The Great Stink
When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 she was ruling over a very unhealthy nation. In towns, the infant mortality rate was 50%, chiefly because most citizens did not have access to drinking water uncontaminated by sewage. During the hot summer of 1858, the smell from raw sewage in the River Thames was so overpowering that MPs in Westminster found it difficult to work. The "Great Stink" prompted the building of a proper sewage system for London. Joseph Bazalgette designed and oversaw the construction of five giant sewers under the capital. Completed around 1870, these 82 miles of sewers are still working today and form the core of London's present waste management system.

All aboard
The first proper passenger railway ran from Manchester to Liverpool and opened in 1830. By 1837 there were around 500 miles of rail laid in Britain. By 1850, that figure was over 6,000. Early railway builders, like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose Great Western Railway linking Bristol with London opened in 1838, were revolutionising commerce. Not only could the railway transport goods on a huge scale but a provincial businessman could travel to London and back within a day.

In touch
Mechanical telegraph-like devices first appeared at the close of the 18th century. The electric telegraph arrived in 1837 and immediately the system was adopted on the new railways for signalling use, as well as for sending messages. By 1857, most large towns in Britain were linked. By 1862, there were 15,000 miles of telegraph wires. When the General Post Office took over the system in 1870, most of the country was connected. Four years earlier, Brunel's huge ship, the Great Eastern, had successfully laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Thanks to Victorian drive and ingenuity, the world was getting smaller.

Beside the seaside
Of course, the Victorians are chiefly remembered for huge advances in industry, commerce and technology but they left us with another, equally important legacy - the holiday. Traditionally, Britons worked on the land, an occupation that offered little time off. Factory and mill work meant leisure time and some spare money in workers' pockets. At the same time, the growth of railways prompted an explosion of cheap travel opportunities. Royals and aristocrats went hunting and shooting in Scotland but ordinary people flocked to the seaside. Cast-iron piers were springing up in coastal towns all over the country. These grandiose constructions were packed with entertainment booths and cheap food stalls. The concept of the British seaside resort had arrived.

What a picture!
Today's society is dominated by visual imagery. At the centre of all those visuals is photography, another process we have to thank the Victorians for. The first practical photography system was developed by a Briton, Henry Talbot, who published a book explaining his techniques in 1844. The public took to photography straight away. Portraits could be produced relatively cheaply and, before long, the average British mantelpiece was crowded with photos. The development of photography had a significant side-effect - the growth of the celebrity image. For the first time, ordinary people were able to see exactly what members of the royal family and other notables looked like. Collecting their likenesses became a popular pastime. Our obsession with celebrities had begun!