1/2. The Story of the QE2 Forty years ago, the crowds gathered in Clydebank to celebrate the launch of 'the most beautiful ship in the world'. Elaine C Smith remembers watching the QE2 celebrations on television as a child, and in the first of two programmes commemorating the anniversary, she meets some of the people who were involved in creating this world famous liner. She finds out what it took to create a ship of this size without modern technology, and finally gets her chance to go onboard and try out the view from the bridge.