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Lecture

British agricultural history

During the 19th century the centuries old systems of British farming went through great change and not all beneficial to the farmers. Urbanisation and new transport technologies at first favoured agriculturalists and then became problematic. Things we are familiar with today such as issues of Globalisation and food prices were prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century, and during the 21st century some of these difficulties were resolved, with other upheavals with the Brexit situation.

In this talk with Dr Geoffrey Mead, we’ll explore British agricultural change from international, national, regional and local viewpoints, taking in examples from across Britain with emphasis on the systems of Southern England as exemplars.

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Video transcript

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And it's over to you, Geoffrey.

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Good evening, everyone. I'm sorry for the technical hitches there at the beginning.

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We're fully into the talk now. So welcome along to the talk on aspects of British agriculture, historic agriculture, we'll be looking at this from a variety of perspectives from an international national regional and local exemplars.

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To how British farming changed mainly in the nineteenth and twentieth century and into the 20 first century. So let's have a look.

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I'm a geography teacher, so we must start with a map. Now you've got to see from this, I've simplified.

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Map show you the physical relief of the country that by and large the north and the west of the British Isles.

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Tends to be a higher wetter area. Mountainless. Rugged they central and eastern and southeastern sides tend to be lower lying.

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Tend to be drier and those 2 aspects affect different types of agriculture that we have. There are regional variations in all of this of course, but by and large to the West we expect to find more grass growing and more catering both for beef production and for milk but also a lot of sheep in the uplands, particularly in Wales.

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Dairy in produces the milk for a whole range of industrial processes, food processing. Central, eastern, southern, eastern areas tend to be more arable.

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And fruit and horticulture. Sunlight, slightly dry climate. But we're going to be looking at some regional variations in all of these.

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And we're going to start out in the northern part. Start out in Scotland. Let me go a lovely image at the top here of some highland cattle.

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And these Highland cattle are being bred for. Mainly meat production and not just for the people in Scotland.

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Southeast of England has the bulk of the population and the industrial north of England, the Midlands.

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And great deal of meat was needed for that. And much of it was brought down on droving trails.

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Coming down from in this case, this particular map showing you from the the West Western Isles and from also from Northern Ireland and South West Scotland, heading down in a whole series of very long-distance drover trails.

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Mostly trying to find their way to the great capital at London, the huge meat market. Now, the north, because it's wetter and cooler climate, particular crops will be grown there.

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And in particular we associate that with oats. It's certainly Scotland with oats in the north of England.

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Oats went into severe decline early in the twentieth century with the loss of horsepower in much of industry and so at some extent in agriculture but have made a big comeback we now see the healthy options that oats give us and read not so long ago that the the acreage of votes in 2022 was equal to that in 1914.

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So there's been a big upsurge. That in 1,914. So there's been a big upsurge, this time mostly for human consumption, although of course we do still have a huge number of forces for leisure purposes.

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And so there's a big market in Oats. Yes, we associate of course Scotland with one of its main manufacturers and dollar owners of providing whiskey and we need a barley for that and so barley a lot of barley grown in southeast Scotland the area of the Lothians and down towards the borders.

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And that is going, something is going into, food production, but the bulk of that, certainly from Scotland is going into whiskey production.

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So we've got the bulk of that, certainly from Scotland, is going into whiskey production.

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So we've got some regionality developing here. If we go to the west of Britain and this is in far northwest Wales on the Fleen Peninsula.

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My apologies, anyone who is Welsh out there, my pronunciation of clean. It's the long peninsula that stretches out beyond Anglesey.

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These are Welsh black cattle. And similar to the Highland capital would be driven in their thousands down through

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From northwest Wales central mid Wales south Wales down through the midlands to the home counties. Process of bringing cattle across Britain hundreds and hundreds of miles means they lose a great deal of weight along the way and so they are pastured down in the in the clay lowlands of Middlesex and Hertfordshire down in the Thames Valley and the Way Valley into North Kent and Northern Sussex.

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And they're they're fat and known. And bought rather more slowly up to the big meat markets.

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In London that would be to the south of the Thames in Southwark. And to the north of the Thames famously in Smithville.

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Now, London. Is an enormous city in the early nineteenth century until 1,921 it's the largest city in the world.

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It's also immensely wealthy and they consume huge amounts of food. But until the end of the nineteenth century there is no effective refrigeration other than ice houses using blocks of imported Scandinavian ice.

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Food has to come in literally on the hoof or it's driven down. From East Anglia, Turkey's and geese, we clipped wings and literally walked into the centre of London, food has grown very close to the capital.

