Thom,
Papa used to say not to be blinded
by your own brilliance,,,
because you are,,,
more brilliant than even you know,
and also more dangerous,
I want to show you how history can be made and unmade,
How you created something miraculous,
So, I've gathered together our story
from whatever scraps of footage I could find,
in the hope that somehow,
some time, this film will find you,,,
and stop you,
I'm going to show you how to see your future,
Radio waves never die,
If we can receive broadcasts from the past,
surely we can receive them from the future?
I'll never forget that day
we switched her on for the first time,
1st October, 1938,
We named her in honour of Mama,
LOLA,
Ground control to Major Tom
It works,
Ground control to Major Tom
We've seen the future,
Take your protein pills
And put your helmet on
This is Ground Control To Major Tom
LOLA opened a magical new world,
1938 went into 1939,
but those dates meant nothing to us,
We were living in another time,
And we finally had a reliable source of income,
Remember that car I bought you?
Way too small for those legs,
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead There's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear,,,
But LOLA didn't just show us the world's wonders,
she also showed us its horrors,
The Nazis had torn through Europe,
Paris had fallen, Dunkirk had been evacuated,
and now Hitler had set his sights on Britain,
The Blitz would claim thousands of lives
over the coming months,
LOLA could no longer be just ours,
The world needed her,
They burst out of the clouds
at less than 2,000 feet
and dropped their deadly cargo on the Isle of Dogs before,,,
This is an urgent warning,
1:35 a,m, Hackney and 1:45 Islington,
Due to thick cloud, there will be no warning
from the authorities for any of these attacks,
Please make yourselves safe,
3rd May, 1941,
21st furrow for the Angel of Portobello,
It has become a nightly occurrence,
After sundown, German bombers cross the Channel
with their deadly cargo,
No one knows where they will target or when,
No one, that is, but their German commanders
and one mystery woman in England,
nicknamed the Angel of Portobello
by those residents of West London
whose lives have been among the first saved
by her warnings,
Warning, 1:35 a,m, Hackney
and 1:45 Islington, repeat,
1:35 a,m, Hackney and 1:45 Islington,
Due to thick cloud, there will be no warning
from the authorities for any of these attacks,
Please make yourselves safe,
While the warnings didn't stop the bombings,
they did once again save dozens of lives,
Last night, at about half past 12,
we heard the Angel of Portobello,
We were in a dugout and, er, thanks to the,,,
thanks to the Angel of Portobello,
we are quite safe,
Thanks to the Angel of Portobello,
my family is all right, but our house got clobbered,
Oh, God, No, Thom, not this one,
She has nothing to say about life or freedom,
Well, we can't get it anyway,
But you are wrong, Mars,
the sentiment is tediously accurate,
People would rather buy into fatalism
- than own their own destiny, - Hmm,
Don't people just want to know
that everything is going to be all right?
Come dance with me, Mars,
I'm not dancing to this,
I really miss you, honey
When, when,,,
Here,
Preparation of food supplements,
Perplexed officials say
that the source of the Angel's signal remains a mystery,
and the army has been unable to identify
the mysterious lady broadcaster,
- Normally, we locate,,, - Oh!
