The History Channel

by S G Read

  The history Channel

  Chapter 1

  William Just had a good start to life he had caring parents and did well at school apart from the problems with his name this was soon transcribed to just William prompted by the reading of the book of the same name. He moved on to grammar school did very well got some first-class results and moved on to university still leading a happy life

  There it all changed he built up a large student loan and his parents helped out with money whenever they could. Unfortunately that help ended when a car crash killed them both. No one was blamed and no huge pay out was forthcoming. He was left with his student loan and very little income. In his eyes, the only gain was a large plasma screen television. One that he inherited that was all he had to show for their deaths apart from a few other trinkets.

  They had lived in a rented council house and he was left to get rid of what furniture they had, not easy when you live in a three roomed ground floor flat. In the end he called in a house clearance specialist and received not a lot of money in exchange and that did not help his student loan. He tried to get a job to help out but where he was at university jobs were few and far between. In the end he did the only thing he could do and dropped out of university to sign on the jobseekers allowance, at least that way he had money coming in. Not a lot of money but his landlady was very fair and she knew how to get her rent paid by getting him to fill in numerous forms. That way the council paid his rent and he had a little money for food

  One day when he was watching his large plasma television it went off. As it was the only thing of importance that he inherited from his parents, the only thing he had to remember them by, he phoned up a company for an estimate for the cost to repair it. The one thing he learned was that he could not even afford for them to come out and look

  As his university course had been science, he assumed that he could repair it himself using the Internet. He downloaded files which would help him and at the same time he decided to boost it to a high-definition television.

  After a few days and being without a television although his laptop did play DVDs when he got hold of them, he decided to start on the repair. He spent some of his precious money on components, a soldering iron and solder. Then he designed his own idea of a booster and not knowing what was wrong with the original electronics, he decided to just connect the new circuit where he thought it should be connected, plug it in and try it

  He sat there making the device for three days stopping and starting, changing where he thought changes should be made and slowly it took shape. Every now and then he would stop and read more on the Internet, just to make sure that he had it just as he wanted it. By the end of the week it was ready and as he wanted to watch some telly, he plugged it in and switch it on

  He was used to it taking some time to warm up and did other things while it did but all he got for his new circuit was a slightly blacker screen than normal. He laid the TV on its back to look at the connections but it was all connected just how it left it. As it was early in the morning he lay on the bed to think about it and was soon fast asleep

  He was woken by the sound of horse, as it passed his window it was six in the morning so he merely got up close a window, when he heard the same noise again and the window was still shut, he scratched his head. He sat on the edge of the bed and listened

  Next time he heard horses and the rumble of the cart behind it he traced it to the TV and smiled it was working. He stood it up and looked at it, it was light now and he could see a staircase and the floor below, which were just plain boards. He could also see that they were covered in a good layer of dust. He looked for the remote and tried to change it to a different channel nothing happened, he tried again and again and in his frustration threw the remote at the television. The remote went straight through a landed on the plain dusty boards. He could not believe his eyes the remote was now in the room he was looking into, how could that be? What was more frustrating, he could not reach the remote through the television. He moved the table which the television was sitting on over to the remote and by laying the television on its back, managed to reach the remote by leaning through the television screen and picking it up.

  The fact that he had just reached through into his television set and picked up the remote in another room, was not lost on him. The remote when he picked it up was covered in dust from the room it had landed in and he had to brush it off, before he put it on the card table, that stood in the corner.

  As the remote did not work, he had no use for it and now his attention was taken with the fact that he had reached into his television set. He looked through the screen at the dusty floor below but a noise caused him to hesitate. He waited and recognised it as another horse and cart in the distance but approaching. He let it go by before he put his hand through and touched the floor making his hand dusty in the process. He did not mind this on the basis that this was something quite marvellous, he had made some sort of opening to somewhere and there they were using a horse and cart. Where it was he would not know until he investigated and the dust led him to believe that no one had been in the place he was looking at, for a very long time. The trouble was sticking and arm through was a lot different than climbing through physically and being in the room completely, this is he has to think about.

  He did not turn off the television, in fact he went the other way and put his last pound coin into the electricity meter so that he did not run out of power and thus turn it off. He was worried that if that happened it might return to being a normal television and he would lose what he had gained, a door to somewhere else. Not that they knew where that was but he was pretty sure he could find out one way or the other.

  The meter showed how much he had left after he put the pound in and he hoped it would be enough to last until he had investigated and worked up the courage to go through. To help him out he stood the television up on the table which revealed the stairs very close to him. He moved the table back away from the stairs and to its original position. Now he used it as a camera to pan round the room to see just what he could see.

