Britain is stuck in the past (and why America should follow)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- The UK may be stuck in the past, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. #ad Want to try new healthy recipes with HelloFresh? Use my code ALANNA60 for 60% off your first box + 25% off your next 8 boxes: bit.ly/ALANNA60
Looking backwards isn't always a bad thing for British culture, and as a foreigner living here I actually really respect keeping certain British traditions alive.
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Hey! I'm Alanna - a thirty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a TH-cam video every Tuesday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT/BST on Twitch.
Alanna x
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Hi Allana - what British monarchy is about. Our monarchy pledged in the Magna Carta of 1215, that the British public be free, have civil law, the right to a proper trial et al - to vote for parliamentry democracy and have proper judicial and or legal representation. Criminal law is a law voted for in our Parliament enacted by the state. In other words the state cannot tell us what to do unless breaking a criminal law.
The British Parliament abolished the slave trade in an act of Parliament in 1833 because it was illegal to 'own another human being' and that so 'on coming onto these shores you are free'. Published court case of the time show this.
Our navy enforced this back then, worldwide and abolished slavery at a huge cost to maintain this principle.
Worth researching.
This is what our monarchy represents, our freedom, and we still are subjects in our legal documents, passports et al.
Best wishes. Jason from just north of London
Time is a Concept.. It doesn't actually exist. Clocks do not occur naturally I assure you.
The UK isn't stuck in the past at all. There has been so many changes in the last 10 years alone I have lost count of them all.
It's certainly a lot worse than it used to be.
8:46
The English medieval period (The Middle Ages) started 476 AD (in year of the lord.) and ended in 1485; the late medieval period started in 1300 and ended in 1500. Which gave way to the beginning of the Renaissance period. The name medieval comes from medi-, meaning "middle", and ev-, meaning "age", medieval literally means "of the Middle Ages." Though the Dark Ages is used interchangeably with these two it is the start of the Middle Ages and the fall of the western roman empire.
1066 CE is regarded as the beginning of the English Middle ages and this is because of The Battle of Fulford 20/09/1066 then it was the battle of Stamford Bridge 25/09/66 and then the Infamous Battle of Hastings 14/10/66
536 AD, the worst year in human history. The year that the Sun disappeared (1.5 years) and the beginning of the bubonic plague.
Another eruption triggered in 540 exacerbated the cooling effect making a mini medieval ice age lasting 25 years causing widespread death across Europe Scandinavia, the Middle East and Aisa.
Europes & the Middle East population dropped by an estimated 1/3-1/2 Scandinavia dropped by 75-90%
Did you hear about the American tourist who visited Hampton Court.
He walked around the grounds, admiring the flowers, the trees and shrubs, the immaculate lawns, and thought to himself
"Gee, I sure wish my garden back home could look like this."
He saw a gardener working, and went up and asked him
"How do I get my garden back home to be like this?"
The gardener replied, "It's quite easy really, you feed it, you water it, you weed it, you trim it, then you let it grow a little."
"Ok, I can do that, what then?" said the American.
The gardener said, "After a while, you feed it, you water it, you weed it, you trim it, then you let it grow a little more."
"Ok, what then?" said the American.
Said the gardener, "Well, do that for five hundred years and it'll look like this."
I believe the British attitude is, "Well, we've been doing this for a thousand years, so why stop now?"
Yup! As long as it works. In our words if it isn’t broken don’t mend it!
But behind it there is a army of civil servants who will bring up rules and or certain conditions , for example if a council / government suggests building road over bad ground , the servants will say but in1242 it was tried but totally failed but you can try but after 7 days if no progress you have to fill it up again and admit it's your fault for the expense . Just like in " Yes Prime Minister " 😂
I live in a small village where the clock on the church tower was installed in 1749. It is a single handed clock and needs to be wound every day, so for the last 274 years somebody has climbed the tower and wound the clock. We now have a rota and I get to wind it for two weeks every year. It’s great to feel part of a long tradition.
That's pretty much the age of our village church but the clock has been automated now. What they did do is to only have 3 faces showing and the 4th face has been blocked off. This is because that side points towards another village on the adjacent hill, which is about a mile away
This is because the people from our village wouldn't give the people from the other village the bloody time of day
True ancient and local British values on open display by our Vicar, not me
At Wells Cathedral, there is a medieval clock that has only a vague suggestion of a clock-face, and it has been wound up by a volunteer most days since it was put in place.
Conningsby?
@@TheVicar
Hahahaha... oh man, I'd love that to be true 😂
The White Horse at Uffington is around 3000 years old +/- a bit the local people for all that time have kept it visible, if it were not regularly scraped it would disappear.
If you happen upon Morris Dancers in a town you don't know, follow them when they've finished up, and you will find yourself in the best pub in the area...
... or you find yourself trussed up in a whicker man and then the torches come out. You takes your gamble and roll the dice.😄
Did that years ago in Minehead ended up in the Bell ? Can't remember much ( Draught scrumpy Cider ) ended up on top of Porlock ? Hill, then remembered the car was at the bottom .
A friend who lives in a nearby village called Eyam (pronounced EEM) says it's very noticeable with American tourists, who describe any house over 25 years old as 'antique'. So they have to explain that yes, most of these houses are 400 years old or more, but no, they aren't museums - just family homes.
