MetaFilter posts tagged with England

I had never seen a hole playing for Temple.

Mitheral — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:14:42 -0800

Geoff Carter's radical view of building in the ancient world, especially the archaeology of the lost timber built environment of Southern England. It is new research into of prehistory of architecture

With the ultimate conclusion that Stonehenge is the remains of a roofed shelter. Though the site is structured into separate blog posts they read more like chapters in a book and I suggest starting at the beginning and reading through rather than hopping around.

Just remember to obey the red man and get some qualifications…

acb — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:09:49 -0800

How to be German in 20 easy steps; also, from the same author: how to be English. Elsewhere: how to be a really hip German.

Act of Terror: arrested for filming police officers - video

nickyskye — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:21:01 -0800

When police carried out a routine stop-and-search of her boyfriend on the London Underground, Gemma Atkinson filmed the incident. She was detained, handcuffed and threatened with arrest. She launched a legal battle, which ended with the police settling the case in 2010. With the money from the settlement she funded the production of this animated film, which she says shows how her story and highlights police misuse of counterterrorism powers to restrict photography. Article in French. On Facebook under the title Fat Rat Films.

His home is his castle

acb — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:45:08 -0800

This St. George's Day sees news of the next attempt to redress Britain's superhero shortage: Englishman, who looks like Iron Man crossed with a mediaeval crusader. The series promises “brand new, quintessentially English characters, including Greenbelt and Dry Stone Wall”. Englishman is by no means the first attempt at a British superhero; Marvel attempted to transplant the Captain America formula across the Atlantic with Captain Britain, and later reprised this with the historical character of Union Jack and the John Lennon-imitating John the Skrull, and DC commissioned John Cleese to reimagine Superman as a Briton. What is new is a rejection of the idea of Britishness as a national identity, in favour of Englishness; on their blog page, the publishers explicitly state this, saying that “characters such as Captain Britain cannot be classed as patriotic: there is, of course, no such country as ‘Britain’.”

Meet The Edwardians

The Whelk — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:39:19 -0800

"This video has been dramatically enhanced in quality, using modern video editing tools. The film has been motion stabilized and the speed has been slowed down to correct speed (from 18 fps to 24 fps) using special frame interpolation software that re-creates missing frames." Watch corrected and cleaned footage of circa 1900s London and Cork (5 min 35 sec). (via)

Ruled by “Dave” and “Nick”

MartinWisse — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:34:44 -0800

In a sense what we have is the Americanisation of Britain, or at least of England. A society where everybody has then sense that they can be anything they want to be, and where hardly anybody can. Crooked Timber's Chris Bertram on the evolution of British society since the seventies.

"generations of killer ink"

madamjujujive — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:42:27 -0800

Bristol Tattoo Club & the Skuse Family - Awesome vintage photos from the studio of legendary Champion Tattoo Artist of all England, Les Skuse, who opened shop in 1928 and founded the Bristol Tattoo Club. After his death in 1973, son Danny ran the business and son Bill had his own shop. See Bill and his celebrated wife Rusty in Famous Couples in Tattoo History. Grandson Jimmie Skuse runs the Les Skuse Tattoo Studio today.

It's the capital of the world, but is it still the capital of the UK?

nickrussell — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:04:07 -0800

BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders asks "Should Britain let go of London?"

Good photos of cool rich midcentury Americans on yachts in New England.

maiamaia — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:47:45 -0800

Good photos of cool rich midcentury Americans on yachts in New England.

Star gazing girls of Georgian England

salishsea — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:06:18 -0800

An intriguing essay on how young women in Georgian England were able to do science by hiding in the pursuits of the domestic arts.

"Women didn’t find it easy to participate in late eighteenth century science. Experimentation and discovery were not easily compatible with the ideals of domestic femininity – but there were women who rejected these social expectations and became active and renowned."

