Michael Portillo's postwar journey from Merseyside to Teesside resumes at Brayford Pool in Lincoln, where England's oldest canal, the Fossdyke, meets the city of Lincoln. The larger-than-life figure of one of Britain's most celebrated poets, Philip Larkin, rushing towards the platform at Hull Paragon Station leads Michael to investigate his life and work. And alongside the Humber estuary, Michael recalls the politics behind the construction of the suspension bridge before making his way to York, one of the host cities for the Festival of Britain in 1951.