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You know, freezing no refrigeration, it has to be brought in rapidly. Much of it, of course, was dried or smoked or adulterated in a whole raft of ways which as it's approaching dinner time, I won't go into the detail, but you really don't want to be consuming much food.

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No, century. But it is a huge market. For the mates once they're all to bite the horns and hooves them.

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We all go off to be processed in a raft. Industries. That print here shown you old Smithfield market.

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And just the process of bringing large semi wild beasts through the seats of a densely packed city with all the noise and the confusion, sheep, cattle, pigs.

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It must have been, trying time for the drovers and then getting them here and then moving them on.

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Too slaughty yards and other markets. Beautiful image here of the densely packed market at Oldsmith Hill.

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Away from the West of England and the north of England and Scotland and stock production, there was a Please do.

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Yes, could I interrupt just for a second? I do not think people are seeing you transitioning through these slides.

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Right.

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I don't know if you want to stop sharing and re-share again to see if that clears whatever the problem might be.

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Okay. Okay.

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Okay.

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A lot of people are just saying, saying they can see the map, which was quite some time ago.

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Okay, it's not moved on from there. Okay, so we come out of that. We go to share screen again.

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Let's get to that.

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Let's just go back.

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Okay, people reporting they can see, they can see, okay, so.

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Okay, let me just run very quickly. Okay, we've got the map which some of you have seen.

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Yes, yes, just go back to where you were.

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Okay, we go back to the cattle. Oats, darling, down through the Welsh black cattle, the droving trails down into south of England.

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Right, capital of London and it's huge meat market.

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There is a regionality away from that Western, side of Britain, stop greering into other forms of production.

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And a lot of the certainly the lighter limestones in chalks of the south and the east.

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And the coastal plain of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire are big, horrible producers.

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And it's a lovely 1930 view here. Of some very evocative sheaves in a large field.

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This is on the the lower green sand in West Sussex. On the North of that you've got Lincolnshire with its big potato growing.

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Potatoes were relatively localised until the coming of the railways. A bit more about that to allow bulky cheap cargoes to be moved.

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Readily. So here you've got production, you'll notice the women and the children mainly involved in that.

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Aspect of agriculture. Specialized if you go into Norfolk with the growth of mustard. And Coleman's famously based at Norwich.

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Old established firm. Okay, in the West of England over on the Severn Valley, you've got that and around the river Avon.

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You have. Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, great fruit producers.

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Famously for cider apples but I hear around Evesham, the 19 forties map, the number of orchards.

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Okay, Kent, of course, we associate with orchards and with hops. Can't be that much nearer to London had a very vibrant trade in getting fresh food.

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Both overland by Oxford and Horse. Horse and cart but a lot of it went by sea going along the north coast of Kent and up the river Thames into London and big bulky cargoes, a rather nice fifties image here of Kent.

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As the Garden of England. Specialized near to London. What herb and and medicinal plants for a raft of food industries and pharmaceutical industries.

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And there's a clip on the left hand side of the screen from the 1,839 directory for Surrey.

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Showing you under gardeners on that right hand column. Aromatic plants and medicinal herbs and they're all up at Mitchum and Merton, this is South West London.

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And then the image on the right are the car shortened lavender beds. Very nearby you would have had Mitcham.

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You see there which produced a form of peppermint. Mitch and mints were fairly popular one time.

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Lavender Hill, a bit further north in Battersea, where Mrs. Mead was born and you can still go into the deep suburban Hey, areas of Car Shorten in Surrey near to Croydon and see the lap into beds there.

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They were really stated about 20 years ago. And it's a marvelous sight to find your way between suburban bungalows.

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Into huge field of lavender. But you just have to like bees which fill up the space there.

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So there's very specialized especially near to London. More bulky goods away. Now we mentioned about daring being important and of course this advert here for a fried milk chocolate full cream milk from West of England farms and fries based in Bristol ideally placed a collect in the milk.

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Of course, bit further north, cabbage at Bournville. Similar area bringing in milk from the Welsh borderland.

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Okay, on the south coast of England much milder

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Deep rich soils, lot more sunshine generally. This is to the west of Worthing which had a big tomato growing.

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Empire and you can see the glass houses here. These are going to stop from the 1860 s onwards.

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Tomato and cucumber growing was based in the Lee Valley in the east side of London. Borders of Essex and London, but increasing smoke pollution drifting eastwards from the capital meant that growers were moving out from the 18 sixties using the new railway network and moving down to the south coast to get away from the smoke of London and was working tomatoes became very famous.

