Joanna Lumley In the Land of the Northern Lights (20 of 21)

Joanna Lumley In the Land of the Northern Lights

It's extraordinary.
It 's so exciting.
It 's so immense.
This is the most astonishing thing I have ever, ever seen.
I have a funny feeling it sort of knew.
I know this sounds a bit mad...
It does sound a bit mad.
But it feels as though it knew that we wanted to see it so badly.
And instead of just giving a little strip of light or a little bit of green and I would have been so grateful for that, we've got the whole business.
MUSIC: "Solveig's Song" This is terribly, terribly moving.
Thank you.

Thank you! I think I can die happy now, actually.
I don't intend to die just yet.
But when I do die, I'll die happy.
'I was still alive in the morning 'and quite utterly, dazzlingly happy.
'My land journey north through Arctic Norway has ended in the best possible way.'
PILOT MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT 'But I'm not going home.
'The strongest point on the compass still pulls me northwards.
'My final destination, far north across the Arctic Ocean, 'is the most northerly, permanently inhabited place on Earth.
'Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago, 'a vast wilderness of mountains, glaciers and permafrost.
'It's a natural habitat for the polar bear.
'Hardly so for people.'
This is the Captain.
Latest temperature in Longyearbyen is minus 16 degrees Celsius.
PASSENGER ANNOUNCEMENT Oh! Wow! Um...
Maybe on second thoughts, I...
This is like breathing knives, but...
Here goes.
'Apart from the cold and the latitude, there seems nothing that unusual about downtown Longyearbyen, 'home to 1,800 of Svarbard's 2,500 people.
'But I'm not convinced that the world's most northerly kebab van does a roaring trade.
'People have been living and working in Svarbard for more than 400 years.
'Whalers, hunters and trappers came first, 'seeking valuable oil, blubber and furs.