Some years ago I was sitting in our local village pub with a couple of Americans who came from a nearby American Air Base. They were talking about the pub and were in awe, remarking that it must have been at least 100 years old. The look on their faces when I pointed out that it was actually over 400 years old was an absolute picture.
@@patrickslade2715 - Oh, I'd love to have been there when you told them that, Patrick! I remember hearing an American author called Bill Bryson being interviewed on the radio about his book about living in a small village in the Pennines. He said there were more 17th century buildings in that *one* fairly small village than in the *whole* of North America - surprising enough - but what amazed him was that English people, both locals and visitors, thought it was perfectly *NORMAL* to use them as ordinary family homes, farmhouses and barns!
"In England, fifty miles is a long way; in America, 50 years is a long time."
It is called regalia, not costumes, it is not a pageant, as you say it's history in the making
@@jackx4311 Its easy to explain, just tell them we have garden walls older than their country.
The Priory Church of St Mary and St Hardulph, Breedon on the Hill has stood on the hill above Breedon since c.675AD and is home to one of the largest and finest collections of Anglo-Saxon sculpture in the country.
I really appreciate how the UK is so intent on preserving their history. As an anglophile I value that.
It's not really that we want to preserve it as much as we have so much of it that it's impossible to avoid it, we have a good thousand years of it applicable to today.
Probably best as it seems to have no future
@@buntyjoy1800 What do I think of that comment? Rubbish!
Its really important to know your history people do not realise the future is the past that is why we have what is known as earth cycles and that goes for everything that man knows and i mean everything
@@buntyjoy1800seems like it, but we'll always be here. I don't know if Britain will make it as one, but there'll always be an England.
I hope people will learn to take some pride in who they are, feeling ashamed won't get us anywhere good.
Please someone in government please please please appoint this enthusiastic young person as Minister for ' Talking up Britain ' .🇨🇦✌️🇬🇧
She doesn't come across as corrupt though
@@TheVicar That may be a disadvantage 😅
Not a good promotion of who we are if we need a foreigner ``no matter how enthusiastic`` to positively expose our nations character.
That's impossible she's far to honest.
On a personal level, I take a little time to look at headstones and appreciate the history of the person who has left us. How often do we look at old roads or buildings, especially historic houses, and imagine the lives of our predecessors who stood at that very spot and touched the wall that we are now touching? History can be felt if we think enough about it.
I've always been fascinated by the historical aspect to the English language. There are so many expressions and terms thata reference customs or traditions that are no longer around, but the terminology remains.
People don't realise as well how much nautical slang is still used today as well, although most of it is in informal settings even in the Midlands a few examples are dressing down, on the lash, not enough room to swing a cat, cut and run, chock a block, groggy, and even keel.
Some examples; "you must strike while the iron's hot", and "having more than one iron in the fire", "going at it hammer and tongs" - all from blacksmiths. Once you pull the shoe out of the fire, it cools down very quickly, so you only have about a minute to shape it easily before it goes hard; also, whilst you're working on one shoe, you have the next shoe already in the fire to be heating up, so you can instantly switch from one to the next; going at it hammer and tongs? Forget the way it's shown in Westerns; blacksmiths have to work *FAST* before the shoe cools down too much - so what you hear is this relentless din from the hammer striking the shoe and the tongs clattering as they pick up and swing the shoe round to strike a different face.
More, going back to the early Middle Ages, from archers. "Having more than one string to your bow"; if the string breaks on a yew bow at full draw, the sudden reversal will probably make the bow shatter, spraying razor sharp slices of wood in all directions. So a medieval archer - especially if in the army - always had a spare string loosely wrapped around the bow. Then, if he noticed that the bow string was starting to fray, he'd unstring it and fit his spare. And one you don't often hear these days - "time to knock off", or "knocking off time", i.e., finish work. Yew bows must not be left strung, or the wood takes up a permanent curve and loses power. So, when the archers finished practising at the archery butts (targets), they would release the string from the 'nock' ( a small notch near each tip of the bow), to let the bow straighten out - they 'nocked off'.
One historical thing people don't realise is that mail pillar boxes have their raining monarch on the front, mine has VR on the front for Queen Victoria
We have 2 Victorian ones locally!
We've had so much going on here in the UK for so many centuries, that it's impossible for us to ignore it. At least 2,000 years of successive invasions from different European forces, the Romans, the Saxons, the Vikings, the Normans to name the obvious ones. The evidence of all this is everywhere, is part of our culture and something we value, good and bad!
The Dutch in the 1680s too
Oh well, England invaded 60+ countries on there own. Guess you really don't know Canadian history, you probably are better off in England. Hope you don't need a doctor, 7 million operations are put on the back-burner.
@@enyaq_gorm I always forget about the Dutch, was that an invasion or just them dominating the market and draining land of water.
@@jamesfry8983 well they landed an army and were parked outside in Westminster while it was made clear to those inside who was now on charge. Re branded as a "glorious revolution" and the English forget they were invaded 😂
Alana, Regarding Innovation - Over the past 50 years, according to Japanese research, more than 40 per cent of discoveries taken up on a worldwide basis originated in the United Kingdom. Many of these British inventions have had an enormous impact on the world.
