and supporting the programs.”

The various series have always been made within the FremantleMedia empire. The production house within the company was formerly called Talkback Thames but has since been rebranded Boundless Television. “For the last seven years we have had the same executive producer – John Comerford . We have been able to maintain consistency of product with many of the team staying with the show. We have two different production teams working with me as one does the reconnaissance work on a series while we film another.

“We have developed a corporate style that allows us to develop a richer product year by year.”

The biggest change technically on the format over the years has been the use of better cameras. “We have invested significantly in the cameras, giving the series a much more cinematic look.”

And what about those aerial shots? “We don’t use many drones. In the UK we charter a helicopter to fly the routes we are filming. In Europe we sometimes buy in helicopter footage. Very occasionally we get to use a drone. ”

There are typically six people with Portillo when they film. “The director and the camera person are one. We have a sound man, and I have only worked with two different sound guys in nine years.

“We have an assistant producer who literally keeps the show on the tracks – looking after the rail timetable and who we have to interview next. Normally we then have two younger people, one who normally drives our van and the other who downloads the footage each day to a hard drive.”

Although working on the different seasons of Great Railway Journeys has dominated Portillo’s media schedule, he still finds time for other programs.

“For the past 14 years I have been on a weekly BBC One political show called This Week which runs for 42 weeks a year. I do a radio show on Wednesdays called The Moral Maze, with about 20 episodes a year. I have recently signed with Channel Five to do a new series about abandoned buildings, a history show provisionally titled Abandoned Britain .”

This Week features Portillo with Andrew Neill . Their longtime on-air colleague was Labour politician Diane Abbott , who stood down after becoming a prominent member of the shadow cabinet.

Abbott copped a beating from both the media and her political opponents at the end of the recent election campaign after a slip-up during a media interview. Asked if he thought the treatment of his former TV colleague was unfair, Portillo said: “I expect if I was where Diane is I would feel it was unfair. I have often thought the treatment of me was unfair. Politics is a very rough business. I decided to withdraw from it and I feel very happy about that. If you remain in politics you can hardly complain.”

Bradshaw’s Guidebook

“The British Bradshaw’s, which is from about 1864, is a proper guide book. For the Great Continental Railway Journeys series in Europe we used a 1913 edition. It is a huge book predominantly of timetables and then at the back of it is a guidebook. Both books have been republished recently and the British book is certainly a bestseller.”

Portillo never lets go of the guidebook during the program, telling Mediaweek they only have one copy of the originals. “It is a very, very precious thing and we treat it with great reverence. As soon as I have finished reading from each episode it is put away in a box. The box is actually illustrated with Thomas the Tank Engine and I am constantly followed by a young man or a young woman with that box with a Bradshaw’s in it. It is not unlike my ministerial career where I was followed around with a person carrying a red box of official secrets.”

Thoughts on Brexit

Because of the time he now spends in Spain and his journeys around Europe by train, we asked if Portillo had changed his mind about the UK and the EU. Portillo said: “My position is somewhat complicated.

“I am very sceptical about the European Union, but I would have preferred there not be a referendum. My feeling was because we were out of the single currency, the euro, I thought we were free from most of the dangers.

“But we did have a referendum and I voted for Brexit. However, this extraordinary election result we have just had means we are not going to have the sort of Brexit Mrs May had been planning. I find it hard to predict where we might end up. Maybe with some sort of middle of the road fudge probably.”

Portillo made it clear that Brexit doesn’t mean people wish to turn their back on Europe. “I have two European passports – British and Spanish. I have a life in Spain as part of a big community. What does strike me is that we have very different political values across Europe. To me the idea that you can successfully govern Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese and British in a single entity and make it accountable and democratic…I don’t see how that works.”

Grenfell Tower fire

Despite some reports otherwise, the Grenfell Tower was not in Michael Portillo’s former London electorate. But it was close to it. “There has been some misunderstanding about that. The boundaries have changed since my day. However, I have been horrified by it and somewhat ashamed.

“It is not the sort of picture of our country that you want sent around the world – the idea that warnings might have been ignored and there could have been penny pinching.

“Seeing public housing burning like a torch is not an image we want. Apart from horror, I have felt a certain amount of shame.”