A pirate radio within 15 minutes of broadcasting,
You get a signal search
when pointing in the direction of the source,
Whereas here, the signal is coming from all around us,
It's like we're sitting on top of the antenna,
It's extraordinary,
We'd like the people behind this
to stop their game now and come forward,
We are at war,
Our intrepid officers continue their search
for the Angel of Portobello, documenting as they go,
Well, they're never gonna catch us, anyway,
No, of course not, You're much too clever,
Log of Lieutenant Sebastian Holloway,
1st June, '41,
I finally traced the signal source to Shoreham Gasworks,
The Angel of Portobello is using the gasometer
as a natural transmitter,
The metal superstructure magnifies
her weak radio signal and sends it through the mains
into London's pipe networks
which acts as her very own personal antenna,
It explains why her broadcasts are omnidirectional in London,
They were coming from the entire gas grid,
very clever,
2:15, spot what I assume to be the Angel of Portobello,
Young woman, curly blonde hair, on bicycle,
2:25, she climbs the main gasometer,
She spends about 15 minutes making adjustments
to what turns out to be a battery-operated transmitter
and the signal source,
2:45, she spots me
and Lance Corporal Clark, who's filming, She flees,
Cycles west toward the coast,
Very few houses on this stretch of land,
Terrible roads,
She nearly escapes,
but even she finds the conditions difficult,
and we manage to cut her off,
She denies everything, of course,
Says she uses the gasometer for bird watching,
Is extremely rude,
Has no papers,
But does possess radio transmitting equipment,
plus a map of all the gasometers in England,
When I ask her to identify herself,
she makes up some obviously bogus names,
Eartha Kitt, Maria von Trapp, Lady Stardust,
Actual name, Martha Hanbury,
After some gentle persuasion, she finally acquiesces
and agrees to escort us to her house,
Strange old place, quite run-down,
Her sister, Thomasina Hanbury, emerges and is even ruder,
Threatens to do damage to my privates,
but relents when I suggest
returning with a search warrant,
3:15 p,m,, I get my first look at their machine
which they call LOLA,
It's going to change history,
Come on, then, You've got 10 minutes,
in and out,
This is,,, magnificent, It's beautiful,
How do you,,, How does it work?
Why aren't you doing more to stop people from dying?
Better you tell us how you predict the future,
We know you do,
Mars, what in God's earth did you say to him?
That you can catch radio and television broadcasts
from the future,
I had to tell him, He said we could be hanged as spies,,,
Don't touch it!
How did you find us?
I was just lucky,
I couldn't understand how the signal was so dispersed,
But I noticed it was stronger in houses with piped gas,
Using the copper piped gas network
as an antenna, that's genius,
I want to help,
You weren't so easily convinced,
All right, darling?
Do you have to film us in the bath?
Wash your face,
You look a mess,
I hate anyone coming here,
He's pushy and cocky
and there are negative consequences to those defects,
Well, he could have had us arrested,
I don't think he wants to lord it over us,
- Give me the camera, - Mm,
Give me the camera,
Here's my prognosis,
You, in all probability, are going to make him
fall in love with you
and then you'll leave with him
and create jolly offspring,
But who's to say I would love him back?
No, if he falls under my spell,
then we can make him do exactly what we want,
We can make him muck out Scarborough,
True, Don't be too charming,
I don't think you know when to stop,
He might like you more,
Oh, my clitoris and I do not
need extra company,
Well, good morning, This is Major Cobcroft,
He has authorised my presence here,
Where do you want us?
I have realised you were at Cheltenham last year,
Twenty-three wins in a row,
Hello,
Is someone gonna say hello?
Hello,
Holloway, is this a joke?
Er, Major Cobcroft has kindly provided you
with some special provisions,
There's tea and coffee, ham and cheese,
fancy canned content,
Friends in high places,
You are most kind,
But my sister will tell you, for me eating is merely
a distraction, and if you imagine we would cook for you,
we are not your women,
I think we need to re-establish
who's in charge here,
As the troops went into Smithfield,
- the porter,,, - They've just been
working off material like this,
Future news bulletins,
Can you imagine what they could achieve
using intel from military radio?
And if they coordinated the information with us,
No,
What happens when the human body
is rocketed into space?
A foretaste of the fantastic ordeal which awaits
the first man to the Moon,
It reminds me of going home on a bus,
Christ,
Who on earth are those diabolical creatures?
Show's over,
They're con artists,
They're projecting B movies onto that screen,
How do you explain their predictions?
They got lucky,
Just give me one go, sir,
Let them tune into military radio under my supervision,
This is highly irregular,
I bet a magnum of champagne
we can make a correct prediction with that machine,
All right,
But we keep this between us,
It backfires, I know nothing, you understand?
Yes, of course,
Why are you filming me?
You, I'm keeping an eye on,
God, you don't miss anything, do you?
Is that thing recording sound too?
How does it do that? It's titchy,
Everything goes onto the same piece of film,
I use the space between the sprocket holes
for the soundwave,
You invented this,
Thom made it for me,
She should patent it,
Oh, no, no, no, no!