Never to be sold

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:59:51 -0800

"All the Years of Trying" by Patrik Fitzgerald, taken from the documentary of the same name, is a modernized version of one of his old songs. The original Folk Punk (and Backstreet Boy) is still making music . More songs by Patrik: Tonight All Sewn Up Safety Pin Stuck in My Heart All My Friends Are Dead Now Little Dippers Mrs and Mrs Drifting Towards Violence The Cruelest Crime One Little Soldier Optimism Reject My Death The Bingo Crowd Moon In The Gutter Little Fishes Peel Session 1979 As Ugly As You Are

Bob Godfrey 1921-2013

louche mustachio — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:04:34 -0800

On Thursday, February 21st, influential British animator Bob Godfrey passed away at the age of 91. (Guardian, BBC,Cartoon Brew, Mirror, Rueters, Telegraph, and yes, even the Daily Mail. Godfrey created the televison series Henry's Cat, Roobarb, and Noah and Nelly. He won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for his 1975 film Great, a satirical biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1961, he made a short, Do-It-Yourself Cartoon Kit which eventually spawned the Do It Yourself Animation Show, which showed people the ways of tabletop animation and influenced many young British animators: Episode 1, First, Catch Your Camera is not available, but... Episode 2 1, 2, 3 Episode 3 (This is the one with Terry Gilliam, as featured here in a previous thread I cannot link to here, for it borks my post.) 1, 2, 3, 4 Episode 4 1, 2, 3 Episode 5 1, 2, 3 Godfrey is also the subject of this BBC2 documentary (an episode of their series The Craftsmen: 1, 2 He directed many other wonderful short films, including Henry 9 til 5, Alf and Bill and Fred, and Kama Sutra Rides Again (which was banned until Stanley Kubrick chose to play it before the premiere of A Clockwork Orange

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm

Chrysostom — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:10:22 -0800

How exactly did England get that name, anyway?

There were four in the bed and the little one said "squeeze up"

Mezentian — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 05:13:23 -0800

From April 2013 all working-age housing benefit claimants will experience a reduction in their benefit if their home has what is termed a 'spare bedroom'. Some people have a problem with this, and it is believed it will plunge 95,000 Britons into poverty. Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the tax saying it is important to "get control of housing benefit". Some who voted for the tax claim to have never heard of it, even though there are some high profile cases in the media detailing how people will suffer. The Bedroom Tax might be targeting the poor, but there may be a Mansion Tax in the planning stages to help balance the scales -- or not. It's a modern Window Tax!

Henry the VIII's Wine Cellar

zzazazz — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:08:26 -0800

Who knew that Henry the VIII's wine cellar was preserved inside the Ministry of Defense building? More on the cellar here.

Whips, whiskey, women, work, weapons, cars and cadence. But no hockey.

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:59:41 -0800

Jump steady, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Yeah, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Looky yonder Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Whoa Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
Yeah, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam!
She's so rock steady! Bam-A-Lam!
She's always ready! Bam-A-Lam!
Whoa, Black Betty! Bam-A-Lam! The earliest recordings of the American folk/work song "Black Betty” were made in the early 1930s by American folklorists/musicologists John & Alan Lomax, who first recorded Blues legend Leadbelly. Odetta recorded a version of the song as part of a medley with “Looky Yonder” and “Almost Done”. While several artists in the mid-20th century recorded the song, the 1977 version by Ram Jam became a hit and catapulted the song into much wider exposure, while also becoming the version most cemented in the public’s awareness. More recent versions include Sheryl Crow, Ministry, and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels (with Sebastian Bach & Mick Mars). Volkswagon’s 2001 Superbowl ad featured the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s take on the song. There are many suggested interpretations of the song’s lyrics. One is that it refers to an English marching cadence used by soldiers: Betty was a black flintlock musket, a precursor to the Brown Bess used by the British Army for over 100 years, with “BAM-A-LAM” being the sound of one being fired. Another possible origin is a name for a bottle of whiskey from the English/Scottish border region. In 1737 Benjamin Franklin wrote an article for the Pennnsylvania Gazette titled “The Drinker’s Dictionary” where “He has kissed black Betty” [sic] is listed as a descriptor (among very many) for someone who is drunk. “BAM-A-LAM” could also be evoking the sound of a bullwhip down South on plantations and prison farms like Sugar Land and Angola. The lyrics could also refer to the bumpy ride and/or the slamming doors of the horse-drawn prisoner transfer/police wagon known as the Black Mariah. Ever since the Ram Jam version, groups like the NAACP and the Congress on Racial Equality have considered the song racist for the literal interpretation of the lyrics, specifically that they refer to a black woman and are insulting to Black women in general. While the driving beat and call-and-response aspect of the rock versions are still used at sporting events to get the crowd fired up, in 2006, the University of New Hampshire discontinued the playing of the Ram Jam version before hockey games. The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix racing team uses a reworked cover of the Ram Jam version as a theme song for their car Black Beauty. “Black Beauty” is also the name of the Green Hornet’s car, a bestselling 1877 novel about a horse and kindness to animals, and an archaic street name for stimulants.