Portillo said he hoped because it had been such a horrific incident that it will lead to significant housing reform.

India: Further eastward

“We have shot four one-hour episodes in India. You only have to turn the camera on and there is much vivacity and colour and noise going on all around you.

“Sometimes on the British journeys I lament that I am sitting there on my own in a compartment, looking like a very lonely man. That doesn’t happen in India where there is a crowd everywhere. I hope that feeling of commotion translates to the audience. We even have a separate part of one episode on crossing the road which becomes such an adventure every time you attempt it.”

Great Australian Railway Journeys

Portillo said he has had many requests for an Aussie TV adventure. “I have been there a couple of times and I would very much like to film there. It is not my decision and I don’t know what might be the complications.” He added he thought it likely they would shoot here one day.

Great British Railway Journeys season 15: release date, destinations, exclusive interview and everything we know

Great British Railway Journeys season 15 on BBC2 sees politician-turned-presenter Michael Portillo explore Britain’s post-war history by train.

Great British Railway Journeys season 15 on BBC2 sees dapper dresser Michael Portillo taking a train ride through Britain’s fascinating post-war history. That means exploring the Britain of his youth, criss-crossing the country by rail and taking a nostalgic look back at everything from the birth of space exploration, to the invention of the lava lamp, and all the highs and lows of British Rail through the post-war decades!

"I’m afraid train travel has got so much worse recently, and I’m astonished by the reduction in the number of services and the increase in journey times," says former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo. 

"Having said that, when I was a child railway carriages used to be pretty grubby, and the British Rail sandwich was famously grim – always stale and curly at the edges!"

So here’s everything you need to know about the 15th outing of Great British Railway Journeys on BBC2…

Great British Railway Journeys season 15 release date

Great British Railway Journeys is a 15-part historical travelogue that will start on BBC2 from Monday March 18 2024 at 6.30pm, running daily from Monday to Friday across the week for three weeks. 

Episodes will also become available on BBCiPlayer . 

Is there a trailer for Great British Railway Journeys?

Not yet, but we’ll update here as soon as one lands, so watch this space – and look out for Michael wearing some particularly colourful jackets and trousers!

What happens and destinations in series 15 of Great British Railway Journeys?

The first five episodes take in the Southern Counties, from London Marylebone to Heathrow, via Swindon, Chippenham, Yeovil, Swanage, Portchester, Havant and Guilford. Along the way, Michael discovers the birthplace of the plastic recorder, learns about the origins of Oxfam and discovers the secrets of the hovercraft.

His second five-episode journey takes place in Scotland, from Loch Lomond to Dundee, taking in the West Highland Line, Glasgow’s Hampden Park and the Forth Road Bridge, which was constructed during the 50s and 60s. Meanwhile, Michael also rocks out with the Bay City Rollers and learns how chicken tikka masala was created for the Glaswegian palate by a chef from Lahore.

Finally, Michael travels from Merseyside to Teesside, with a five-episode leg that sees him discover the excitement of post-war space exploration at Jodrell Bank, ride a vintage Raleigh Chopper and check out the headquarters of Yorkshire Tea, before finishing his journey in a recreated 1950s street at the Beamish open air museum.

Exclusive interview: Michael Portillo talks us through Great British Railway Journeys

What can you tell us about Great British Railway Journeys season 15? Michael Portillo told us: "Well, it’s about exploring post-war Britain and the Britain of my youth, and it involves some fascinating adventures, including possibly the most dramatic and ambitious scene we’ve ever shot! In episode two I go up in a 1954 Harvard aircraft at Yeovilton air base with two other vintage planes flying either side – and I swear the wings were virtually touching. It was extraordinarily skillful flying but pretty alarming, too!"

Was there anything you particularly enjoyed reminiscing about? Michael says: "We went to Haslemere, Surrey, the birthplace of the plastic recorder. I had a wooden one, but it brought back memories of making dreadful noises on a recorder as a child! We also went to Beamish, the open air museum, and I’m a sucker for old buses and cars. But one has to be wary of nostalgia because the immediate post-war period was actually characterised by a lot of poverty and inequality. Even I remember what it was like to live in a house that didn't have central heating – it was freezing! 