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And still some evidence of that around. Big extensive glass houses. In West Sussex today.

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It's over well growing potatoes, wheat, moving animals around. You need good transport links.

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Roads particularly in the southeast of England were pretty bad heavy clay thick sands made moving around difficult But by the 18 twenties road making is getting much better.

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You've got Telford in the West Midlands, macadam in the central Belt of Scotland, Stevenson's up in the northeast.

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These are all major industrial areas, so they needed good roads. Roads get better in the south of England.

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If you can cynically say when wealthy people need to get from London down to the seaside to the new resorts which are developing along the Kent, Sussex and Hampshire and Dorset coast.

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And this is a section of the new, 1,825 road from London to Brighton.

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The old road ran away on that winding route away to the east. But by the 1820. Wrote making had enabled a straighter road.

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Which cut the journey time from London to Brighton from 10 h down to 6 h, almost carved it.

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Now, if you allowed rich people to get to the coast, it allowed farmers on those routeways to get their goods to market more readily.

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So that aided farmers.

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In the Midlands and in the North in particular. The development of the canal system. Gay bulk cargoes could be moved around quite readily.

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Nice, early nineteenth century print there on very rural looking pattern and the Grand Junction Canal Basin.

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And on the right hand side a 19 thirties image of a family living on a canal boat in part of the black country to the west of Birmingham.

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And they would be moving. A lot of materials around to food production until the 19 seventys a lot of goods went to the hinds factories in North West London came in by, came in by Canalbert.

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It's the railways which really open things up. With no express dairies and that developed someone getting milk from Derbyshire down to London.

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And obviously using the train and taking that as their, as their, name of the phone, their express, dairies.

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On the right hand side, so rural, milk train. And of course that enabled. Highly perishable.

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Products such as your milk. To be taken into the urban areas. On UN refrigerated trains but you had the speed.

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So. Certainly by the middle of the nineteenth century. S have got access. To roads and most of them to railways and many of them to canal transport.

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That cuts their costs down. As we were rapidly urbanising nation, more people are living in fewer places.

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Which means the costs for the farmer distributed to these or the agricultural distributor is also coming down.

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Having said that, Machu rshaqua culture was still running in a very ancient form.

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This is in 1,907 on the South Downs. To the north of Brighton, very near the University of Sussex, in a village called Falmer.

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And here you've got someone rolling a field using oxen. Now oxen have been used since the Bronze Age.

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And in East Sussex it was the last place to commercially use auction. In the country for agriculture.

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The last team worked in 1,922. So just over 100 years ago.

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We were still using Bronze Age technology in agriculture. Daring wasn't too much better.

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I don't have a caption to tell you where this was taking place, but at the same period these are being hand built.

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In Denmark and in Holland. They were using mechanized milking processes which meant they're much cleaner, more hygienic and at greater volume.

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So it's very, very old-fashioned way of farming. This is in the 19 thirties in Essex, not far from London, big wheat fields of southern Essex using horse transport.

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So, farming wasn't keeping up with the technology. It was also labour intensive things like hot production.

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Just take a lot of people to produce hops, takes a lot of people to pick them as it was called.

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Pulling the binds. And traditionally firmly will come out from South London, East London to the Hopfield in Essex and Kent and East Sussex.

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Working holiday for urban families, extra money coming into the into the family coffers. And it would have been seen as the children's bit of a treat, but it was hard work, but again until the 19 sixties it's heavily dependent on manual labour.

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During the night nineteenth century mechanisation was coming in. This is by the artist John Lash showing you a thrashing machine, thrashing was something which kept agricultural labors occupied throughout the winter.

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Once the harvest was in in September it would be stored in ricks and then all through the winter it would be taken into the thrashing yards and gradually the barns will fill up with fresh grain, but it was work for agricultural laborers.

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One of these machines would do a winter's work. In a week and it meant unemployment people were leaving the land and flocking into the cities.

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Nasty places to live, but there was work available and there was relatively cheap housing available. Is why urban areas grew so rapidly in the nineteenth century.

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It looks idyllic in the in this countryside of the UK but it was very hard work and often socially very oppressive.

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People flocked into towns. This is an 1851 image of Brighton. We're not looking at the seaside image of Brighton here.

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We're looking at a gentry scan of houses along the front of the image and then terrorist workers housing a raft of industrial chimneys, big railway station, the top of the image windmill.