  He saw the bottom of the stairs. To the left of the bottom of the stairs was a door and with the noise he could hear on the other side of the door, he assumed it was an outside door. To the left of that was a window which was covered in some sort of cloth to black it out. When he panned further to his left he came to the corner and panned on so that he could see the far wall. There was no window in the next wall it was just a plain wall with some of the laths showing where the plaster or daub had fallen off. He panned further and came to another corner where a wall led towards him to a door. The door was exactly where he had a door in this ground floor flat and assumed that it led to a bedroom. He thought this because that was where it is bedroom was at the present.

  He panned on looking right past the door to the next door in his flat this led to his bath room and he wondered if that was true in the room he was looking at. There was only one way to find out and that was to go in there and look. He panned on and saw the far wall then continuing the sweep returned to the stairs, he tilted the television to look up the stairs but they were just plain stairs and went up to the next floor.

  He still dithered he did not want to go in there and then be stranded there. Wherever there was, but on the other hand it was a marvellous opportunity to find out where it was. Not being an idiot he assumed that it could well be his flat at some different time and with horse and carts going by he assumed that it was in the past. Again he would only find that out by going in there and as people were obviously going by, he could ask them.

  He laid the television on its back ready to take the plunge. He glanced at the electricity meter just to make sure that this thing was not consuming more than
it should be but it had hardly moved. Now was the time, he moved the chair to the table and stood on it, and then stood on the table to be able to step through the television and onto the floor which wasn't that far to step.

  He dipped foot in as though he was at the seaside but nothing happened his foot did not fall off and it did not disappear, he could still see it. He put all his weight on the table and lowered both feet through the screen and onto the floor then he had to duck under the table even though he could not see it any more. He could see the opening above him and that was what he ducked under then stood up away from the opening.

  He looked in what he thought was the bedroom and found an empty room he did the same with the bathroom and found another empty room. Now he walked to the window, to peer through the glass and even though it was very dirty, he was able to look through to the street outside. It was a cobbled road with houses on either side but on the opposite side to the left as he looked there was a tavern. It was called the Tooley Street Tavern and as his flat was in Tooley Street he surmised that he was standing in an earlier version of his flat. The stairs he could see were the stairs, which if he stepped out of his front door were in front of him at some point someone had put a wall between the outside door and the stairs to give him his living room.

  Two people walked by oblivious to his presence and he looked at how they were dressed and then looked at his own dress. He knew then that he could not walk out there dressed as he was and not show up like a sore thumb. The only thing he possessed that might look alright out there was his old Crombie coat but he had no shoes apart from trainers to wear. His mind raced he wanted to go out there but he needed something to wear and he remembered a box of old clothes which were his father's and as he was skint he thought he might just get some wear out of some of them.

  They were in the cupboard under the stairs which was actually communal property but no one had complained when he put it in there and certainly no one had touched it, who would, it was full of old clothes. He returned to the opening, ducked under it to make sure he did not pass through the side of it, as he did not know what would happen. He stood up, making sure he was in the middle of the opening and braced his arms ready to lift himself up. The return journey was a lot harder than the entry but he was young and energetic. Once he was in his flat, he hurried outside and dragged the box from the cupboard under the stairs then carried it back into his flat kicking the door closed, as he walked through the door.

  He sorted through his father's old clothes and found shoes, dark socks and an old suit, all of which would not look out of place where he was going. In the bottom of the box he also found his father's old box of pennies and it dawned on him that he would need old money where he was going but he did not know what date to look for as to take money which had not yet been minted would cause problems. He tipped the coins out onto his bed and sorted through them noting the Queen Elizabeth pennies, which he put to one side and the George V1 and Edward VII until he was left with Queen Victoria pennies and some old cartwheel two pence pieces.

  He chose some of the older dates and dropped them into his pocket with the cartwheel two pence pieces, he did not know if any of it would be any good but if they were he would be able to have a cheap meal at least and a few beers in the tavern.

  Now he changed into his father's old clothes and after inspecting himself in the mirror in his bathroom, he climbed through the television screen into the past. He walked over to the door to venture out into Victorian England but the door was locked when he tried it. He looked at it to see how it worked, he had done several different jobs when he could find work and the old Victorian lock had a metal retainer screwed to the inside of the door post which stopped the door from opening when it was locked or latched. With a screwdriver he could easily unscrew the metal piece and open the door but when he did that, he could not close the door again and it might swing open while he was gone. If someone came in and found the door to the future it could have far reaching consequences and that was something he was not going to risk.

