Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"She's after the elixir of life, the fountain of all goodness - the treasure is a container of good old London water."
Christopher Rainbow reports on Mrs Valerie Murch, who has moved from Mill Hill to the country, only to find that the soft water in her new home makes thoroughly substandard cups of tea. Undeterred, Mrs Murch makes regular, three-mile round trips back to her old house to collect a barrel of precious London water. She claims that she noticed the difference in the water as soon as she moved in; and that it is due to the different water boards serving the houses - Thames Water Authority supplied her old house, while her new one is supplied by Colne Valley Water Company.
Mrs Murch's old house has now been sold, however, forever cutting off her supply of London water. Is there a chance that the difference is all in her head, though? Nationwide subjects her to a blind taste test to find out.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 11 February, 1975.
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"She's after the elixir of life, the fountain of all goodness - the treasure is a container of good old London water."
Christopher Rainbow reports on Mrs Valerie Murch, who has moved from Mill Hill to the country, only to find that the soft water in her new home makes thoroughly substandard cups of tea. Undeterred, Mrs Murch makes regular, three-mile round trips back to her old house to collect a barrel of precious London water. She claims that she noticed the difference in the water as soon as she moved in; and that it is due to the different water boards serving the houses - Thames Water Authority supplied her old house, while her new one is supplied by Colne Valley Water Company.
Mrs Murch's old house has now been sold, however, forever cutting off her supply of London water. Is there a chance that the difference is all in her head, though? Nationwide subjects her to a blind taste test to find out.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 11 February, 1975.
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 - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
