Florence Nightingale (1985 TV Movie)

Timothy Dalton: Richard Milnes

Quotes 

• Richard Milnes : [voice over, as Narrator]  Those of you who ask, "Who is this Florence Nightingale, and what did she do?", you would have to understand the world into which she was born. It was England, Dickens' England. Where the people were divided into two classes: the very rich and the very poor. But whether rich or poor, it was a time of great medical ignorance, when to fracture an arm or a leg was to lose it.

• Florence Nightingale : When I was seventeen, I heard a call from God. He spoke to me, Mr Milnes. Now, you can laugh if you like.

  Richard Milnes : And what precisely did God call upon you to do?

  Florence Nightingale : I don't know. That's what torments me. Something more, to be more than a pampered, wealthy, little girl. Somehow, to use the gifts I have to serve, instead of going dancing and to parties.

• Richard Milnes : [voice over, as Narrator]  Florence knew it was considered unthinkable for a for a lady of quality to enter a hospital alone, but what she didn't know, was that when she crossed the threshold of Middlesex Hospital, she would be changing her life forever.

• Richard Milnes : [voice over, as Narrator]  In Germany, Florence learned about hygiene and nutrition, but above all, at Kaiserworth she learned that nursing was more than just caring. It was a science.

• Richard Milnes : [voice over, as Narrator]  While Florence's fame grew in the world of British medicine, England found itself entangled in a war with Russia. The glow of pride which followed the first victories on the Black Sea, was soon to be replaced by a feeling of national shame, as over half the army's casualties occured not on the battlefield, but in its hospitals.