The Michael Portillo of roads, just without the jacket, smugness, and political "history", and with a sense of humour.. Need to get you to Fairford, even more interesting aircraft there now.
I used to sit in 6th form classes in my school in Buckingham watching the F1-11s circle as they lined up to land at RAF Upper Heyford. The civilian side of the USAF base was accessible to visitors so we used to visit the Bowling Alley there, then go for pizza and Baskin Robbins ice cream….. I was last at Upper Heyford for an air tattoo in the early 1990s, the Americans were showing off with their F16s, then the Vulcan appeared…. Jaw dropping literally.
At the end of the 60's I went with my brother to photograph F100 Super Sabres. We were on a road just to the west of the runway but at a lower level so you were never sure what was taking off until it popped into view. Imagine our surprise when a Vulcan thundered overhead.
I am Australian, I have never been to the UK, I have never seen a little chef, but from John's videos I have learnt to have a deep longing for something I'll never have.
Your mention of I-Lip had me confused until I realised you meant I-Slip (Islip). Otherwise a very interesting video and I learnt a few things about an area I thought I knew quite well.
I searched the comments looking for this one, living the next village along from Islip, after years of watching it's great to see my local area graced with Jon's coverage
@@AcheForWakeif you’re where I think you are my son goes to school there. Also if you’re where I think you are maybe he could of shown off the school and new houses being as they’re built on duchy of Cornwall land and I love the coat of arms on all the bollards. My son only has this last school year so after 10 years of go there and decades of driving through both islip and your village to work in Enslow before this I will miss it.
I live in a small village a few miles outside Oxford and I agree that the city is "car hating". From the interminable roadworks causing delays and diversions to the obscenely high car parking charges. I'm not particularly effected by the LTNs (although I've fallen foul of one in Brixton where my daughter lives) but I agree that they just shift the pollution elsewhere and cause more of it due to longer journey distances. The combined effects of all these anti-car practices is the city centre is dying. Lots of empty shop units even in the new Westgate Shopping Centre. Maybe lovely for the tourists, but we locals are taking our business elsewhere, there are plenty of car friendly towns within driving distance.
Those scoundrels even renamed the railway station from Bicester Town to Bicester Village. If I lived there I wouldn't accept such an outrageous downgrade in status so easily.
They get enough publicity hence why I refuse to actually use their name LOL. I thought Bicester heritage (formally RAF Bicester) might have got a mention though. Still cracking video anyway.
I commute into the centre, it's god awful. A city of both anti and pro car nimby's means nothing ever gets changed, then even they do try to propose anything the universities that own a lot of the normal council sort of infrastructure announce that they don't care so won't bother implementing any changes.
In the early 90s, the Blackbird Leys estate in the east of Oxford became the scene of numerous police chases involving stolen cars. With car thieves taking advantage of the long streets there to race one another, and provoke the police into chasing them. The Oxford Mail ran with the headline, 'The City Of Screaming Tyres' after a particular busy night of racing.
We lived near Brum then and so many times we came down the new M40 to visit friends in Oxford only to come out and find someone had TRIED (and failed) to nick the car. The RAC had to finish the hot-wiring so we could get home! I ask you.
Around that time we had to pick up my mother's accident damaged car from a police depot in Kidlington, that said red MG Maestro Turbo was parked next to it, it had a nearly square hole ripped in the front right hand tyre big enough to get a hand in. Most nights we got woken by the police helicopter flying lower over Oxford with it's search light going, I still remember the light flicking back and forth across the roof tops.
Hello Jon, how the devil are you? Have you had a good week? I'm terribly sorry, but I'm still waiting for that delicious coverage of the route from Exeter to Penzance. 😊
We used to go on holiday, to Cornwall, in the early 70s. Dad drove there, from the East End, in a shitty Austin A30 - Mum in the front, us three boys in the back. A visit to Little Chef was considered a real treat. Nowadays, my kids can order a Maccy D’s, on a Sun morning, from their fucking bed! They don’t know how lucky they are … kids of today … ramble, grumble, etc.
That’s the area where I think I drove on the M40 before it was opened. My dad had digs in Abingdon but the site was near Bicester, so somewhere on the outskirts of Bicester a 15 year old was driving his drunk dad from an after work pub in an ancient, blue Austin Allegro on the M40 before it was opened to traffic. Also, I watched Back to the Future III in a cinema in Oxford itself. Naff extra comment, but, I’ve never been back since and I’m now 50.