What was it like rocking out with Stuart ‘Woody’ Wood from the Bay City Rollers? Michael says: "I think there will be danger of heart attacks across Britain when that episode goes out. You may remember their emblem was a tartan yellow scarf, well I did a lot of scarf waving because I got so carried away by the music! I was rather a stuck up kid in many of ways and I didn’t get into much of the youth rebellion stuff. I used to wear my shirts buttoned up to the top button, so I was literally ‘buttoned up.’ You have to understand that I was quite repressed. So I’m just delighted that these experiences somehow come around!"

Do you have a personal highlight from the series? Michael says: "It was very fascinating for me to speak to Mick McGahey Jr, whose father was the leader of the Scottish miners’ union at the time of the miners’ strike 40 years ago. Of course, I was a Conservative politician in those days, so I think each of us was so completely astonished to be in each other's company. I hope that makes good television."

Were there any filming challenges? Michael says: "I'd love to answer your question in the spirit that it’s made, but we always have extraordinary luck. We call it Portillo’s luck. For some reason when we're filming it always rains at night, but not during the day. And our trains are never canceled, which they are when I’m not filming!"

Do you have fond memories of train travel growing up? Michael says: "Yes, because I’m so old my earliest train travel was by steam train. We used to take our holidays on the Isle of Wight and there was a steam train that ran from Ryde down to Ventnor and it made the most extraordinary panting sound, and if I ever heard it again I’d be taken straight back to my childhood. But although people get very nostalgic about steam trains, they were very dirty and you’d always arrive at your destination covered in smuts!"

As a politician, you dressed quite somberly. So what changed? Michael says: "There's been this marvelous psychological flowering, which has occurred since I left my political career. The colorful inner man has burst forth spectacularly! Now my criteria for my outfits is simply to see whether there are any more colours on the spectrum I can get hold of. One of the things I enjoy while filming is watching the crew’s looks of horror at the combinations I put together. We’ve even got to the stage where some of our directors will actually request certain jackets and trousers. They’ll say things like, we’re filming in a brownish landscape, so your green and red outfit would be fantastic!"

Apart from your colorful clothes, do you have any packing must-haves? Michael says: "Yes, a very new and very eccentric packing must-have is that I now take an apron with me. The reason is I found myself taking a break from filming for lunch and then all afternoon I’d have spaghetti over my shirt. I thought, this won’t do. So I now sit down to lunch with an apron on in order to have a pristine shirt for the afternoon!"

Finally, what do fans like to talk to you about when they recognize you? Michael reveals: "Well, in the modern world nothing happens unless it’s recorded on a smartphone, so most people just want a selfie! The other day I was on a train and one of the train crew produced an autograph book, and I was astonished. I hadn't seen one of those for a while! Other than that, some people get very confused and think that I’m a railway expert when, in fact, the train is literally a vehicle to get me from one lovely history story to another!"

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Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo is a speaker who these days is best known for 13 series of Great British Railway Journeys. Also, 7 series of the continental journeys on BBC2.  For many years he appeared weekly on BBC1’s late-night sardonic review of politics, This Week with Andrew Neil .  In addition, he was a regular panellist on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze.  He now presents a programme on GBN called Sunday with Michael Portillo.

Michael Portillo was a Conservative MP for the best part of twenty years. He held three positions in the cabinet, including Secretary of State for Defence .

Early days:

Michael was born in North London in 1953. His father, Luis, had come to Britain as a refugee at the end of the Spanish Civil War. His mother Cora, was brought up in Fife. She met Luis while she was an undergraduate at Oxford. Michael attended grammar school in Harrow County. He then went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he gained a first class degree in History.

Michael returned to politics as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nigel Lawson). In December 1984 he won the by-election in Enfield Southgate. This had been caused by the murder of Sir Anthony Berry MP in the Brighton bombing. Michael represented the seat for thirteen years but was defeated in the 1997 Election. He joined the Government in 1986, and remained a member until 1997. Michael was a whip, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Social Security, Minister of State for Transport, Minister of State for Local Government and Inner Cities and as a Cabinet Minister was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Employment, and Secretary of State for Defence. in 1992 Michael was admitted to the Privy Council .