So in addition to looking back, we Brits look forward too, a lot.
We thought up lots of things but other countries took up the challenges.
Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of electromagnets: one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage of the lack of friction.
In the late 1940s, the British electrical engineer Eric Laithwaite, a professor at Imperial College London, developed the first full-size working model of the linear induction motor. He became professor of heavy electrical engineering at Imperial College in 1964, where he continued his successful development of the linear motor. Since linear motors do not require physical contact between the vehicle and guideway, they became a common fixture on advanced transportation systems in the 1960s and 1970s. Laithwaite joined one such project, the Tracked Hovercraft RTV-31, based near Cambridge, UK, although the project was cancelled in 1973. Japan uses the system now I think.
Brits invent, Americans productise. No, they'd productize, the fools! And the reason Americans don't concentrate on their history is it all started with the Pilgrim fathers, and religious nutters have been in charge ever since. 🙂
I have two words that are something I think you will love: Hairy Bikers. For traditional, regional British food with a hefty dollop of entertainment you cannot beat their "Best of British" TV series. If you're not already well versed in them, watch, enjoy and practice your eye-rolling and tutting at anyone who says British food is bland.
Until modern times, now most people have autowashers and tend to do their laundry as and when required, Monday in England was traditionally 'washing day.'
This originated in the nothern 'Steel Towns' of Sheffield & Scunthorpe in the 19th century. The steel works would be running through the week from Monday to Friday, producing masses of smog and carbon smoke every day. The furnaces would then be turned off and lay idle over the weekend. The air would gradually become less clear as the week went on, and would be full of carbon and smog from Tuesday onwards, and would only become relatively clear after the weekend of no furnace use, making Monday the only day when the surrounding air had become relatively clear of smog and smoke, allowing clean washing to be dried outside, and still kept clean.
I think its older than that. Monday was chosen to have 'all the week to dry', leaving time for the extra processing of starching, ironing and mending. To still be doing laundry at the end of the week, risking being unprepared for Sunday was shameful.
And of course best clothes were reserved for church on Sunday, which as a day of rest forbade washing anything that day. When I was a girl, Monday was leftovers from Sunday lunch, leftover meat and vegetables fried up as a sort of bubble and squeak fricassee.
Whilst I’m not saying you’re wrong…it’s only partly right… Monday as wash day goes back MUCH further than that…mediaeval times in fact.. to be ready for Sunday worship and because no work was done on the lord’s day..🙂
In Victorian times it would typically take 4 days to do the washing. By the end of her reign it had dropped to three days, for those with the latest technology. That is a purpose built copper for boiling the water and a mangle. The first mangle attached to a clothes washer was invented in 1843 by a Canadian, and by the end of the century they were widely used by middle-class households and washerwomen.
@@peterjackson4763 when I was a little girl, my mother had a mangle and I can still remember the smell of washing soap and rubber. Drying took forever.
All the history in the UK is why I LOVE the UK,god save the king.
Gods and kings are both well past their sell by dates.
People need to grow up and start thinking for themselves, instead of feebly swallowing all of the brainwashing nonsense that was spoon-fed to them when they were kids and did not know any better.
Not my King. Britain should be a republic.
I'd be fascinated to hear how life would improve for ordinary people in a republic.
@@generaladvance5812 You wouldn't but it would turn subjects into citizens, an immeasurable democratic improvement. A very specific advance, not just a general one.
Read up on British Nationality Act 1981. You are literally already a citizen. Abolishing the monarchy isn't going to change anything, it was a change in terminology and isn't going to make life better for anyone.
Of course we Brits live in the past, nostalgia is wonderful.
If you want to see the past re-enacted every day, live in my little town. Indoor plumbing is still a novelty and most homes have Electrickery.
This hits home with me. As much as we all are looking forward, we all need to know and appreciate what those before us have done so that we can have the lives we do. ❤
I'm so proud you brought up the Chester town crier, Alanna - that's my native city and from my childhood days I remember hearing the ringing of the bell and the cry of "Oyez!" ('oh-yay') that preceded the crier's proclamations, especially at the Cross in the city centre during the height of summer.
Since the late 1990s, Chester has in fact had two town criers who just happen to be married to each other - David and Julie Mitchell. The story goes that he wanted to have his bride awoken on their wedding day by a proclamation from the previous town crier, but he phoned in sick, so David donned the costume, borrowed the bell and did the job himself. Having quite a strong voice too, Julie was subsequently encouraged to join him. They actually tend to work alone, allowing one to do the city centre proclamation while the other might be engaged to cry elsewhere, but they also work together and it's an impressive sound when they do!
To take the more general subject matter of this video: Britain is a conservative country - note the small "c," meaning conservative in the non-political sense though it just so happens that we've had more Conservative (capital "C") governments than any other kind, over the centuries in which we've had political parties vying for power. Because we have so much history, and because there are so many relics of that history carefully preserved (all those castles, cathedrals, ancient homes and so on), Brits have a tendency to guard not only artifacts but traditions as well. Not everyone is as staunch about everything - the monarchy, for instance, is something that some would be happy to get rid of - but as you say, it's worth looking backwards and preserving certain things. We'd miss them more than we know if we lost them.