No, that's my dark room, Out, Shut the door,
- Shut the door, - Where's your refrigerator?
We have a pantry,
Erm,,, It's pretty draughty, so it's chilly in there,
Well, that's good,
And very in keeping with the war effort,
So, Sebastian, are you handy in the kitchen?
Here are the rules of the game,
Each morning, I use LOLA to tune into tomorrow's report
from the Royal Signaller's Station,
That way, we will have advanced knowledge
of all enemy attacks,
Sebastian's job is to cross-check
the sign-off codes, so we know the radio report is authentic,
He sends the intelligence to Cobcroft,
who puts the information into action,
Mars continues to document this for prosperity,
And Sebastian needs to stock us up with better food,
more wine and a pile more cigarettes,
Operation Chrono, 11th August, 1941,
8:00 a,m, at 323 Hertz,
It was vital that we find
the right piece of intel,
Anything too big would risk
giving the game away,
But something too small
might not be enough to impress Cobcroft,
We listened to dozens of reports,
Problems impossible to fix,
We weren't finding what we needed,
And let's not forget
that you hated working in a team,
It looked as though our trial was a failure,
And then,,,
Morning report, August 12th,
Richmond RAF base destroyed,
Enemy attacked from south-easterly bearing,
Cairo, Alpha, Foxtrot, 9, Bravo, Over,
Okay, that's the one,
Sebastian, check the code,
That's the correct sign-off code, sir,
Very well,
I'll warn Richmond anti-air defence,
We could end the war with this machine,
Ever thought of that?
You are a prick, Of course I have,
See how you get on with that intel,
Sorry,
The enemy can't think we know everything it's doing,
Papa said to never underestimate
the cunning of the desperate,
He actually said to never underestimate
the violence of the power hungry,
And also, actually, we didn't have military intelligence,
Well, also, actually Papa was anti-war
and not only against taking lives but,,,
So am I,
For all I know, you could be a spy
with access to British military secrets,
Now, Mars says I should trust you,
so don't fuck it up by acting cocky,
I'm hungry,
He's invading my creative space,
I wish he'd invade mine,
You are such a tarting flirt,
A flirting tart, don't you mean?
Er,,, Oh,
Oh,
Well, I think he's the best thing
that's happened to us since we won enough money
to feed ourselves,
Well, I will make it happen
and he will sit there and watch,
and if he gloats, I will punch him,
All that was left for us to do was wait
until the morning to see if our plan had worked,
That night, we waited,,,
and waited,,,
and waited,
Until,,,
Last night, the military scored
a major victory against the Luftwaffe by shooting down
an entire German bomber squadron
over a Richmond RAF base,
This is a great victory for,,,
Oh, God, God, I'm good,
Success,
Our intel had painted a bull's-eye
over every German bomber that night,
The anti-aircraft gunners took care of the rest,
Our plan had worked,
Wait, wait, wait, Wait, hold them up,
Hold them up, let me see them,
Oh, you bake, How cool,
Yeah, I'm afraid the oven wasn't very hot,
No, I mean cool as in groovy,
Groovy? Is that an adjective?
Major,
Bloody hell, Holloway, Outstanding,
We should make Miss Hanbury an Honorary Major,
Open your dispatch bag, the ladies earned it, not you,
Thank you, sir,
- Major Thom, - Very funny,
Oh, very nice,
Oh! Thank you, I think he said for the ladies,
Unless you'd like to join us for a drink,
You were brilliant,
You changed the course of the war,
Cities that would have been bombed were saved,
People who wouldn't have been alive
were walking the streets,
We may allow ourselves
a brief period of rejoicing,
Advance, Britannia,
Long live the cause of freedom,
Sebastian was in awe of LOLA
and, it seemed, a little in love with me,
Stop filming me, I'm peeing!
Girls don't pee standing up,
No, Mama always peed like this,
She said it's much healthier to get the urine
as far away from one's vagina as possible,
- How interesting, - Hmm,
My mother made me pee sitting down
to avoid the seat up/down conundrum,
I think it's really because she wanted another girl,
Well,
gender divide is an artificial construct,
You know, that was a Papa saying,
I said, stop filming!