Television:

Michael was re-elected to Parliament in a by-election in Kensington and Chelsea in November 1999. He was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer February 2000 – September 2001. Following the Conservatives election defeat in 2001, Michael unsuccessfully contested the leadership of the party. In 2005 Michael left the House of Commons.

He has made a number of television programmes for BBC2. These include, Art that shook the world: Richard Wagner’s Ring, Portillo in Euroland and Elizabeth I in the series Great Britons. There was also When Michael Portillo became a single mum. Others were, Portillo Goes Wild in Spain (a natural history programme) and The Science of Killing (for Horizon). There followed documentaries on the unburied bodies from the Spanish Civil War and on Guantanamo Bay. In 2010 BBC Radio 4 carried his 3-part series “Democracy on Trial”.

For BBC4 he has made several series of Dinner with Portillo. This was a discussion programme. In 2008 he made The Lady’s not for Spurning (about Margaret Thatcher’s legacy).

Since 2006 Michael has been on The Moral Maze team on BBC Radio 4. In 2003 he began the weekly political discussion programme This Week on BBC1. Michael’s fellow presenters were Andrew Neil and Diane Abbott MP. He has made countless programmes in the series Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys for BBC2. For six years he was a weekly columnist on The Sunday Times. He was also the theatre critic of The New Statesman between 2004 and 2006.

In 2008 he chaired the judges of the Man Booker prize, in 2011 he chaired the Art Fund Prize and in 2012 he chaired the committee recommending grants for endowment to arts and heritage institutions under the government’s Catalyst programme.

Michael was a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia from 1998 to 2012. He sat on the Board of BAE Systems plc from 2002 to 2006. Also, Kerr McGee Corporation during 2006.  Michael is President of DebRA. This is the national charity working on behalf of people with the genetic skin blistering condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).  He was British chairman of the British-Spanish Tertulias (an annual high level conference) 2004-2008.

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Great British Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo travels along the railway networks of Great Britain and Ireland, referring to a Victorian guidebook written by George Bradshaw as he describes how the destinations have chan... Read all Michael Portillo travels along the railway networks of Great Britain and Ireland, referring to a Victorian guidebook written by George Bradshaw as he describes how the destinations have changed. Michael Portillo travels along the railway networks of Great Britain and Ireland, referring to a Victorian guidebook written by George Bradshaw as he describes how the destinations have changed.

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• 5 User reviews

Episodes 255

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• Trivia For Series 2, each week's five episodes constituted one journey. Episodes Brighton to Crystal Palace (2011) to Dereham to Cromer (2011) formed the first journey, north-eastwards across southern England and East Anglia, from Brighton via London to Cromer. Episodes Ledbury to Shrewsbury (2011) to Llanberis to Holyhead (2011) formed the second journey, westwards across the English Midlands into north Wales, following the route of the historic Irish Mail train, from Ledbury to Holyhead. Episodes Newcastle to Chester-le-Street (2011) to Langley Mill to Melton Mowbray (2011) formed the third journey, southwards across northern England and the Midlands, from Newcastle to Melton Mowbray. Episodes London Bridge to Chatham (2011) to Hythe to Hastings (2011) formed the fourth journey, southwards across southern England to the south coast, from London to Hastings. Episodes Ayr to Paisley (2011) to Lochailort to Skye (2011) formed the fifth journey across Scotland from Ayr to the Isle of Skye.

[introduction to each episode]

Michael Portillo : In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain. His name was George Bradshaw, and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks. Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay. Now, a hundred and seventy years later, I'm making four long journeys across the length and breadth of the country to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.

• Connections Featured in The One Show: Episode #7.9 (2012)

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Great Continental Railway Journeys review: potent stuff – and that's just Portillo's trousers

The latest series of his travelogue sees the politician-turned-presenter delve into his father’s life in Spain. It’s a heady journey, although a tweed jacket wouldn’t go amiss

W ere you still up for Portillo, a hundred years ago in 1997? For the younglings among you, this was the question that burst exuberantly from leftist lips in the days and weeks after Labour’s landslide electoral victory. The point of no return came at 3.10am with a return no one had been expecting. Michael Portillo, the treasury secretary with the curiously collapsed yet labile face and shoo-in for next Tory leader, lost the seat he had held comfortably five years before, to a Labour unknown, Stephen Twigg. I was at university and in bed, but heard the cheers going up from streets around. Without access to a smartphone, though, I had to wait until the morning to find out precisely why. The night soil man told me as I emptied my chamberpot, I seem to recall.