Alanna, you forgot to mention, Public Footpaths, some go through private Property. These Public Footpaths can date back to around 6000 BC.
The back lane from our house is the same as was the ancient trackway that ran to the waterfront from Dartmoor including a modern pedestrian underpass. Ends up on a road which was built on the old shoreline mudflat. The little settlement there did not form the medieval trading town, which was built by the English when they conquered Devon, but the British were allowed to stay there outside the town walls in a fishing hamlet. Later burned down by Breton pirates.
The first mention of Morris Dancing being in 1448 is impressive, but the stranger fact that the Goldsmith's Company who paid them had already existed for over a century at that time and is still active today.
I suspect they paid them to go away 😂
For a slightly skewed view of Morris dancing, see the late great Terry Pratchett’s writing about the Lancre (one of the Discworld’s kingdoms) Stick and Bucket dance… 🤣🤣🤣 IIRC it features somewhat in ‘Lords and Ladies’.
The flip side of looking back so much is we have a very blurred vision of what we should strive to be now and into the future. I'm proud to be part of such a rich history and I'm appropriately humble about the bad bits. But it can be like a lead weight in becoming a positive future-looking country
You and nobody living are not responsible for the past actions, just like the Italians or the Mongolians or every other country that monopolised the world at some point. History is just that and all the museums and statues are there to remind us of the past so we can learn from it. History is not something to be embarrassed about. The future is not on your individual shoulders and it will be what it will be.
Great video 😎 Mansfield, where I live, is also mentioned in the Domesday Book and gained it's market charter 1227. I was born in Chesterfield which gained it's market charter in 1204 from King John.
Ah, Mansfield! The wee cousin of Nottingham that already had it's market charter in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) and the Old Market Square still shows the delineation in cobblestones between the French Quarter and Saxon Quarter from the Norman invasion. It's the largest market square (though not town square) in the UK where you could apparently buy and sell anything, even your wife and children!
My favourite brand, is Primula spreading cheese. Below the ingredients in a small font it says "all our profits go to charity"
The original inventor, in 1924 died childless,so left the company to a trust fund, that still runs the company today.
Here in the UK we find that in life, lessons of the past have already had the price paid in blood, sweat and tears. While some may look at the Monarchy as being outdated, Great Britain & Ireland, and the North American colonies paid the price of having a sole dictator (Oliver Cromwell) who had more powers than that of the King in the 1600’s. We learned the difficult lessons on a single person being in charge and replaced it with a Constitutional Monarchy and democracy.
Monarchy does not provide stability. It is an anachronism and the Commonwealth is clearly not united in its support for the institution.
Odd comment.
Very odd list of unintelligible remarks
@@user-qj7et4wv3q I agree with you on the remarks. Especially as they were put on by someone who uses my login. I won’t bother deleting it. I will just clean it up.
@@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming 4 inch nails and a hammer might help to stop it happening again, hope you get it sorted, best of luck
I live in a completely unremarkable small town, in fact until about twenty years ago it was just a large village….Yet we still have the knee high foundations of a Nine hundred year old small castle and a two hundred plus, years old pub and an ancient church. History is just a part of daily life, we seldom even think about it.
Not so much Canada but I think USA is stuck in the past with its refusal to go metric, lack of universal health care, lack of proper employee rights, gun laws that were designed for the wild west. antiquated road layouts etc.
Neither of you know what the hell you are talking about!🙄
Speaking as an English man, I believe those gun rights are not just for their own protection but defence against the rise of a tyrannical government. That’s what you get when you don’t have a monarchy as head of state.
@@piggypiggypig1746 As an American, I would say it's more to the degree that trusting someone else with your own best interest that may or may not understand what's best for you. I've had many experiences where others thought they knew what was best for me & I trusted them against my own judgement and turned out to be a disaster, & that's basically what we as Americans feel about government regulations even if it's with good intentions( which it's mostly not) There's no one size fits all, is basically what I'm saying.
@@Timbothruster-fh3cwI'm an American. Don't speak for me. I understand why regulations exist. As Alana says here - it's good to know your history - and that includes why regulations exist.
@@1ouncebird Ok, but don't speak for me either, I know history and any time you give people in power an inch they take a mile. I'm not against regulations if they're reasonable, but most of the time they aren't.
Faversham has my hometown of Cheadle beat! :D
*Cheadle was a settlement in Domesday Book, in the hundred of Totmonslow and the county of Staffordshire.
It had a recorded population of 11 households in 1086, putting it in the smallest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and is listed under 3 owners in Domesday Book
Lord in 1066: Wulfheah
Lord in 1086: King William*
Those who don't learn from the past, are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
I love your passion for British history. Thank you so much for your interest and love of our culture. 😊
Brits have a different sense of time. I was visiting Dorchester (where I was born), and I commented on the floor of their museum, which was a real Roman tile floor. The guy who worked there said, "oh, that's only Roman. If you want to see old stuff, check out the next gallery." Houses in Dorchester literally have Roman walls in their back gardens! When I was posted to Kingston, Ontario (I served in the Canadian Forces), I discovered they have a town crier. Some other places in Canada do to. As for dance: I was part of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society for many years - in Canada. So, we do have some old stuff here too! Except where I live now (the Klondike) only started in 1896. History here means something a bit different from where I was born!