Why do you film everything?
Well, because we're alone,
And why are you alone?
Mm,,,
Oh, Papa was conscripted,
He lasted two weeks,
He lasted two weeks at the front and,,,
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity,"
Or that's what he would have said if he had lived longer,
Gosh, Right,
- So who did,,, - Hmm?
Oh, I can't remember,
Some dude from the 1960s,
Oh, it's quite disconcerting
that for you two, history goes forwards as well as backwards,
Mm,
Now, Mama said Papa was killed at the altar of war worship,
She fired all the help,
she stopped sending us to school
and she,,,
went to her room and listened to records,
And then she started going for very long walks,
And then one day, they found her
stuck between two rocks, halfway down a crag
that plummets into the nearby cove,
Saving people for the ones we lost,
I was enjoying my new-found company
while you were busy defending the country,
Not that you were getting the credit, of course,
It's an honour to have been made a Knight Commander
of the Order of the Bath,
I am proud of the work I've done
in turning the tide of war against Adolf Hitler,
But this evening isn't all about my achievements,
it's about you,
my fellow officers of the Intelligence Corps,
who've helped me to put an end to the Blitz,
This is only just the beginning,
By God, we are good,
This is one of our favourites,
you won't be hearing it again for some time,
Thom, that's, erm,,,
Girl You really got me goin'
You got me now I don't know What I'm doin' now
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me So I can't sleep at night
Yeah, you really got me now
You got me so I don't know What I'm doin' now
Oh, yeah You really got me now
You got me So I can't sleep at night
You really got me You really got me
See, don't ever set me free
I always wanna be by your side
Girl, you really got me now
You've got me So I can't sleep at night
Yeah, you really got me now
You've got me so I don't know What I'm doin' now
Oh, yeah You really got me now
You got me So I can't sleep at night
You really got me You really got me
Yeah! Whoo! Yeah!
No!
My camera,
So, LOLA is so much more than a war fighter,
This is the true magic,
Erm,,,
Movies, documentaries,
Newsreels, Play-outs from LOLA,
Oh, my God,
Is this our future?
Well, this is the future I'm interested in,
Mama always said that art was the weathervane of the soul,
Now, see that wall over here?
There, or over there,
That wall is our past,
She captured every waking moment
with such attention to detail,
Oh, is that you?
Maybe, yeah,
No, I want to look,
No, our children are going to love this,
At last, a musical rebellion
against the stuffed shirts that run the world,
Our children?
And who is this chap?
Bob Dylan,
He's one of my all-time favourites,
He speaks of freedom and heartbreak,
of a nation lost,
and of the joy and pain of the authentic soul,
Like you,
Come here,
- Come on, - What?
Not a word to Thom,
- Promise? - Promise,
Right, go over there to that panel back there,
over there to the left,
See the switches in the middle row?
- Yeah, - Third one in, Flick it,
Yes!
Now over to the other side,
Other side, quickly,
And the three silver ones,
- Flick them up, - Yeah,
One, two, three, Yes,
We're going to need a power surge
where we're going,
Oh, that's far out,
Far out of where?
Now, tune it to 133 kilohertz,
9:03 p,m,,
8th March,
1973,
Christ, this thing can see 30 years into the future,
Not just major broadcasts, royal weddings,
signals beamed around the world,
The diamonds, though, are the hit songs,
The sound of marching feet
In the street below
No, you've the wrong time,
You,,, You said 9:03, 8th March,,,
1973,
Let me see,
Polish up your jackboots
Learn to march in time
And fall into line
The sound of marching feet
And cracking the chart barrier
at number one for the 10th week running,
Reginald Watson's The Sound of Marching Feet,
It looks like Watson will be making musical history
as his new hit, Meet Me at the Gallows,
has just crashed number two,
I don't understand,
Thom! Thom!
What are you doing?
He's not there,
Who?
David Bowie,
Who's David Bowie?
He's gone, Bowie's gone,
Thirty years is a long time away,
the adjustment of variables
could lead to a new set of consequences,
But we've tuned into him hundreds of times,
why is it suddenly changed?
