Tom Scott: England - Season 1

At the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Leicestershire, there's fire, sledgehammer swinging, and metal hotter than a volcano.

In Rutland, I try to fit an entire county in one camera shot, learn to spot chimneys in the sky, and make a very strange noise.

At the University of Lincoln's Crime Scene House, where they teach forensic science, I have a challenge for you.

In Nottinghamshire, I join the team at MRS Training and Rescue for an exercise that could have been so much worse.

At Sheffield Hallam University in the West Riding of Yorkshire, I meet the Clinical Simulation team, and deal with some surprisingly animated patients. (Note: includes simulated blood and gore.)

At Peasholm Park in Scarborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, I visit the Naval Warfare, ride with the world's smallest crewed navy, and scare at least two seagulls.

At the John Bull Rock Factory outside Bridlington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, I watch as boiling sugar becomes an enormous amount of rock. Also, there's 1990s Dutch happy hardcore.

In Northumberland, at the National Trust's Cragside mansion, I visit the former home of the Magician of the North, learn a shocking fact about some lamps, and utter the phrase "it gets worse".

At the Tyne Road Tunnels, just over the border into Durham, I get very wet and cold underneath a river... but not in the way you might expect

In Westmorland, at Morecambe Bay, I meet the King's Guide to the Sands, walk across a very dangerous stretch of sand, and learn about a centuries-old tradition that's been brought into the 21st century.

In Lancashire, at National Rail's Manchester signalling classroom, I learn why it's very, very rare for trains to collide... and then go to an actual, live signal box to see it for real.

In Cheshire, I ask whether a telescope built in the 1950s can still do useful science and get to fulfill a childhood dream.

In Derbyshire, at the National Ferret School, I say "hello" to some smelly thieves, and go on a surprisingly Biblical tangent.

In the village of Abbots Bromley in Staffordshire, I join the oldest village tradition in Britain: the Horn Dance.

At Warwick Castle, there's a medieval siege engine. I got to see how it works, meet the person in charge, and help fire it.

At Worcester Cathedral, I finally take on a challenge that hundreds of people have suggested: bell ringing. It's difficult, a little dangerous, and also lets me talk about a lot of weird English words.

In Shropshire, I have a corkboard, pins, string, and an unhinged conspiracy theory about what an architect was planning.

At Hereford Cathedral, I visit a library where the books are chained to the shelves -- and see two of those books, to help understand just how quickly one technology can change the world.