As the saying goes, "Brits think 100 miles is a long way, whilst Americans think 100 years is a long time". I imagine this can ring true for Canadians also.
In my city (Portsmouth), one of the best days of the year is coming up next month on 21st Oct. It will be Trafalgar day commemorating our victory at battle of Trafalgar in 1805. All the pubs are usually rammed, people dress up in fancy dress and the naval dockyard usually puts on events throughout the week. It’s all good fun! Would recommend if you fancy a trip along the coast from Kent!
Some people make the mistake of thinking Morris Dancing is serious. If you notice it's invariably held close to a pub. I'm sure you can work it out. 😁
Our chemistry teacher at school used to do Morris dancing. We used to tease him rotten, but if we saw him doing this we would give him plenty of support.
I wish Canada would focus more on Indigenous history, customes and learning their languages in school just like French is taught as a second language. Cool video :D
Not sure what the point of that would be. The native nations are very small in number and very localised, so the opportunity to speak the language would be rare.
It depends on where you are. Signs in the school in Dawson City, Yukon are trilingual: English, French, and Hän, the local native language. Buildings in town often have the Hän name on them. So, it does happen, but not everywhere.
@@klondikechris That is nice to hear. Thank you :D Ontario needs to do better.
I agree. The local indigenous language where I'm from in BC is called Halq'eméylem, and besides some place names that we grow up knowing, we don't learn any of the language and now it's nearly completely dead. I wish we learned it more or they taught a bit of it in schools.
@@galanthusknitsMy brother lives in France, the local language. Occidant is taught in school. The older generation still speak it
Great video Alanna, the thing about all these old British traditions (and we have a lot of them) is that it gives us a connection to our history and sense of where we came from. Even today we are doing things on a regular basis that are becoming new traditions like watching Adventures & Naps videos every Tuesday afternoon. 😊
Thank you so much ☺️
Hi Alanna, Chester is not the only place that still has a town crier, there's a town criers competition, too see who can shout the loudest presumably. My towns claim to fame, for around forty years we have had the worlds tallest town crier, Martin Wood, who is 7ft tall.
It's not only the UK where you'll find the past still continuing into the present. Go and live in any European country, and you'll experience history surviving into the here and now. Canada and the USA just don't have as much recorded history and traditions (outside of the native American history and traditions).
Yes, you are correct but just to clarify that Alanna isn't saying the UK is the only place to be doing that, she's simply using the two places she's familiar with. Also, to be a bit picky for the fun of it, the UK is a European country, so technically she is doing what you ask. 😁
As for America and Canada, it still blows me away when I realise I can point to houses that are older than both those countries.
Plenty of pubs older than both those countries too@@Elwaves2925
It's not just Europe mate, Asia, Africa, the middle east... most of the world really has the same thing. Even American has ancient buildings but they ignore anything pre-colonial. Where as we remember the people who lived on our land before it became the country we live in.
@@kishu2706 Britain has never had "original roots of truly being English." Please take care of your education. 🙄
@@kishu2706 You read it in The Guardian? Hahahahaha!! It's no wonder you can't even write a credibe sentence. Of course you're not here to prove it, you can't.
Also, you didn't say London, you basically said Britain is not English. It is a fact that Britain's roots are originally English, Welsh and Scottish. I clearly know more than you.
I'm from Chester, even though I live abroad now...
For anyone visiting the UK, it is the most beautiful little city. Tourists that can find their way out of London think York is beautiful - the smart tourist will try Chester instead. She's a beautiful little hidden gem 😁
Not to be confused with Chichester, which is where your taxi will take you if you ask on a cold night! 🙂
Ripon also has a town crier known as the Hornblower. There are three people covering the post and they work on a rota basis. Every night of the year without fail, a horn is blown at the four corners of the Obelisk in Ripon Market Place to set the ‘watch’ and then outside the house of the Mayor. This ceremony commemorates the time in the Middle Ages when Ripon’s first citizen, the Wakeman, was responsible for crime prevention in the city from 9 pm until dawn and had to compensate victims of burglary. The Wakeman had constables to patrol the streets, and also had the right to levy a rate on houses according to the number of outside doors, 4d a year for two doors and 2d a year for one door.
'Town celebrations' made me laugh, because they're just so random: I recently went to the Apple Pie Fair in Marldon, and next month Stratford-Upon-Avon will be celebrating their annual Mop Fair. No, 'mop' is not an abbreviation or anything like that; it refers to a literal mop, because when it first started it was an employment event and low skilled job seekers would take a mop with them to this event.
Well done. Absorb modern culture and links to the past. Not everyone does, and they're missing out.
There are actually different types of Morris dancing, some regional and some gendered (women would traditionally perform lace morris without the sticks). Nowadays you get male only, female only and mixed groups - each group decides their style.
They'll often also perform a mummers play which is performed in traditional costumes. The mummers play always has the same storyline.
My town was given its name in about the year 800 and granted market status in the 13th century - the market still runs today.
The local private school was founded in 1432 and is still a functioning school. You can't help but bump into its buildings as around the town.
We also have one of the oldest state primary schools in England, which was founded in 1675.
In 1456 the local manor house was built and people still live there!