Mars,
thanks to us, a lot of people are alive who would be dead,
It also means we might have erased him,
No, you can't kill David Bowie,
Maybe he lives but will have a different childhood
and become a dentist,
That is a very severe negative consequence,
Mars, negativity is not emotionally quantifiable,
There will be someone else as extraordinary as Bowie,
No, there's Reginald fucking Watson!
We are trying to end the war,
You knew this could happen?
I'm not sure it's moral to erase lives,
What happens to people whose worlds we erased?
Or is it moral to save lives?
I mean, hypothetically you can make love with someone
and create life, by choosing not to do that,
are you erasing potential life?
Fix this Watson car crash and get Bowie back!
Sometimes you have to make sacrifices
for the greater good,
We'd erased all my heroes,
Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Stanley Kubrick,
Now, they were but memories on my Moviola,
LOLA was profoundly changing the course of the war,
But we had no way of predicting
how we were meddling with the future,
What else had we sacrificed?
Morning, Miss Hanbury,
We've updated the signature codes,
They'll be in Holloway's dispatch bag,
Why haven't you managed to hit
any of the U-boat fleet?
I've given you first-class intel,
They're bloody elusive,
Even when we know which ship they're going to sink,
locating the U-boat's attack point is impossible,
Trying to spot a sub 50 feet below the Atlantic
is like trying to find a hymen in a whorehouse,
So, you need to wait for them to rise to the surface,
By which stage, the subs are in attack mode,
Do that and you risk our ships,
Do nothing and the sub will live
to attack another day, We have to lull them in,
Let them surface and fire,
that way your fighter planes are sure to spot them,
Christ,
You're suggesting we sacrifice a civilian ship,
A pawn for a queen,
We should go back,
Mm,,, No, She can do the next broadcast alone,
You and I are otherwise engaged,
The war office has just announced
that the RAF has destroyed the entire
- German U-boat fleet,,, - Oh, my God,
- In the Atlantic Ocean, - Sebastian!
This marks a huge,,,
turning point in the war against Nazi Germany,
Mr Churchill will address the nation
on this major development,
This is the moment when the RAF achieved
what many said was impossible,
The annihilation of the Nazi U-boat fleet,
But this stunning victory wasn't without cost,
Tragically, our forces were unable
to save the American civilian liner, SS Abraham Lincoln,
Two thousand souls lost their lives,
Thom! Thom!
Thom, you're incredible,
Champagne for Boudicca!
Darling, are you okay?
Did you enact the battle right here?
What happened?
We received a report of the Abraham Lincoln
being attacked by a flotilla of U-boats
and once the attack started,
Cobcroft had the subs bombed from the air,
Hang on,
You allowed the attack to start?
Thom, they sunk the Abraham Lincoln,
We needed bait to get the U-boats to rise,
How many people were on that liner?
Well, army man, it's the semiotics of combat,
Those U-boats wiped out 40 liners last month,
Now, we're going to destroy the Kriegsmarine
and then we'll go after their air force,
Let's get the shutters,
Over 2,000 people died,,,
- How did you do that? - On the American liner,
President Roosevelt is demanding to know
why Britain didn't deploy
its celebrated early warning system
- to protect the vessel, - Mars,
Did you show him how to work LOLA?
Churchill's hopes of persuading
the United States of America to abandon its neutrality
have been dashed,
Preliminary investigations have found that the British
deliberately allowed the Abraham Lincoln to be sunk
as a means to entice the German U-boat fleet
to the surface,
What have you done?
What have you been doing?
You are a child,
A lustful, suggestible child,
The pair of you,
- Thom, I,,, - Get out,
I shouldn't have,,,
- Thom, I'm,,, - Get out!