To think that there is now a generation to whom such a question means nothing more than whether you stayed up to watch that television presenter with the terrible wardrobe take another of his train trips across a miscellany of countries is … quite a thing. But that is what Portillo now is (and wears and does). There have been 10 series of Great British Railway Journeys, in which he used George Bradshaw’s 1863 tourist handbook to investigate the sociopolitical impact of the age of steam on Britain, and several spin-offs (including journeys through Asia, Australia and Alaska) since. Now he embarks on the sixth series of Great Continental Railway Journeys (BBC Two), beginning in Spain and this time guided by the 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, which was a big year in that particular pais and for Portillo’s pa, a don and leftwing activist at the University of Salamanca, who was three years away from needing to flee Franco.

This first instalment (of six) took us from Salamanca to Canfranc, via Ávila, Madrid and Zaragoza, and provided its usual mix of travelogue, history and – this time especially – Who Do You Think You Are? as the hour and the miles unfolded.

The scenery was unrelentingly, heart-swellingly beautiful – the golden sandstone of Salamanca; the best of Roman, Christian and Islamic art and architecture poured into Zaragoza; the enclosed medieval citadel of Ávila seemingly glowing with centuries of stored sunlight. They just have to make sure Portillo and the sartorial choices I suspect someone must once have assured him add a cheery charm to his overwhelming urbanity stand well enough to the side. Honestly – yellow jacket, purple shirt and tomato trousers comprised his opening outfit. That gave way to a red jacket, orange shirt and yellow trousers. Michael, mate – you’re a Tory on a jolly. We get it. Relax. Put some tweed and some Church’s brogues on and relax. Unless Big Primary Colour has got something on you?

At least they don’t make him do too much in the way of Activities. He had a go at slicing an ibérico ham, while the seller hovered anxiously in the background watching his livelihood literally being shredded. And there was a mercifully brief attempt at learning a few steps from the Aragonese folk dance la jota , but, for the most part, he stuck to limning Spain’s history and detailing the horrors of the civil war. He is at his best and most comfortable with the ex cathedra element of presenting. (“The smartest thing Spain ever did was stay out of the first world war.”) There is always the slight impression that the involvement of other people – even though they are usually archivists and experts there to unpack a historical moment or explain the significance of an artefact – feels like an intrusion on his time.

In Salamanca, the millions of records kept by Franco on his potential enemies – a potent symbol of the scale of the nationalist movement and atrocities committed, and potentially a window into our own increasingly surveilled and right-moving state – were paid lip service before Portillo homed in on that of his father. Similarly, his main comment when standing before Picasso’s Guernica in Madrid was that without that event – the bombing of civilians by Nazi and fascist troops that drew worldwide outrage – Michael would never have existed. His father fled to Oxford and got to know his future wife, who was looking after refugee children. “Without Guernica,” said Portillo to the art historian who had talked him through what could legitimately be considered to be the greatest, most harrowing painting of the 20th century, “they would never have met.” There was a pause. “That’s … very nice,” she replied. “And I like your trousers.” No, she didn’t say the last bit. No one would.

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Great British Railway Journeys

Presenter Michael Portillo, a British journalist, travels the railways throughout England using George Bradshaw's maps to compare 1840s-era Britain to modern-day Britain.

Great British Railway Journeys - Season 13

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15 Episodes

S13 e1 - biggin hill to ashdown forest, s13 e2 - hassocks to benenden, s13 e3 - rye to dungeness, s13 e4 - deal to margate, s13 e5 - herne bay to leeds castle, kent, s13 e6 - chislehurst to kennington, s13 e7 - hackney wick to oxford circus, s13 e8 - hampstead to islington, s13 e9 - dagenham to battersea, s13 e10 - park royal to westminster, s13 e11 - newcastle to co durham, s13 e12 - kielder forest to edinburgh, s13 e13 - falkirk to dundee, s13 e14 - dundee to aberdeen, s13 e15 - elgin to loch ness.

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