The cricket grounds were built in 1773 and are still in active use.
The village I grew up in was founded by the Danes (Vikings) and appears in the Domesday Book. It had 24 households across 2 estates; the 2021 census recorded 3424 residents (nearly double the 2011 census which was about the same as the 2001 census).
My friend's family still owns and lives in one of the two manor estates listed in the Domesday Book (the other one is owned by English Heritage).
In 2011 someone wrote and published a book about the history of the village and it's pretty hefty!
its great to see someone doing something well and watching them get better at it
Great video Alanna! Now autumn is coming in I can't wait to go out and get a Sunday roast 😋
Me too!!
As a Briton I appreciate the Royal Family , I saw a view by an extremely left wing comedian who said it is better to have a head of state who has to do it rather than someone who wants to do it .
Also Queen Elizabeth's favourite prime minister was Justin Trudeau , remember she was your Queen as well as mine . 1000 yrs of history that you have a connection to .
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the home-made bread sauce!!
8:51 omg YES! I'VE MET THAT GUY 😆 I met the town crier for Gloucester! He was dressed as a Victorian Police Officer at the time, but it was in a pub and I was munching away at a burger nearby without a clue to who he was. He's a really nice friendly chap. I got a photo with him afterwards 🙂
I do love that the UK has a lot of history and tradition. Admittedly some of that history and tradition raises eyebrows 🥴 Thanks for another brilliant video Alanna! ☺️
Everybody points about the raised eyebrows of our history but what people don't really understand is that we were invaded for centuries before and we worked on a master plan and then we invaded them, unfortunately we didn't know when to stop, and although we were involved in the slave trade and industrialised it (like everything actually!) we majorly stopped the slave trade in the West and finished paying for it in 2015 from the 1800's !?!
Grow up, there's nothing wrong with the UK.
@forsakingfear3652 mate there is plenty wrong with the UK 😂 admitting that doesn't preclude our ability to be proud of traditions.
@@iamamyb Apart from the political and media scum forcing vile ideology on us, tell me what in our past have we to be ashamed of ?
Good job as always. Have a good evening. 👍
Welly wanging, not wagging. Also, I always love learning or reminding myself of my home city's history. And it's always cool seeing your home city or town's name in historically set movies or tv shows. ... even if it is the then monastery being destroyed by Vikings.
"Dickens has a very tight connection to Rochester..." Yeah, but we don't like to talk about it!!! 🤣
Love that you are over here sharing your perspective of / on us....?
Interesting video, as always 🙂
I live in Australia. It's a country that has only existed as a nation since 1901. SO in a political sense its only young. Australia has a lot of youthful energy and vibrance as a result. Yet at the same time, our land is host to one of the most ancient civilisations on earth. There are constant collisions between modern commercial enterprises, (e.g. mining ore) and the indigenous civilisations that have visible culture dating back at least 48,000 years and almost certainly longer. Brits seem a lot more respectful of their history than the majority of Aussieis are. That's a real pity, I think.
As a Brit, I feel I should hold our collective hands up and admit we are responsible for Australia, USA, Canada, etc. so it's kinda all our fault. "Respecting history" is another way of saying "Umm....let's talk about something else..." We respect history so much we take other countries' and keep it nice and safe in our museums.
Most early Brits in Oz were deported criminals so you can't expect them to behave decently! 🙂
Did you know that Faversham is one of the few ( 5) places that has a copy of the Magna Carta . There is a museum there where you can see it along with its other Charters ( eg the Market Charter) .
Glad you like living in my county, Kent. Lived here all my life & never been to Faversham. It’s only 30-40 minutes up the road too!!
The stuck in the past I noted when a distant relative contacted me as he was doing a family tree - I did see that tree (wish I had a copy) and he had found direct ancestors of mine (and his etc) back to around 950ad - when the spelling of my surname was very different. You can tell what it is now, but it was originally 'Ap Aynon' but I do enjoy going to the historical buildings we have, - stately homes, castles etc - I feel that is quite unique for the UK
It's amazing that you can trace your surname back that far! Our family's surname technically only dates to the mid-fifties - it was changed to be "less foreign" for when my auntie started school.
The "original" surname comes from my great-grandparents who were Jewish Ukrainians and have about 3 or 4 different versions of the surname recorded, all of which are different to what my grandad ended up with.
Different branches of the family have ended up with different versions of the surname.
Some people can trace their family tree back to when they lived in it! 🙂
"I meant to film it, but then I just ate it!" Brilliant!! 🤣🤣🤣
One of my favourites is street names as you explore old towns. They give a sense of what was there in olden times eg. Haymarket, Market Street, Mill Lane, etc
Great video, enjoyed it. Is that an adventures and naps mug and/or candle I see on the mantle behind you???? Merch when?
Re food: A nearby village has a Dock pudding competition every year. The local chip shops will sell Rag pudding & gravy, but you can't get it outside the area. Both very historic dishes. Rag pudding is found in Lancashire where the textile mill workers use to make a savory suet pudding, wrap it in cloth and boil it to cook. Dock pudding is from over the border in Yorkshire and made from wild Burdock and oatmeal.
See also clootie dumpling, from the Scots "cloot" meaning a piece of cloth.