Is antigingerism a hate crime?

acb — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:58:26 -0800

In the New Statesman, Nelson Jones argues that prejudice against red-haired people in Britain should be addressed by hate crime legislation. Anti-gingerism, as he calls it, seems to be a mostly English phenomenon, possibly rooted in anti-Celtic prejudice from imperial times, along with old folk prejudices about the supposed characters of red-haired people. Many red-haired schoolchildren report being bullied because of their hair colour, and it's still commonly considered acceptable to make derogatory jokes and remarks about red-haired people, even by people who would never make racist remarks. More seriously, anti-ginger prejudice sometimes escalates to violent attacks and serious harrassment. English hate crime legislation, however, currently does not recognise that such prejudice exists and has no provision for victimisation based on prejudice against hair colour. Writing in The Guardian's Comment Is Free, Ally Fogg argues that to call it a hate crime trivialises other forms of bigotry and discrimination. Meanwhile, red-haired London-based comedian Tim Minchin has a musical comment about the issue.

British Problems

The Whelk — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:31:32 -0800

A few select posts from the politest, most quietly despairing subreddit, r/Britishproblems (background)

Fastnet, Force 10

the man of twists and turns — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:58:54 -0800

The Fastnet Race is a biennial sailing race from Cowes to Fastnet Rock to Plymouth, in England. In 1979, it was the venue for one of the most famous storms and greatest disasters in yacht-racing history. There were 15 deaths, and one man left for dead as his crewmates got into a liferaft.

According to the race inquiry, 70 per cent of the entrants faced Force 11 or above with winds of 55 knot or more and waves of 30 feet or more. Many faced waves of more than 40 feet. Close to half the boats reported a knock-down to horizontal or almost horizontal, a third reported that their boat rolled beyond horizontal. Most terrible of all, one eighth of the fleet were capsized entirely and dismasted.

The boats most affected by the storm were the 35' and under group, as the larger boats has enough speed to get out of the way of the storm. Tenacious, Ted Turner's yacht, was the winner on corrected time. Turner: "The '79 race had the roughest conditions I can remember when actually racing".(PDF) Here's an interview with two J30 skippers in the race. The BBC has an hour-long recreation of the race. The findings resulted in increased safety standard for offshore races. The definitive account is John Rousmaniere's Fastnet Force 10 The "force" referred to is the Beaufort scale.

Love Lego? Love Rugby?

Scottie_Bob — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:01:28 -0800

Ever wanted to see rugby highlights animated in lego? Of course you have! The Autumn Rugby Internationals finished a few weeks ago, with England famously upsetting the odds in their win over New Zealand, adding to their total of only seven wins in 35 occasions, while both Wales and Scotland slumped home with zero wins over Southern Hemisphere opposition. If you want to watch the highlights, there are plenty online. But perhaps the best of the bunch is this one here. Animated by Graham Love, he's done a bunch of stuff with lego and famous sporting events.