  He climbed back through into his flat at present day and changed, he needed a lock just like the one that was on there so that he could replace their lock with his lock and therefore be able to unlock the door go through it and lock it up again. His problem was that he had no money all he could do is go out to look in the shops and hope he found something. This being poor lark, had its drawbacks.

  He did not turn off the television instead he covered it with his duvet in hopes that any one coming into the flat in the past did not see the opening. Like all young men he had a change pot, which he dumped all his loose change into when he returned home. Now he counted it out and that was all he had to buy the lock, in total it came to £5.58. He took of his Victorian clothes and put his modern clothes back on, then with the change in his pocket, he was ready to go.

  He walked out of his flat and along Tooley Street. He was hoping that his oyster card still had enough get up and go to get him to the shop, he was hoping to find the lock in. He walked as far as London Bridge station and applied his oyster card to the reader, more in hopes than expectation. He was happy when the green light came on and he was allowed through, he caught a train and headed for the shop he wanted. He jumped out at his stop and was soon browsing round the shop.

  The shop was called Gold’s Emporium and it was as old as Tooley Street was. He walked around the shop and saw the very lock that was on the door he needed to replace but he did not pick it up and rush to the counter, as from now it was a cat and mouse game. He had £5.58 to spend and the lock was marked up at £10, he needed to bargain the price down to what he had and that would not be easy with Jason Gold, he was as tight as the rest of his family.

  William looked round the shop for a long time until the idly asked…

  ‘How much for the lock?’

  ‘It says £10 on it don’t it?’ Jason Gold answered.

  ‘Yes but what is the bottom line on it?

  Now Jason went into his usual routine of looking at the lock and the price to pretend it was even more valuable than it was marked.

  ‘I'll let you have it for £7.50.’ He answered eventually.

  ‘More like £2.50.’ William answered.

  ‘You’re having a laugh!’ Jason declared.

  William walked away, this was all part of the game, look as though you weren't interested and then try again later. Hopefully when he walked away Jason word throw in another offer and that was what Jason did.

  ‘I’ll come down to £7 as it’s you.’ Jason offered.

  ‘I only have three pounds.’ William lied.

  ‘Three pounds you must be joking it has to be worth six!’ Jason almost shouted.

  ‘Never,’ William answered, ‘£5.50 is my last offer, in fact make it…’

  There was a pause while he counted out everything he had and finished up with £5.58 on the counter in front of Jason.

  ‘£5.58 that is my final offer, as that is all I have in my pocket.’ William declared.

  Jason looked at the money then at the lock, he had had it for a long time and it was a profit, as it had cost him nothing.

  ‘£5.58 it is then but for that price I can't afford to wrap it for you.’ Jason declared.

  ‘It's okay I'll take it as it is.’ William replied.

  He picked up the lock and walked out of the shop, now all he needed was for his oyster card to work for the journey back or he was going to be walking all the way back from Cheapside to his flat in Tooley street, as Gold’s Emporium was in Cheapside. He was in luck the oyster card still worked and he was soon walking down Tooley Street to his flat clutching the lock he hoped would lead to a very different future.

  When he arrived back at his flat he locked the door to make sure no one came to visit him and walked in unannounced, then thought about what he should do next. He needed to change the lock on the door of the building back in Victorian times he assumed it was Victorian times but no one could see him changing it.


  He changed back into his father's clothes ready for his trip into the past but his timing needed to be just right. He sat drinking the last of his milk while he thought about his next movements. He wanted to change the lock which meant opening the door but did not want to be seen doing it and that meant it had to be done at night when everyone was asleep. As it would be dark then he would need a light but no one else had to see the light or it would give the game away.

  He thought about it and decided on a course of action, he needed to black out the door when it was open and make sure the window was completely covered so that he could have a light on with the door open, to change the lock. His duvet fitted the idea very well he could tape it over the open door to disguise the fact that the door was open. A towel taped over the window would also serve to stop the light showing outside, he had tape, that at the least was something and all he had to do now was to wait until it was dark. Until then all he could do was to get his tools ready, the light ready, both the duvet and the towel ready then wait.

  He was not good at waiting, he sat and waited, he walked up and down, he sat down again then he walked up and down again. Now and then he would look into the TV screen as outside his flat the streetlights made it light enough to see right through the night. The screen slowly went black as darkness descended. It was well into the night, as it was summer, before he could walk through taking his torch with him, ready to start changing the lock.