Gravesend in Kent was noted in the Doomsday charter of 1086 as Gravesham, later known as Gravesend. It has the oldest cast iron pier built in 1834 and its Market was chartered in 1268 making it older than Faversham and being one of the oldest in England! Gravesend is also where Pocahontas (Aka Rebecca Rolf) is buried after being ill and catching a fever on her way back to Virginia
I always appreciate Britain's past; the computer you mention uploading to TH-cam using the World Wide Web.
Also have a foot in the future.
As usual, Alanna, a very inciteful and entertaining video. Most Brits are inured to the history and natural beauty around them, to the solidity of its democracy with a non-political figurehead as its head of state, and with the tapestry of cultures brought about by its colonial history. Thanks.
I grew up in Chester. Yes there are quite a few old traditions here. Chester itself is a very historical place!
Why do Morris Dancers wear bells ? ....... So the blind can be irritated by them as well. ;)
Hi Alanna, i remember you saying you wanted to go to the Bury World black pudding throwing competition, well it was held on Sunday just gone. So put it in your diary for next year it's held on the second Sunday of September every year 🙂
It's in the calendar!
Lancastrians throwing black puddings at Yorkshire puddings as targets!? I'm surprised some 'well-meaning' misinformed group hasn't tried to have that banned, as racially offensive! 🤨
Canada has its fair share of odd sports (aquamermaid, dodgebow and underwater rugby, etc.) Anyone fancy starting a Moose Throwing Championship? It may sound cruel, but I say if you can get close enough to a moose and lift it to throw it, you should be allowed to do what the hell you like (who's going to argue with you?)
@@AdventuresAndNapsBring on the mighty black pudding 😄 we may see you there 🤷♂️
I’m the only one who likes Bread sauce at Christmas time, first had it as a child at home with my parents. It’s traditional for me now. Tried making it but small tub from Sainsbury’s is simpler and tastier.
What a stylish and insightful video, Alanna 👍
Re you thoughts on US tech, my feeling as an engineer, is that the UK has invented some world leading stuff, but doesn't commercialise it to anywhere like the same degree, so it gets bought by foreign companies.
We gave the computer to the Americans.
@@suttoncoldfield9318 And the atom bomb .... Oops.
Alana ( Oyez Oyez Oyez!) there is a National Town Criers Championship in Rye this year ( 14th Oct ) . Rye ( Sussex ) is interesting to visit anyway and throw in a gathering of criers and you are in heritage heaven .
Hello from a Canadian who used to live in Chester! Thanks for the shoutout to my favourite little english city! Yes, they still have their town crier. I used to run into him making his proclamations fairly often. Haha!
You can see a full scale needle craft reproduction of the Bayeux tapestry at Reading museum. Fascinating.
Hey Alanna - another way we brits have found to use up excess/unwanted bread is 'Bread Pudding' - if you've not tried it you really must.
For unwanted/unused slices of bread and butter there's 'Bread And Butter Pudding.'
Bread Pudding is sort of cake-like. Bread And Butter Pudding is a milk pudding (like Rice Pudding or Semolina Pudding... both of which, if you've not tried you are missing out big time!)
I make Bread Pudding once every couple of months when I have the crusts from 6 loaves of bread sitting in the freezer. It's my own recipe I've constructed from one I found in a cook book my mum had, that she passed on to me as she doesn't use it anymore. I've made my own tweaks and changes to it.
Had it once, half at one sitting and the other half ~10 years later, not for me.
I’m a member of the English Country Folk Dance Club and we do traditional dances, occasionally in displays. A few dances are medieval, some Tudor, many Victorian but most popular are from the time of Jane Austin. Dances can be a peasants romp, full of jumping for joy, others without repetition, rather like a working out a mathematical formula in your head whilst holding a conversation with whichever partner you are meeting; thankfully these are sedate to give you time to think. We also have an themed annual Christmas ball in an Elizabethan Manor House, often the highlight of the year.
Well that explains your trip to Bath! I expect to see a dance in full costume soon.
Britain does have lots of old companies, like Shepard's Neame - a brewery that has been going since 1698, but we also have high tech aerospace, technology and computer games studios, such as Dyson and ARM - whose processor designs power a huge number of electronic devices, including iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and even washing machines!
It is the UK's creativeness, quirkiness, obsessiveness, alongside tradition and history, that makes it so special.
So lovely to see you looking back in the culture here, A lot of them Markets would have sold livestock cattle and sheep e.t.c. some places were built on livestock and the wool trade, May be you can look back in Kent of Hop picking for the brewing industry.... I think you'll love this part, Then look up the Rope sheds in Kent where ropes would be made for the Tall ships You have a very large Rope shed in Kent to go visit. 😉
Absolutely we have bread sauce at christmas.
To be honest though, I prefer boxing day dinner, to christmas day dinner. Dont get me wrong, I love a roast dinner, and christmas dinner is the king of roast dinners, but...
In my house, boxing day dinner consists of cold turkey and boiled bacon, salad, baked potato, pickled onions, pickled cabbage, picalilli, branston pickle, pickled gherkins etc. with all the sauces and condiments you can think of. We often have the same on New years day.
In the town of Bromyard, in Herefordshire, they have annual Town Crier competition.
I live on a road called Red Lane,it was the site of a huge battle and the blood ran down the hill.
