Bbc Archive
@bbcarchive·780K subscribers·1.9K videos
1979: Can Triumph Survive? | Man Alive | BBC Archive
Posted
February 15, 2026
Views
79,268
Likes
1,623
Comments
494
Engagement
2.67%
February 15, 2026
79,268
1,623
494
2.67%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
46:04Now PlayingDefeat or Triumph?
When the workers take over a factory to run it themselves the conventions have to be rewritten; no boss, no 'them' and 'us' - everyone is in it together. Can it work? Who gives the orders and who takes them?
Co-operatives may work in some countries, but in Britain all but one have collapsed - why? Now even that one - which makes the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle at Meriden - carries a massive debt and is under threat of bankruptcy and liquidation. If Meriden is allowed to die, it will be the end of a British motorcycle legend. The workers must find, in just a few weeks, a rescuing partner.
Harold Williamson follows that search and finds out what brought them to this last-ditch fight for an ideal and an industry.
Clip taken from Man Alive, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 2 October, 1979.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
