|
.h1 {FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-JUSTIFY: inter-ideograph; FONT-SIZE: 22pt; MARGIN: 17pt 0cm 16.5pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 240%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify}.h2 {FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-JUSTIFY: inter-ideograph; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; MARGIN: 13pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 173%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify}.h3 {FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-JUSTIFY: inter-ideograph; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; MARGIN: 13pt 0cm; LINE-HEIGHT: 173%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify} Professor Macfarlane has spent many years wrestling with the enigma of the Industrial Revolution. Why did this particular Big Bang - the world-changing birth of industry happen in Britain? Macfarlane compares the puzzle to a combination lock . There are about 20 different factors and all of them need to be present before the revolution can happen, he says. For industry to take off there needs to be technology, power to drive the factories, large urban populations to provide cheap labour, easy transport to move goods around, an affluent middle-class willing to buy mass produced objects, a market-driven economy and a political system that allows this to happen. Whilst this was the case for England, other countries such as Japan, The Netherlands and France also met some of these criteria. Most historians are convinced there are one or two missing factors that you need to open the lock. The missing factors, Macfarlane proposes, are to be found in every kitchen cupboard - tea and beer, two of the nations favourite drinks fuelled the revolution. The antiseptic properties of tannin, the active ingredient in tea and of hops in beer - plus the fact both are made with boiled water - allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to waterborne diseases such as dysentery. The theory initially sounds eccentric but his explanation of the detective work that went into his deduction and the fact his case has been strengthened by a favourable appraisal of his research by Roy Porter the scepticism gives way to wary admiration. | 