I live in Harwich Essex and our town cryer is still in residence.
Hiya Alanna 😊 another great vid, with interesting facts 👍 👏👏. Have you tried gypsy tart it’s quite popular in Kent very yummy!!!😋
I live in the north east of England and there is a ton of history here. Hadrian's wall, Bamburgh castle, Holy Island, Durham cathedral and just 5 minutes walk from where I live there is a church which was originally built in 674AD.
Here in Essex, about halfway between the little village of Greensted Green and the town of Chipping Ongar, we have the oldest wooden-built church in the world. The oak timbers that form the nave of St. Andrews were carbon dated to between 998 and 1063AD.
@@martinpay3812 Here in the East Midlands we take our history and turn it into pubs. Some of our beer has been carbon dated as far back as April.
@@martinpay3812And how is that older than 674…? 998 is 324 years YOUNGER not OLDER…🤣🇬🇧
I was Christened in Escomb Church. and the Church in my village is now under historical dating ( University of Durham ) It was thought originally to be late 1100s but now we have reason to believe closer to Escomb church’s age..🤷♀️
@@Ionabrodie69 Not everything has to be a dick-measuring contest! Maybe it was just for info in a "there's history all over Britain" way? Just be content that you happen to live in the half of Britain that has an old church - it's not like you personally built it!
Sandwich , a very charming and historic town in Kent, still maintains the tradition of ringing the curfew bell at 8 pm . The curfew bell was rung to tell towns people to cover their fires and go to bed . Fire was a real hazard in ye olden days so they wanted to ensure that fires were damped down at night .
However this law was rescinded in 1100 ! Some towns - like sandwich - carried on with the tradition until the second world war when it was stopped as church bells were used for signalling invasion etc. Sandwich restarted the tradition post WW2 and it continues to this day . A thousand years of this tradition - amazing , if slightly crazy 🙂!
I watched Due South. I can't believe what Benton Fraser survived on.
Just watched Max cooking Pemmican stew. You buggers are hard.
You should be proud of Canada for the invention of the Hawaiian pizza .. Top Nosh😉
Tradition is of huge value, if only other nations like Canada realised it, it's what keeps you rooted and connected to the past, it lets you know where you came from and has bearing on where your going to as a result. History is of value because all the lessons of the past are a positive knowledge for the future, despite some modern day people with agendas who try and re-write history for their own purposes.
Vox did a short video on TH-cam recently about the history of Silicon Valley and why Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon etc. are all in Silicon Valley. Worth a watch. History of the area though is in farming. I doubt Americans really want to admit that their history is European history. It would be interesting to see America embrace Native American history though, revive the traditions and dishes of Native America. Interesting subject. Thanks for seeding the thought process 🙂
Considering how anti-immigration a lot of Americans are nowadays they conveniently forget that almost everbody there has immigrant roots.
Oxford market was first mentioned in the mid 12th century, but probably dated from at least c. 900 when the town was fortified. (fn. 1) By 1279 it was held twice weekly, presumably, as in the early 14th century, on Wednesdays and Saturdays with an extra market on Sundays in harvest. (fn. 2) In the early 17th century it was complained that hucksters made every day a market day. (fn. 3) Although a covered market, opened in 1774, was open daily, the most popular days were Wednesday and, above all, Saturday. (fn. 4) In the late 19th century almost all the country carriers to Oxford travelled on those days only. (fn. 5) An outdoor general market, which had developed around the cattle market, was still held on Wednesdays in 1975, in addition to the daily covered market.
I like this video Alana as it proves how Anglicized you have become. I love our history, I appreciate the Royal Family and I love eating. Your remark regarding not filming a couple of your cooking products 'cos you ate them was "right up my table"! Great.
The 'Morris' gets its name ultimately from the Moors ('Moorish' dance) and there are examples of 'Mauresque' dancing over much of Europe.
i love bread sauce, with sprouts! i make triffel-quite alcoholic, sprinkle some on the sponge-people tend to like my triffel, even when they usally dont
I first saw Morris Dancing in London at the investiture of the mayor of the City of London. The second time I saw Morris Dancing was on the lower East Side in New York City. Tradition continues, even in New York USA.
Another historical dance event is the Floral Dance held in Helston Cornwall
Oh dear. As much as I enjoy these videos, it must be pointed out that having been established in 1546, Faversham market is quite a 'recent' institution. The market town where I live (Alford, Lincolnshire) was granted a market charter in 1283. I'm sure there must be many other market towns with much earlier charters.
Hahah I love the phrase “every few months I come into contact with morris dancing” I think Ive lucked out as I’ve managed to avoid contact for at least 10 years
Tewkesbury had a town crier when i was there last year
I'm from Melbourne, Australia, and I tend to occasionally look at old buildings and areas I've researched knowing people from 1940 were stood. I'm even fascinated by places that used to be there. I think everyone should learn more about their area they're from. History is very important. Not only learning from it, but incorporating it into our lives today.
Did we just get a sneaky peek at Mr Naps there slaving away in the kitchen?
Great video, again.
The Royal Family really keeps us separate from the US. (Whew!)
(Even your adverts are cute and fun...) Poutine! Poutine is Canadian! Almost historical too.
Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada