Local Heroes (British TV series)

Local Heroes is a science and history television programme in the United Kingdom, presented by Adam Hart-Davis.

Made by Screenhouse Productions and directed by Paul Bader, it was first aired on the ITV regional network Yorkshire Television in 1992. In the show, Adam Hart-Davis, dressed in the pink and yellow cycling clothes that would become the show's trademark, rode around the YTV region (including Yorkshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire) on a matching pink and yellow bicycle, stopping in a particular area to tell the stories of scientists that lived or were born there. These stories were embellished by experiments, performed on the street by Hart-Davis, generally using bits of wood and junk from a trailer on his bike.

This hobo-meets-Johnny Ball style approach to science-education proved appealing, and after two series, the show was sold to the national BBC2 network in 1994. The move saw two changes: the scope of the show was expanded nationwide, with a different region visited each episode; and the theme tune was changed from No More Heroes by The Stranglers to a twee and plinky number, more in keeping with the programme genre. Eventually this was replaced by a more upbeat theme, by Wallace and Gromit composer Julian Nott, played by a Czech orchestra.

Since then, the series has covered over 200 'heroes', and has seen several special episodes. The first special saw Hart-Davis visit Egypt to investigate ancient heroes, while another took him to Italy for a Renaissance special. Another notable show was the finale of the last series (to date), which was performed in front of a live audience at the Royal Institution, much in the style of the Institution's Christmas Lectures.

The show continued until 2000. Since then, Hart-Davis has moved on to other shows, and the bbc.co.uk Local Heroes pages have now been deleted, suggesting that no further series are planned.

Series 1

 * 1) 	South West:
 * 2) *		Sarah Guppy: patented the exercise bed, the breakfast urn and the suspension bridge
 * 3) *		William Watts: invented lead shot
 * 4) *		Humphry Davy: discovered laughing gas, started electrochemistry and made patients breathe gases from cows
 * 5) *		Edward Jenner: introduced vaccination against smallpox
 * 6) *		Mikael Pedersen: designed a beautiful and curious bicycle
 * 7) *		George Pocock (inventor): inventor of spanking machine and pioneer of kite locomotion
 * 8) 	South:
 * 9) * John Milne: founder of modern seismology
 * 10) *		Edward Lyon Berthon, who invented the folding lifeboat
 * 11) *		Florence Nightingale
 * 12) *		Colin Pullinger
 * 13) *		John Stringfellow:
 * 14) 	Scotland:
 * 15) *		Charles Piazzi Smyth
 * 16) *		Joseph Black
 * 17) *		John Napier
 * 18) *		David Brewster
 * 19) *		David Douglas
 * 20) *		Gilbert D. Malloch (1881–1955)
 * 21) *		Nevil Maskelyne
 * 22) *		Charles Hutton
 * 23) 	Midlands:
 * 24) *		John Barber (engineer): patented the gas turbine
 * 25) *		Matthew Boulton: host of the Lunar Society, a gathering of scientists
 * 26) *		William Withering: made heart cure from foxgloves (digitalis)
 * 27) *		William Murdoch: invented gas lighting
 * 28) *		James Watt: invented the copying machine and greatly improved steam engines
 * 29) *		Dennis Gabor: invented the hologram on a tennis court – before it was possible to make one
 * 30) *		Alexander Parkes: produced plastics, two generations ahead of their time
 * 31) *		Frederick W. Lanchester: built the first all-British four-wheel petrol-driven car
 * 32) 	Northern Ireland:
 * 33) *John Boyd Dunlop: invented the pneumatic tyre
 * 34) *William Coppin: invented the diving suit and pioneered salvage operations
 * 35) *		George Garrett (inventor): invented a submarine, powered by steam and called Resurgam
 * 36) *		John Getty McGee: invented the Ulster overcoat (as worn by Sherlock Holmes)
 * 37) *		John Thomas Romney Robinson: invented the cup anemometer and measured the position of Armagh with rockets
 * 38) *		Harry Ferguson: pioneered the modern tractor system
 * 39) 	North West:
 * 40) *              John Mackereth: invented the pneumatic mud corer (Mackereth corer) for taking samples from lake beds
 * 41) *		John Gough (natural philosopher): blind naturalist who could identify any plant by taste and touch
 * 42) *		Thomas Edmondson: inventor of the railway ticket
 * 43) *		John Dalton: meteorologist and pioneer of atomic theory
 * 44) *		James Prescott Joule: devised modern ideas about heat
 * 45) *		Joseph Whitworth: revolutionised engineering by defining standard screw threads

Series 2
1	Devon: Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Henry Moule: Thomas Savery: Mary Anning:

2	Scotland: Alexander Bain (inventor): Electro-chemical telegraph Charles Macintosh: Mac James Clerk Maxwell: Robert Stirling: Inventor James Gregory (mathematician): Mathematician

3	East: William Harvey: Reformed incorrect thinking about the circulation of blood. Robert Fitzroy: Pioneered storm warning system and invented the weather forecast. Benjamin Wiseman: Patented a Windmill in 1783. William Hase: Modified prison treadmills to take power outside the prison. William Gilberd: Discovered the earth is a magnet. John Jeyes: Invented a unique three-function toilet cleaner Jeyes Fluid. William Hyde Wollaston: Invented a clever mirror-and-prism device (Camera lucida) that lets you see your subject superimposed on your sketch pad.

4	North East: 	John Walker (inventor): Invented the friction match. Charles Algernon Parsons: Invented the steam turbine. Joseph Wilson Swan: Invented the incandescent light bulb. Lewis Fry Richardson: Inventor of sonar and the understanding of the mathematics of the weather. Thomas Wright (astronomer): First to understand the Milky Way. Gladstone Adams: Invented the windscreen wiper.

5	Wales: Thomas Telford: Developed a system for road building & built bridges. Alfred Russel Wallace: Devised theory of natural selection jointly with Darwin. William Price (physician): Pioneer of cremation. Harry Grindell Matthews: Invented a portable radio, and supposed Death Ray inventor. Richard Trevithick: Ran world's first steam locomotive at Merthyr. Robert Recorde: Invented equals sign. Hugh Owen Thomas (and the bonesetters of Anglesey): Four generations of bonesetters and founder of orthopaedic surgery.

6	South East: Samuel Morland: Invented giant megaphones and was master mechanic to Charles II Hertha Ayrton: Invented way of clearing trenches of Mustard Gas. Eleanor Coade: Her artificial stone was used for many landmarks. Henry Maudslay: Founder of precision engineering and first production line. Thomas Young (scientist): Discovered how the eye works and translated the Rosetta Stone. Liborio Pedrazzoli: Inventor of swimming umbrellas. Ralph Wedgwood (inventor): Invented carbon paper. William Willoughby Cole Verner: Invented cavalry sketching board to enable cavalrymen to make accurate maps whilst on horseback.

Series 3
1 Devon and Cornwall: Thomas Newcomen et al.

2 London: Cornelius Drebbel et al.

3 South: Robert Hooke et al.

4 Special – Egypt

5 Special – Italy

6 Special – Science Week

Series 4
1 South: Henry Cavendish et al.

2 East of Scotland: James Dewar et al.

3 Cotswolds: William Henry Fox Talbot et al.

4 St Pauls: Heroines