Unbottling the past
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Imagine finding a notebook containing the secret recipes of some of the world\\u2019s most iconic perfumes? Formulas normally kept under lock and key. That\\u2019s what happened to medical research scientist and trained chemist Andrew Holding. His grandfather Charles \\u201cRex\\u201d Holding had been Chief Perfumer at the Bourjois Chanel factory in Croydon, near London, during the 1960s. After his death, he left behind a lifetime of perfume memorabilia; bottles of Chanel perfume, rare ingredients, fragrant soaps, and in amongst his things, the most fascinating of finds \\u2013 a notebook with handwritten formulas, including one for Soir de Paris, written by one of the greatest of all perfumery biochemists \\u2013 Constantin Weriguine.
Can Andrew recreate this almost one hundred year old fragrance? He travels to Versaille\\u2019s Osmotheque, the world\\u2019s only perfume archive, to smell the original 1928 scent. It\\u2019s where top perfumers \\u2013 all chemists themselves - grant him access to the world\\u2019s rarest and sometimes now-forbidden perfume ingredients, and teach him how to mix a scent. And in constructing Soir de Paris, he learns about Constantin Weriguine, his grandfather \\u2018Rex\\u2019, and discovers if his skills as a chemist are enough to turn him into a top perfumer, or is fragrance more of an art than a science?
Presenter: Andrew Holding\\nProducer: Katy Takatsuki.
Image: Patricia de Nicola\\xef
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