Anger spilled onto the streets today
when State Department investigators made
the sensational discovery
that Britain had prior knowledge
of the attack on the Abraham Lincoln,
According to the investigators,
British fighter pilots circled overhead and looked on
as dozens of Nazi subs
attacked the defenceless liner,
Within minutes, the doomed vessel
lay at the bottom of the Atlantic
along with 2,000 men, women and children,
President Roosevelt said it was clear
that the British had sacrificed the liner
to draw the U-boats to the surface,
He immediately recalled
Ambassador Joseph Kennedy from London,
I leave England at this time with real regret,
But England remains defiant,
Churchill strenuously rejected the allegations
and proclaimed that Britain shall prevail without the aid
of the United States of America,
Thom, come on, open up,
She's mad,
Fucking mad,
LOLA had just received the perfect piece of intel,
It was irresistible,
This is Southampton,
We are under sustained attack, six German destroyers,,,
You had Cobcroft deploy the entire navy to intercept
an all-out German attack on Southampton,
This intel could wipe out the German navy,
This is fucking pathetic,
It's petty, Come on, open up,
But it was too good to be true,
I need your help,
What the hell have you done?
The Kriegsmarine is three miles off the coast of Dover,
our entire fleet is 100 miles away in Southampton,
The Kriegsmarine should have arrived
at Southampton one minute ago,
Did you check the signature code?
Can you replay it?
This is Southampton,
We are under sustained attack, six German destroyers
supported by a heavy air bombardment, Over,
There's no signature code,
It was a bogus signal,
there was never an attack on Southampton,
The Germans know we've got something,
They must have sent that signal,
Oldest trick in the book,
You've left us completely exposed,
You fucking bitch, You've fucked me,
Authorities are not revealing
the extent of the attack,
except to say that the coast around Dover
is now under German occupation,
No, no, no, no, no,
Hello?
There is going to be an attack at Hastings,
- Who is this? - Cobcroft?
Major Henry Cobcroft is unavailable,
No, I need to speak to him now, Where the fuck is he?
This is Lieutenant Holloway,
I report directly to Major Cobcroft,
I need him on the line immediately,
Major Cobcroft is not available,
Then you,,, Go get him, we're being invaded!
- Where are you going? - To,,,
warn the army,
- Hold on, - Look, I'll be right back,
And,,, try and connect to someone on intel,
To move defences away from,,,
Can we undo this?
Can I unbreak that telephone?
What the hell had we done?
Early this morning,
catastrophe struck Britain,
German forces breached coastal defences
following a major intelligence blunder,
Commanding officers had diverted the RAF
and the Royal Navy to Southampton, leaving Dover
and the Southeast of England gravely exposed,
The enemy launched a full-scale invasion,
landing effectively unopposed,
Town after town fell to the merciless attackers,
Christening the invasion Black Sunday,
the Prime Minister issued a full call to arms,
The Battle of Britain is about to begin,
On this battle depends
the survival of Christian civilisation,
If we fail,
then the whole world will sink
into the abyss of a new Dark Age,
With the Nazis advancing inland,
Head of Army Intelligence, Major Sir Henry Cobcroft,
was summoned to explain the disastrous breach
in Britain's defences,
Major Cobcroft said that after an investigation,
he had discovered that two Nazi double agents
had infiltrated his department,
Lieutenant Holloway and I
were receiving intelligence from two agents,
Thomasina and Martha Hanbury,
They were double-crossing us,
Taking orders from Berlin,
Their maliciously false intel
resulted in this country being invaded,
These loathsome creatures will be found
and hanged for treason,
What do we do?
On bidding farewell
to the King, who was evacuated to Canada,
Mr Churchill addressed the nation,
Despite the traitresses in our midst,,,
Shit!
The Nazi forces shall not prevail
in their attempts to break the spirit of,,,
Thom, we have to leave now,
- I'm not leaving LOLA, - For God's sake, Thom,
what are you going to do, put it in a suitcase?
I'm staying, I can still fight this,
tell the army what the Germans are going to do next,
Never mind the Germans,
it's Cobcroft that's going to hang us,
Then get your boyfriend to tell them the truth,
What?
He's left you, Mars, He's saving his own skin,
Horseshit,
He would have saved you from yourself
if you'd let him check the codes,
He was too busy bonking you in the woods,
You locked us out,
You were compromising my work
with your sentimentality,
I'd rather be sentimental than psychotic,
You are mawkish and weak, just like Mama,
And you're every bit
as selfish as she was,
Shit,
Mars, let's just go,
For fuck's sake,
Pigs,
Stop, Put the camera down,
Mars, put it down,
If they ask us, we're farmers,
Where are you going?