That's me in the corner

MuffinMan — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:37:34 -0800

The findings for England and Wales from the 2011 British Census have now been released. The BBC provides a handy guide to changes by area while The Guardian has a neat infographic and a set of Top 10 Charts. The headlines: The UK has more immigrants, especially from India, Poland and Pakistan and most clearly in London and the South East. In 2011 13% (7.5 million) residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK; in 2001 this was 9% (4.6 million). Data England and Wales have become more ethnically diverse. The White ethnic group accounted for 86.0% of the usual resident population in 2011, a decrease from 91.3% in 2001 and 94.1% in 1991. Data Fewer people describe themselves as Christians. Between 2001 and 2011 people who identify as Christian fell from 71.7% to 59.3% and an increase in those reporting no religion rose from 14.8% to 25.1%. Data Women have become more important in the labour market. The Census estimates that there are 602,000 more people who are employed than the Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicates. Most of the observed differences are for women, with the Census estimating that there are 538,000 more economically active women than the LFS and 272,000 fewer economically inactive women than the LFS. Data Notable points: The resident population in England and Wales was 56.1 million in 2011, a rise of 3.7 million from 52.4 million in 2001. Married people are now in the minority. The number of people renting from a private landlord has nearly doubled in 10 years. There are 8,259 Jedis in Wales and 176,632 across the UK. There are 1,893 Satanists, 2,400 Scientologists and 7,906 Rastafarians. Fewer than 1 in 5 people in Wales are Welsh speakers. Boston, Lincolnshire, has the highest proportion of Eastern Europeans. Oxford has the most agnostics. Four out of five people said they were in good or very good health. But Wales, where a quarter of adults are unqualified, dominates the poor health league. 84,000 people consider themselves Cornish, more than double the figure for 2001. More than 1m people identify as mixed race. Some quirks of the survey: Blackpool is the divorce capital. Kensington is a hub of miners. Rushmoor, Hampshire has the most Buddhists. More than a quarter of people in the Isles of Scilly do not have central heating, apparently. Islington has the most singletons. King's Lynn has a lot of caravans. People work hard in the Lake District. A third of people in Blaenau Gwent, southeast Wales do not travel abroad. Norwich is godless. People in South Buckinghamshire have the most cars.

Food History Jottings

zamboni — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:30:25 -0800

Ivan Day has a food history blog. So does India Mandelkern. A selection of posts from Food History Jottings: Cupcakes, pt 2, pt 3 Jellies and gemstones Edible Artistry Shaped mince pies, pt 2. Spongata - An Italian Minced Pie in Georgian London The Pudding King? One Family And Empire Christmas Pudding Lady Fane's Syllabub Pumping up the Syllabub Stephen Hales's Syllabub Machine

Early English Laws

jedicus — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:56:23 -0800

Early English Laws is a project to publish online and in print new editions and translations of all English legal codes, edicts, and treatises produced up to the time of Magna Carta 1215. For many people the digital editions will be the most interesting part of the project. The texts page is the easiest way to find laws that have been edited; look for "published" in the "Proposal in process or edition accepted" column. The digital editions have a very nice interface, allowing the user to see a side-by-side comparison of the edited text (both in the original language and translation), commentary, and facsimiles of the original manuscript or early print edition. For example, here is a translation of Æthelberht’s code together with commentary. There are also some interesting contextual essays, for example "Women and law in the Anglo-Saxon period."

Last Call: Vertical Integration and England's Drinking Problem

spiderskull — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:41:26 -0800

England has a drinking problem. Since 1990, teenage alcohol consumption has doubled. Since World War II, alcohol intake for the population as a whole has doubled, with a third of that increase occurring since just 1995. [...] The United States, although no stranger to alcohol abuse problems, is in comparatively better shape. A third of the country does not drink, and teenage drinking is at a historic low.

How a vertically integrated alcohol industry is to blame, and why the US could find itself in the same position soon.

It's just not cricket

Wordshore — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:01:10 -0800

As accreditation to many photographic news agencies is declined by the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control for India), The Telegraph publishes its own images of action from the India vs England first test match, while the Guardian goes retro. Coverage of the dispute in the India, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand media.