Been to Oxford and it’s quite a nice city. Haven’t been to Banbury but been past it on the M40 motorway. Oxford is such a posh city and Oxfordshire is an amazing county in England.
I was brought up just 12 miles away from Oxford from 58 up to the late 80s when I moved away, One of the best tales I heard was when Oxford started its road shenanigans around the University areas. Students who seemed particularly peeved that access to student halls had become ludicrously complicated. Some Maths/Computing students doing some Networking theory, calculated that by altering just two signs you could enter the area but never find a way out. Which being students, they immediately implemented. Fun times. Its all down hill from there. (Ive resisted the urge to return to see if I can find Grope C**t lane that you mentioned in a previous video)
They should have calculated what to change to never let the cars in in the first place. That would have made more sense than being stuck with cars in the city.
Banbury is my local town and I didn't know half of that stuff about it. My dad's side of the family are also from Upper Heyford, so I got to hang out on the base when I was young. There used to be loads of Americana left over when parts became abandoned. I used to take photos of cars in the abandoned gas station.
Banbury is my local shopping town. I like it. It's a bit rough and ready, bit of a dive in places (isn't everywhere?) , but the people are friendly and it's managed to hold onto a lot of interesting little shops. It's got everything you need, really, including some amazing transport links. The most important thing is, unlike Oxford, it's not up itself. Bring your car, nobody will mind.
Unfortunately Banbury town centre is dying, as the out of town retail parks draw shoppers away from the town to the outskirts, like many other towns. The thriving vibrant town centre of the 80s and 90s is now a shadow of its former self. But it’s still home and I still love it.
That abandoned petrol station actually sold caravans and camper conversions for a few years, and then was hastily re-abandoned. You're absolutely correct on the starbucks though, it's naf
My son finished his studies at St, Hughes Collage in Oxford. We have spent the best part of three years travelling from Yorkshire to Oxford. But we had to be quite careful which hotel we stayed in due in no part to the road closure at Oxford Railway Station! To get just from one side of the city the other involves one massive detour. I gather the road closure has been extended for at least another year, good planning once again!
This is one of my favourite episodes of recent times, even other recent ones made in the places I used to live. Filmography and editing - 10/10, genuinely interesting content - 10/10, visual humour (ladder climb, walking out of doorways, cow chat etc.) - 10/10, succint and pithy script - 10/10, overall enjoyment - 10/10. Thanks Jon, keep it up!! 😀
So glad you're covering Bicester Banbury and Oxford, where I live and have grown up, but I couldn’t help but laugh when you pronounced Islip as ‘eye lip’ 😂😂😂. Fun fact, RAF Upper Heyford is where Carwow do their drag races on TH-cam, its also home to Thames Valley Police’s Public order department, along with other training including driving and tasers and officer safety training.
Referencing RAF Upper Heyford, in the mid 80s, my employer sent me, kindly, on a residential course at their Training College, located just a few miles away, but right along the flightline that a stick of USAF 7x B52 Stratofortresses used from a night time sortie to Libya - albeit in a rather different "slight disagreement" - never, ever, have I experienced such a noise, including several rock concerts, as they landed just a few minutes apart. But hey, many thanks for bringing back that memory 🖖🏻
@@eamonnquinn9585Yes correct… they were the primary US residents of Upper Heyford…. they had to refuel over the Bay of Biscay because they couldn’t fly over France…..
Fascinating stuff. I was born in Banbury and Bicester has been my home town for most of my life. My Dad used to work as a truck driver at RAF Upper Heyford and I worked there for a short while for one of the vehicle management firms that occupied the airfield after the base was closed. You're not wrong about the traffic in Oxford, though, although I would put their "Traffic management" down to the local council and party-politics. By the way, in my 40+ years living in the area I have never known Islip to be pronounced with a silent "S"!
Upper Heyford do excellent monthly Heritage Tours. Chilling and fascinating, Loads of barbed wire and concrete to admire. We did it just post Covid and instead of the usual minibus, we took our own cars around the site. Alas we were in convoy so I couldn't boot the 9-3 down the runway.
Ahhh Jon!! If only you’d had let me know you were doing this one. You would have drove past my house!! Coffee and cake would have been available! Next time eh! Great work as ever mate. All the best.
i have lived in oxford for almost 40+ years now and have had to watch my back and my wallet every day i have been here, my advice to anybody that is thinking of moving here or buying a house here is don't bother it will be a waste of your time and money and the councils round here are so corrupt that they won't even spend on anything even if they are given a budget for that specific thing. Eynsham park and ride being one of them something like £51 million and it has never been opened or even connected to a road for access.
Stationed at RAF Lakenheath in 1979-1982, landed at our sister base for the F-111 at Upper Heyford (Upper Haystack) one time for a passenger flight, beautiful base and scenery, from what I could see out of the C-9 Nightingale window. You did a great job, as always, describing your travel and history with such British aplomb, Cheers and TTFN (Terry Wogan, also a British Hero!)
@vincentcrowley1362 there's no problem being Irish and also a British hero or British national treasure. Sir Michael Terence Wogan and Sir "Spike" (also Terence but with English mother and Irish father) were both British and indeed Terry Wogan added British citizenship for himself in 2005 before his knighthood.
Very interesting take on this area! I moved to RAF Upper Heyford in 1980 with the USAFE and have lived in the area ever since. Boy have I seen some changes over the years, not all good alas! Thanks for sharing! It was cool to see very familiar roads, some of which I'm just about to go drive myself as I run my errands!
Having spent 14 years growing up in rural Oxfordshire and another 30 living and working in Oxford, I can say that the introductory description is about right, almost floral. There are, or should that be ‘were’, some very good pubs.
Love the bit about the Cold War disagreement. I drove my BMW down the runway at Upper Heyford, it was fun. I really liked this one John as I live in Bicester. Thank you again, you put so much effort in to these entertaining videos, like the bit in Oxford where you climbed up the climbing frame 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
You were in Banbury and missed general foods and by the way it is pronounced I slip when the fuel dump was open a friend of mine had to walk the pipe line to Heyford to check for leaks and damage (ie terrorism) and then just for the fun of it walk back again in the afternoon wicked sweet awesome job in the winter sorry forgot about the summer rain 😊
Ah, we have the original Morris Garage frontage on Longwall street as part of our student accommodation. Nothing of the garage remains except the frontage, with a simple display case showing what it was. Which is almost *never* humourously adorned by the students living behind it. Oh, and it’s “ISS-lip” not “eye-lip”. Yes, I know, I had this argument with many people but that’s English place names for you.
Phew, Sunday lunchtime normality when a Bank Holiday dictates that my roast dinner be postponed for 24hrs to comply with family members. I'd go to the pub, but it closed 25 yrs ago, so the beer is probably not its best anymore.
Lived in Banbury since the mid 70s, at the start of this video I see your stood in spiceball park just under the hennef way link road, the bodiciote fly over that you featured shortly after we used to walk the other side of the railings as a dare and once got arrested by the police for doing so and also before all that shrubbery was allowed to grow on the sides of the slope it was a most excellent place to go sledging, roll inside an old inner tube or go head over heels from your BMX bike, great video as ever.
Don't forget, they added a roundabout, so 70mph, then 50mph, then 40mph. Got my last speeding ticket there. Paid to do the speed awareness course. Next month it will be 20mph.
I live in Bicester now ( originally from kirtlington)try getting past Bicester village on a Sunday as for the ring road just keep going until you disappear up your own exhaust yes it's fun living in sunny bi cester😢😂😅
@@maxburrell3663As the road bends left, with trees obscuring the camera van. Thames Valley's best blue c(o)unts taking photos. Got to drive up there three times next month to crew at Santat Pod. I'll piss off drivers as I slow to the speed limit. Just trying to save them a ticket. I'll get the finger, but doing it for everyone at 40mph for a bit.
@@stevekelly5166 Don't worry, they will reduce the speed of the main ring road down to 30 next to p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶e̶ m̶o̶r̶e̶ t̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶s̶ reduce emissions.
Travelling back from Silverstone to Cornwall today. We passed that abandoned garage. The wife said Jon should do a series on abandoned garages. Not knowing that you had covered it the previous day. LOL
The point of LTNs isn't to reduce traffic everywhere, it's to reduce traffic in residential streets and areas. Blocking through traffic in all the residential streets off Cowley Rd does that, because any sane person would cut through those streets if they were open (and were going the same way)
Fun fact the base at Upper Heyford isn't just one of the largest RAF bases in the country, it was also used as the blueprint site for every other large RAF base that followed. RAF Bicester is arguably more interesting in a way, a former Bomber Command base, which is according to English Heritage is one of the most intact and unmodified pre second world war bases in the country. It's now an automotive heritage site which does many car shows and stuff through the year. Tbh you could just do an entire video on Oxfordshire's military history alone.
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And Sunday is complete.
The Michael Portillo of roads, just without the jacket, smugness, and political "history", and with a sense of humour.. Need to get you to Fairford, even more interesting aircraft there now.
So you mean just like Michael Portillo, but not anything like Michael Portillo…
🤣
He has hats 😂
Far, far better than anything Michael Portillo has done.
And better dress sense of course
Love the 'arty' ladder climb towards the end! Felt like i was watching a directors cut of Auto Shenanigans today!
Glad to see you made it off the cloverleaf junction.
I used to sit in 6th form classes in my school in Buckingham watching the F1-11s circle as they lined up to land at RAF Upper Heyford. The civilian side of the USAF base was accessible to visitors so we used to visit the Bowling Alley there, then go for pizza and Baskin Robbins ice cream….. I was last at Upper Heyford for an air tattoo in the early 1990s, the Americans were showing off with their F16s, then the Vulcan appeared…. Jaw dropping literally.
At the end of the 60's I went with my brother to photograph F100 Super Sabres. We were on a road just to the west of the runway but at a lower level so you were never sure what was taking off until it popped into view. Imagine our surprise when a Vulcan thundered overhead.
The USAF used to put on the best air shows by a country mile. My local was Mildenhall. Utterly awesome.
@@robinwells8879they did, I remember the Vulcan bomber being put through its paces, what a machine 😎
RIP Little Chef, we miss you
I am Australian, I have never been to the UK, I have never seen a little chef, but from John's videos I have learnt to have a deep longing for something I'll never have.
Actually, yes, we do!
The “Early Starter”, or maybe the “Olympic” breakfast if you were a bit flush! 😉
@KezzDaddy imagine if they closed all Rigey Didge pie shops, that's how it felt 😭🇬🇧🇦🇺
@@Phuc_Yhou never heard of it and john has never mentioned it in a video, so is it really worth my time.
Your mention of I-Lip had me confused until I realised you meant I-Slip (Islip). Otherwise a very interesting video and I learnt a few things about an area I thought I knew quite well.
I was thinking that myself. I grew up in Horton-cum-Studley, my doctors was in I-slip and I learnt to swim at Bicester Pool.. Beautiful area.
I searched the comments looking for this one, living the next village along from Islip, after years of watching it's great to see my local area graced with Jon's coverage
I chuckled when he said eye lip 😝
@@AcheForWakeif you’re where I think you are my son goes to school there. Also if you’re where I think you are maybe he could of shown off the school and new houses being as they’re built on duchy of Cornwall land and I love the coat of arms on all the bollards. My son only has this last school year so after 10 years of go there and decades of driving through both islip and your village to work in Enslow before this I will miss it.
Shame Jon didn't end up on Osney Is-land 😁
I live in a small village a few miles outside Oxford and I agree that the city is "car hating". From the interminable roadworks causing delays and diversions to the obscenely high car parking charges. I'm not particularly effected by the LTNs (although I've fallen foul of one in Brixton where my daughter lives) but I agree that they just shift the pollution elsewhere and cause more of it due to longer journey distances. The combined effects of all these anti-car practices is the city centre is dying. Lots of empty shop units even in the new Westgate Shopping Centre. Maybe lovely for the tourists, but we locals are taking our business elsewhere, there are plenty of car friendly towns within driving distance.
true even for buses with so much pedestrianisation
Congratulations! I think you're the first person to go through Bicester and not mention the overpriced shopping area!
wHickid sweet video as always.
Those scoundrels even renamed the railway station from Bicester Town to Bicester Village. If I lived there I wouldn't accept such an outrageous downgrade in status so easily.
@@stephenholt4670 Totally agree - undignified.
Given that just about every person in the Peoples Republic of China aspire to visit Bicester Village I thought it might warrant a mention.
They get enough publicity hence why I refuse to actually use their name LOL. I thought Bicester heritage (formally RAF Bicester) might have got a mention though. Still cracking video anyway.
@@kevinrayner5812 They descend in their droves on Oxford too. Bizarrely clad in full Scots tartan clothing more often than not.
I drove into Oxford once, I was lucky to get out the same day, total chaos road system.
I commute into the centre, it's god awful. A city of both anti and pro car nimby's means nothing ever gets changed, then even they do try to propose anything the universities that own a lot of the normal council sort of infrastructure announce that they don't care so won't bother implementing any changes.
In the early 90s, the Blackbird Leys estate in the east of Oxford became the scene of numerous police chases involving stolen cars. With car thieves taking advantage of the long streets there to race one another, and provoke the police into chasing them.
The Oxford Mail ran with the headline, 'The City Of Screaming Tyres' after a particular busy night of racing.
We lived near Brum then and so many times we came down the new M40 to visit friends in Oxford only to come out and find someone had TRIED (and failed) to nick the car. The RAC had to finish the hot-wiring so we could get home! I ask you.
The MG mystro turbo clip on the news. It was a brickie from Banbury who owned it.
Around that time we had to pick up my mother's accident damaged car from a police depot in Kidlington, that said red MG Maestro Turbo was parked next to it, it had a nearly square hole ripped in the front right hand tyre big enough to get a hand in. Most nights we got woken by the police helicopter flying lower over Oxford with it's search light going, I still remember the light flicking back and forth across the roof tops.
Blackbird leys was next to a park and ride carpark. The yoof had all day to break into and steal their rides for the evening festivities.
Wasn't it the unrest on the Blackbird Leys Estate that sparked the nationwide riots in 1991? I remember that quite vividly.
0:41 "Making it up..." I did always wonder!
Hello Jon, how the devil are you? Have you had a good week? I'm terribly sorry, but I'm still waiting for that delicious coverage of the route from Exeter to Penzance. 😊
I was born in Bicester, and my maternal grandmother lived in Banbury for many years. Nice to see the area featured.
Liking the new formula inclusion of your gym workout.
Oxford - City of perspiring dreams
The irony of the UKs biggest car manufacturing facility....and the most restricted vehicular access......
That cow was definitely gonna rush you before you turned around 🤣
😂😅😮
Jon almost got bummed then trampled.
More people are killed by cows than sharks.
Bullocks
He just wanted Jon to Mooove on. I'm sorry, I will leave now.
Absolutely the reigning champion of TH-cam channels!
We used to go on holiday, to Cornwall, in the early 70s. Dad drove there, from the East End, in a shitty Austin A30 - Mum in the front, us three boys in the back. A visit to Little Chef was considered a real treat.
Nowadays, my kids can order a Maccy D’s, on a Sun morning, from their fucking bed! They don’t know how lucky they are … kids of today … ramble, grumble, etc.
Honestly, this video made my day!
That’s the area where I think I drove on the M40 before it was opened. My dad had digs in Abingdon but the site was near Bicester, so somewhere on the outskirts of Bicester a 15 year old was driving his drunk dad from an after work pub in an ancient, blue Austin Allegro on the M40 before it was opened to traffic. Also, I watched Back to the Future III in a cinema in Oxford itself. Naff extra comment, but, I’ve never been back since and I’m now 50.
Been to Oxford and it’s quite a nice city. Haven’t been to Banbury but been past it on the M40 motorway. Oxford is such a posh city and Oxfordshire is an amazing county in England.
Loved the little chefs Olympic breakfasts.
This one had echoes of The Fast Show about it......Brilliant!
I hope Bicester heritage will feature in a future episode! Last time I was there they had a collection of Bentley blowers worth a lot of £££££
I was brought up just 12 miles away from Oxford from 58 up to the late 80s when I moved away, One of the best tales I heard was when Oxford started its road shenanigans around the University areas. Students who seemed particularly peeved that access to student halls had become ludicrously complicated. Some Maths/Computing students doing some Networking theory, calculated that by altering just two signs you could enter the area but never find a way out. Which being students, they immediately implemented. Fun times. Its all down hill from there. (Ive resisted the urge to return to see if I can find Grope C**t lane that you mentioned in a previous video)
It’s now called Magpie Lane, and runs from the High, through University collet to Merton St.
Parsons Street in Banbury was also once called that. Popular name.
They should have calculated what to change to never let the cars in in the first place. That would have made more sense than being stuck with cars in the city.
@@Taladar2003 I think they've pretty much achieved that last time I was in the centre (took the bus).
I love how you call WW2 the "second small disagreement of 1939-1945". Clever.
Banbury is my local town and I didn't know half of that stuff about it.
My dad's side of the family are also from Upper Heyford, so I got to hang out on the base when I was young. There used to be loads of Americana left over when parts became abandoned. I used to take photos of cars in the abandoned gas station.
Banbury is also my local town. Hi Luke.
Me too
Banbury is my local shopping town.
I like it. It's a bit rough and ready, bit of a dive in places (isn't everywhere?) , but the people are friendly and it's managed to hold onto a lot of interesting little shops.
It's got everything you need, really, including some amazing transport links.
The most important thing is, unlike Oxford, it's not up itself. Bring your car, nobody will mind.
Unfortunately Banbury town centre is dying, as the out of town retail parks draw shoppers away from the town to the outskirts, like many other towns. The thriving vibrant town centre of the 80s and 90s is now a shadow of its former self. But it’s still home and I still love it.
@@James-Henderson Hi James! Long time no see/speak! Hope the car collection is still going strong!
“small, now escalated to medium, ‘cold’ disagreement”. Genius.😉✌️
I’m never new about that long runway next to M40. Very interesting story about an ex RAF base
Another fantastic and informative video Jon.
That abandoned petrol station actually sold caravans and camper conversions for a few years, and then was hastily re-abandoned.
You're absolutely correct on the starbucks though, it's naf
Cheers John, We're From Oxfordshire Great Information i never knew, had to subscribe great knowledge 👍👍
Love u mix of history and jokes love it
the quickest way out of bicester is the only one you'll ever need.
My son finished his studies at St, Hughes Collage in Oxford. We have spent the best part of three years travelling from Yorkshire to Oxford. But we had to be quite careful which hotel we stayed in due in no part to the road closure at Oxford Railway Station! To get just from one side of the city the other involves one massive detour. I gather the road closure has been extended for at least another year, good planning once again!
This is one of my favourite episodes of recent times, even other recent ones made in the places I used to live. Filmography and editing - 10/10, genuinely interesting content - 10/10, visual humour (ladder climb, walking out of doorways, cow chat etc.) - 10/10, succint and pithy script - 10/10, overall enjoyment - 10/10. Thanks Jon, keep it up!! 😀
Nice to see that Georgie boy is resplendent in his bejewelled battle shorts..
....the commander of the Vl'hurgs
I thought that was a Rod Stewart reference and it took a while to properly place it.
So glad you're covering Bicester Banbury and Oxford, where I live and have grown up, but I couldn’t help but laugh when you pronounced Islip as ‘eye lip’ 😂😂😂. Fun fact, RAF Upper Heyford is where Carwow do their drag races on TH-cam, its also home to Thames Valley Police’s Public order department, along with other training including driving and tasers and officer safety training.
Referencing RAF Upper Heyford, in the mid 80s, my employer sent me, kindly, on a residential course at their Training College, located just a few miles away, but right along the flightline that a stick of USAF 7x B52 Stratofortresses used from a night time sortie to Libya - albeit in a rather different "slight disagreement" - never, ever, have I experienced such a noise, including several rock concerts, as they landed just a few minutes apart.
But hey, many thanks for bringing back that memory 🖖🏻
I belive they were F111 that night
@@eamonnquinn9585Yes correct… they were the primary US residents of Upper Heyford…. they had to refuel over the Bay of Biscay because they couldn’t fly over France…..
Well if you are in Oxfordshire, check out Witney and the old fairford branch line!! Many of the railway features and buildings still exist
I’m late today…… hope everyone had a good week 👍🏼
Perfect timing for this video, having driven from the M40 to the M3 on the A34 this afternoon. Wonderful stuff.
My company leases the bottom half of upper Heyford and the cars are ours. The heritage building on site is extremely good with lots of history!!
Standing in a field of cows? That was a brave moooo-ve
I remember seeing some Morris Oxford cars during the 70s. It all makes sense now.
I know Bicester isn't that interesting, but the Heritage Center is worth a mention...
Fascinating stuff. I was born in Banbury and Bicester has been my home town for most of my life. My Dad used to work as a truck driver at RAF Upper Heyford and I worked there for a short while for one of the vehicle management firms that occupied the airfield after the base was closed. You're not wrong about the traffic in Oxford, though, although I would put their "Traffic management" down to the local council and party-politics.
By the way, in my 40+ years living in the area I have never known Islip to be pronounced with a silent "S"!
Upper Heyford do excellent monthly Heritage Tours. Chilling and fascinating, Loads of barbed wire and concrete to admire. We did it just post Covid and instead of the usual minibus, we took our own cars around the site. Alas we were in convoy so I couldn't boot the 9-3 down the runway.
1:42 the Alcan, my great grandad Joseph Lindle and my great Uncle Derek Lindle worked there.
Lovely you mention, Wendlebury - my Grandfather was born there and most of my family are buried in the churchyard.
"most of my family are buried in the churchyard." - I'm guessing only the dead ones?
@@paulsengupta971That'll be them
I used to travel this way every week. Never knew the history so thanks.
Nice to seemy old home territory...😊
And congratulations........you didn't mention Morse once.....😂😊
or the shark...
awesome video. Thank you for your Endeavours
Somebody had to get a Morse mention in 😁
"LEWIS!!!"
Fascinating series! Thanks Jon 😊 and 👋🏻 🐮
Brilliant thank you
You missed a quick visit to the lovely gates of the old “Birds”factory in Banbury which are still intact, but now Fine Lady.
Ahhh Jon!! If only you’d had let me know you were doing this one. You would have drove past my house!! Coffee and cake would have been available! Next time eh!
Great work as ever mate. All the best.
Do you live everywhere or just use a lot of travelodge
0:26 I had no idea the UK had so many varicose veins. 😮
i have lived in oxford for almost 40+ years now and have had to watch my back and my wallet every day i have been here, my advice to anybody that is thinking of moving here or buying a house here is don't bother it will be a waste of your time and money and the councils round here are so corrupt that they won't even spend on anything even if they are given a budget for that specific thing. Eynsham park and ride being one of them something like £51 million and it has never been opened or even connected to a road for access.
Stationed at RAF Lakenheath in 1979-1982, landed at our sister base for the F-111 at Upper Heyford (Upper Haystack) one time for a passenger flight, beautiful base and scenery, from what I could see out of the C-9 Nightingale window. You did a great job, as always, describing your travel and history with such British aplomb, Cheers and TTFN (Terry Wogan, also a British Hero!)
Sorry to be pedantic, but Wogan was Irish. Also TTFN was more associated with the DJ Jimmy Young.
@vincentcrowley1362 there's no problem being Irish and also a British hero or British national treasure. Sir Michael Terence Wogan and Sir "Spike" (also Terence but with English mother and Irish father) were both British and indeed Terry Wogan added British citizenship for himself in 2005 before his knighthood.
48th TFW?
@@AtheistOrphan Yes, Statue of Liberty Wing!
@vincentcrowley1362 All I remember is Sir Terry signing off his show on the Beeb, most times with TTFN.
Very interesting take on this area! I moved to RAF Upper Heyford in 1980 with the USAFE and have lived in the area ever since. Boy have I seen some changes over the years, not all good alas! Thanks for sharing! It was cool to see very familiar roads, some of which I'm just about to go drive myself as I run my errands!
Brilliant! As for Oxford, no further comment needed.
It's all just made up as you go along! Genius!! and Extremely informative. Almost like a UK Road History GCSE vid!!
Having spent 14 years growing up in rural Oxfordshire and another 30 living and working in Oxford, I can say that the introductory description is about right, almost floral. There are, or should that be ‘were’, some very good pubs.
My dad had a Morris Ital. In 2002.
Starschmucks = Who Cares !!
--Mini-- BMW 1 Series = Who Cares !!!
F**king Legend !!!
Love the bit about the Cold War disagreement. I drove my BMW down the runway at Upper Heyford, it was fun. I really liked this one John as I live in Bicester. Thank you again, you put so much effort in to these entertaining videos, like the bit in Oxford where you climbed up the climbing frame 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
The U2 - a successful plane, a staggeringly over-rated band.
You were in Banbury and missed general foods and by the way it is pronounced I slip when the fuel dump was open a friend of mine had to walk the pipe line to Heyford to check for leaks and damage (ie terrorism) and then just for the fun of it walk back again in the afternoon wicked sweet awesome job in the winter sorry forgot about the summer rain 😊
Coows (as the Scottish would say), commonly known as bulls, Jon.
Great to see my old home town get a visit.
How do you manage to make consistently exciting vlogs John your amazing 😂😂😂😂😂😂❤
Looks like a really nice place. Very green, the air must be fresh. Will be visiting in September.
Ah, we have the original Morris Garage frontage on Longwall street as part of our student accommodation. Nothing of the garage remains except the frontage, with a simple display case showing what it was. Which is almost *never* humourously adorned by the students living behind it.
Oh, and it’s “ISS-lip” not “eye-lip”. Yes, I know, I had this argument with many people but that’s English place names for you.
Another wicked sweet awesome vid John. Aye I did the button click. Take care & stay safe.
Sweet and awsome. After watching tens of your fun fact filled forays I finally fubscribed to your fannel.
Very interesting stuff Jon, thanks!
The equivalent of skip-dipping for architectural antiques has been around a long time...
Phew, Sunday lunchtime normality when a Bank Holiday dictates that my roast dinner be postponed for 24hrs to comply with family members. I'd go to the pub, but it closed 25 yrs ago, so the beer is probably not its best anymore.
Best one yet, Jon. Now, let's see our Northern Irish motorways. 😊
Interesting, informative and entertaining, as always.
Lived in Banbury since the mid 70s, at the start of this video I see your stood in spiceball park just under the hennef way link road, the bodiciote fly over that you featured shortly after we used to walk the other side of the railings as a dare and once got arrested by the police for doing so and also before all that shrubbery was allowed to grow on the sides of the slope it was a most excellent place to go sledging, roll inside an old inner tube or go head over heels from your BMX bike, great video as ever.
How many times did they rebuild Spiceball leisure centre before giving into the floods? 😬
oh that is a brave location for an outtro amongst those heifers!
The quickest way out of Bicester is a FULL bottle of whisky.
Don't forget, they added a roundabout, so 70mph, then 50mph, then 40mph. Got my last speeding ticket there. Paid to do the speed awareness course. Next month it will be 20mph.
I live in Bicester now ( originally from kirtlington)try getting past Bicester village on a Sunday as for the ring road just keep going until you disappear up your own exhaust yes it's fun living in sunny bi cester😢😂😅
@@stevekelly5166that stretch of road will haunt me forever. Cheeky buggars sitting in that lay by just before the roundabout!!!!!!!!
@@maxburrell3663As the road bends left, with trees obscuring the camera van. Thames Valley's best blue c(o)unts taking photos. Got to drive up there three times next month to crew at Santat Pod. I'll piss off drivers as I slow to the speed limit. Just trying to save them a ticket. I'll get the finger, but doing it for everyone at 40mph for a bit.
@@stevekelly5166 Don't worry, they will reduce the speed of the main ring road down to 30 next to p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶e̶ m̶o̶r̶e̶ t̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶s̶ reduce emissions.
Everybody wave madly at the end!
I remember the 'greasy spoon' lorry drivers' cafe which preceded the A34 Little Chef.
"Eat and go" I think it was called
As a truck driver when I sore you jump of that contraption my knees hurt for yours. Be careful out there.
Whicked sweet cowtrow Jon.
Great video. A couple of those cows look suspiciously like bullocks.
Bovine intervention - nice!!
Travelling back from Silverstone to Cornwall today. We passed that abandoned garage. The wife said Jon should do a series on abandoned garages. Not knowing that you had covered it the previous day. LOL
Brilliant!!! 👏👏👏
If you're ever in the neighbourhood again, it's Eye-Slip (spelt Islip). Also, it has a spanking new railway including a spanking new station.
0:43 argh! That's my flat behind you! I wished I'd seen you filming, I wouldn't come out and pestered you!
Is the Church House still going?
@@John-ks6si down the road, yeah.
The point of LTNs isn't to reduce traffic everywhere, it's to reduce traffic in residential streets and areas. Blocking through traffic in all the residential streets off Cowley Rd does that, because any sane person would cut through those streets if they were open (and were going the same way)
Or perhaps more accurately, divert traffic from one residential street to another.
I pass that fuel storage depot at Islip every morning on the train and I’ve always wondered what the devil it was. Ta very much!
That junction at 2:37 must be a very rare example of a grade-separated junction (flyover and slip roads) between two single carriageway roads.
Great chat-up patter you've got there, Romeo.
I believe they're currently building something like that on the a361 north devon link road
It was the site of my one minor fault on my driving test. Hadn't used any junction like it whilst practicing.
It was an accident black spot in the 1960s killing many on a right turn from a three lane A road known as First Bodicote turn - for some their last….
Ooh I miss living in this great county
Beware. It's not what it was at all
Fun fact the base at Upper Heyford isn't just one of the largest RAF bases in the country, it was also used as the blueprint site for every other large RAF base that followed.
RAF Bicester is arguably more interesting in a way, a former Bomber Command base, which is according to English Heritage is one of the most intact and unmodified pre second world war bases in the country. It's now an automotive heritage site which does many car shows and stuff through the year.
Tbh you could just do an entire video on Oxfordshire's military history alone.
Back to the Civil war
Fairly flat so full of airfields. You can look at Satellite View on maps and just pick them out from the classic triangular shape