Home, We live just down the coast,
Papers,
They're at home,
If you allow us through, I can get them for you,
You will have to turn back,
Please, we're looking for my sister,
Excuse me?
You can't proceed,
I said, turn back,
For fuck's sake, Pigs,
British Fascist leader,
Sir Oswald Mosley, said it was folly
to have gone to war with Germany,
Dissidents of the new regime
had set up a refuge in an old warehouse,
We were happy just to be safe,
Oh, this is the tip of the iceberg,
The unseen face of Fascism,
If you can get these pictures out to America,
it might help counter all the propaganda,
Hey! Stop that!
What's wrong?
You know, like the colour of the sky
- before it goes to night time, - Nice,
- It's that kind of thing, - Nice,
- Indigo, - Yeah,
Oy!
You need something to do,
Little rascal,
So, Leo, here is how we put the bits of film together
to make the images become a story,
So, erm, hold it still,
Still,
And allow the camera to become your eye,
Try to figure out where you should be looking next,
Yeah, so maybe down to my hands
if I'm playing with these things,
Onto my hands, like this,
Or maybe over to there
where I'm talking to you
and then back to my face again,
That's it,
And a bit more upright,
I think you're a natural,
Mosley to lead Britain
to a new prosperity and friendship with Germany,
I claim that in the ranks
of our Blackshirt legions,
march the mighty ghosts of England's past,
Today, our new German liberators
freed more political prisoners detained under the old regime,
- There's Leo, - Amongst those released
were scientist Thomasina Hanbury, falsely accused,,,
by the previous government, Miss Hanbury's research
is of great interest to the Third Reich,
Try to keep the camera still,
This evening, we are joined by a very special guest,
Miss Thomasina Hanbury,
a self-educated orphan who was condemned to death
by the old regime three months ago,
only to be dramatically rescued
by our liberators mere hours before her execution,
Since then, she has transformed
the nation's fortunes
in the field of strategic forecasting,
Of particular note is her mysterious invention, LOLA,
Miss Hanbury, may I ask, how does your machine work?
It consists of a system of electrical processors
which filter and amplify
even the faintest electromagnetic wave
into a coherent signal,
And when combined with an understanding
of quantum mechanics, LOLA allows us
to observe broadcasts from the future,
How impressive,
I hear the machine has baffled
the greatest engineering minds of both Britain and Germany,
The men they sent to examine LOLA
were limited by their lack of imagination
as much as their formal scientific training,
Thankfully, I prefer to work alone,
My home laboratory is everything I need,
What inspired you to build this machine?
My father was an inventor, an idealist,
And he believed
humankind was being transformed for the better
by technological advances,
The work I do today strives to this ideal,
To what end?
To create the perfect society,
A society in which we all prosper,
No government blunders that send people into poverty,
No more murders on the streets,
No conflicts and no war,
You've personally experienced your fair share of adversity,
After the tragic death of your parents,
you were left alone to raise your sister, Martha,
while still very much a child yourself,
That must have been difficult,
We managed,
Your current standing must be all the more gratifying
considering the disgraceful way
Churchill's government treated you and your sister,
who was sadly executed
before the liberators could reach her,
There was nothing gratifying about my sister's death,
When I received the news, it was,,,
a horrible blow,
She deserved better,
It is a shame that LOLA can't fix the past,
If Martha were alive today, what would you say to her?
I would tell her to live her life,,,
and to leave me behind,
We need to get her out of there,
It's too dangerous, She'll get killed,
Well, she never goes a day without swimming,
- so we can go and get her, - Martha,
Look at me, We're safe here,
Let go of me,
I'm going to get her, I'm going to find her now,
How are you gonna get there?
Are you gonna come with me or not?
Fine, just let me go,,,
They're looking for you,,,
Just let me go on my own, I'm fine,
- You're not safe, - I don't need you,
Mars, get out of here,
Wait,
- Look, - What are you doing here?
- Get out of there, - Intruder!
Mars! Go on, go!
Sebastian!
I drew a line In the sands of time
Dared you to step over it
And you did
Saw your visage In the looking glass
Such a pretty face
But such a bitter taste
Do you remember tomorrow?
The roads that we followed
To a life that might Never come to be
The future is a distant memory
To me now
Let me guess,
Bob Dylan?
No, That was me,
My world became empty and cold,
You, on the other hand, were soaring to new heights,
The sound of marching feet
Can you hear it?
The sound of marching feet
In the street below
Together we are strong
Crush the weaklings
So sing our fascist song
In the street below
Send to all the world a message,
England lives and marches on!
Learn to march in time
And fall into line
The sound of marching feet
Can you feel it?
The sound of marching feet
See the torches glow
Put this record on
Learn all of the lyrics
If your friends Don't sing along
Call the police
The sound of marching feet
Left, right, left, left, left Left, right, left
Left, left, left, right, left
Left, left
The sound of marching feet
Left, left, left, right, left
-The sound of marching feet -The sound of marching feet
Do not fraternise
With radicals and perverts
Learn to march in time
And fall into line
There was only one thing left for me to do,
Today, the Prime Minister announced that Adolf Hitler
will be making his first state visit to England,
The Führer will be dropping in on a very special house
on the Sussex Coast, where government scientist
Thomasina Hanbury has been conducting pioneering work,
Because of this remarkable woman,
rescued and championed by the Führer,
we say to our enemies,
"Watch out, we know what you're going to do
"before you even think of it,"
And now, it is my pleasure to introduce you
to Master Reginald Watson, the voice of the future,
Land of Hope Thy hope is crowned
God make thee mightier yet
On sovereign brows
Beloved
Once more thy crown is set
Leo, stop filming,
God, who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet
God, who made thee mighty
Make thee mightier yet
At the rally,
President Lindbergh celebrated how National Socialism
had brought the American people together and,,,
developed by British
and German scientists, this is the ultimate weapon
against the Bolshevik,
Martha Hanbury had entered the house
with the intention of assassinating the Führer
but, fortuitously, her bomb went off prematurely
in an adjoining room,
and the deranged woman was captured,
The shocked Führer
- escaped unscathed,,, - Mars,
And issued an order for the female terrorist
to be put to death immediately,
There is Nothing so gladdens the heart
Than to watch a traitor march
To the gallows
Hold!
Like a gardener pulling weeds
The path of treason only leads
To the gallows
I'm so glad I bought you that car,
To the gallows
I hid for days,
When the Nazis left, I returned,,,
and found this,
April 12th, '42,
Preparations for LOLA's demonstration are complete,
It's hard to believe I am saying these words,
Adolf Hitler will be here tomorrow,
How's it come to this?
Fascism has truly won,
I was a fool to believe
I could work with these people,
What would Papa think? Or Mars?
I'm almost glad they're not alive
to witness this spectacle,
I don't know when it started to go wrong,
but I fear it was long ago,
LOLA was never meant to be an instrument of violence,
Mars was right,
The magic of LOLA was the beauty
of the world she opened for us,
those sounds and images from another time,
Her power lay in what we could learn from her,
Mars understood that,
But perhaps because she was a dreamer,
she was the one with the real imagination,
I can see that now,
Maybe if she were here,
we could find a way to undo all of this together,
I miss her,
I miss you too, Thom,
But maybe there is a way we can undo this together,
I've made this film for you,
It's the last broadcast of the Angel of Portobello,
It's a shot in the dark,
And I'm sorry, Thom,
because if this film doesn't find its way to you,
then you will have died pointlessly and stupidly,
and I will truly have lost everything,
We will all have lost more than is bearable,
This film is for us, Thom,
And if we're lucky,
you'll be watching it long before this horror unfolds,
Then perhaps you can turn these words and images
into shadows of something that could have happened,
Even though I'll have to say goodbye
to the man I'll never meet,
Darling Thom,,,
can you save us after all?
When, when, when
Will we be together again?
I want to spend
My life with you
I really miss you, honey
When, when, when
Will your arms enfold me?
And hold me like Your life on it depends
When, when
Will I see you again?
I really miss you