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The be some market gardens in that image as well. So. Urban areas, lot of people coming in, they need feeding.

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And a lot of that was done in the urban area. So I made this slide up just from local dairies in Brighton in the nineteenth century.

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Cows were kept in the country, but the difficulty was getting the milk into urban areas. Before the railway, almost impossible.

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So you made it into butter and cheese and you could move the milk that way. You wanted liquid milk.

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Was from urban dairies, town cows as they were called and the image top left hand corner are some tiny back streets in Brighton and the little images within those are cow houses.

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And count houses were taxed differently so they were recorded for bureaucracy. Down below of the bottom left hand corner is one of these cow houses.

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You can see a single cow. And at the top, lovely 1858 image. They aren't any cowkeepers, fruiterers in green grocers.

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That's in a very nice West End area of Brighton, very swanky area then and today.

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But it's this autumny cow keepers. It doesn't mean the cows were ordinary cows like Jersey cows or Guernsey cows.

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Any cow in the backyard was called an orgeny cow in the same way as we all have vacuum cleaners, only some of us have hoovers, but we talk about doing the A cow in the backyard was at Walden Cow and this would have been in London there would have been thousands and thousands of urban dairies producing.

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Probably not very good quality.

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You also needed vegetables, not so much in the way of fruit. This is 1832.

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On the very urban edge of Brighton. If I just go back 2 slides. The.

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Terraced streets in the middle of this image. The terrace streets you see at the bottom of this image and Brighton is growing out onto its surrounding farmland.

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Which you can see at top of the slide and the belt through the middle where the big 13 number is are a series of market gardens.

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One there is called Kensington Gardens. It's still a street name today. North Gardens is to the left hand side of the image, nearby Queen's Garden, Spring Garden, Zion Gardens.

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And these are all referring not to elegant. Gardens as you might see around a big house but to food production in market gardens.

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Big cities create a lot of people needing drink. We talked about Scottish whiskey. Most towns had breweries.

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Some towns like Bright would have had scores of breweries, both in visitors and for residents, and that requires a lot of crops to be grown for the production of beer.

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So we talked about barley going into whiskey in Scotland, south of England that goes into breweries.

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Thankfully this one still survives. Lewis is the county town of East Sussex and that is still the riverside, the Bridge Wharf Brewery.

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Down by the River Ouse, which still producing very high quality beer.

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The big crop which came into cities was not for food production for humans, but it was food for draft animals and big cities would have thousands of horses both for transport purposes, leisure purposes, military police.

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Mostly in cities with horse buses to run the horse bus networks. Horse buses appear in the 18 twenties in London, 1,800 fiftys in my hometown of Brighton, but certainly in London it was calculated you needed 16 forces.

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Every day for every single route. So if you've got the root number one, you need 16 horses to keep that route running from morning until evening.

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Hundreds of hundreds of bus services in big cities. This is a picture by David Cox, the watercolor of the hay making.

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And that was a big job getting hay into. One of the most famous pictures that everybody knows is the hay w and here is the haywain, an empty hayway in this case is probably down to and the quayside on the can now or down to the coast to offload his hay.

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Because here we are down in Essex with hay barges at Mill Reach on the Blackwater River and this would come into mainly from the southeast of England into London and of course where would it go the hay market in London was where it was collected.

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And that is an enormous trade. What went in one end of a horse? Comes out the other end of the horse and so these barges wagons, sailboats would go out laden out with stable when you were to go back to the farmlands.

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Around the home counties.

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A lot of hate was grown. Very near to London in particular. This is an 1850 s map of middle sex.

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Big fields. Clayland, perfect for, for growing grass and you might notice right here, put my, The middle of the map and down to here.

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I've got my pointer here is heath. Now, many of us know Heathrow, of course, is the big international airport, but this is Heathrow.

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And these big fields would would have been producing into the early twentieth century. Huge quantities of. Okay, this is a part of a 19 forties map of Essex and you can see what's happened to those big fields are covered in housing because after 1911 London transport stops using horses.

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There is no need for hey the Trice of Hayland Clements. And it gets taken up by house builders.

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John Betjeman famously has a poem which is parish of enormous hay fields. Kerry Vale stood all alone.

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And that was very typical. Of you could get 3 hay crops, that was 3 lots of money.

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And so it was profitable just to grow grass, but the grass wasn't needed. Profitable for suburban housing.

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And here's the chart which shows it all. So London Omnibuses, nearly 4,000.

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Buses there, horses. Coming in right down to 1911 down to 0. And they stop using them, relentless rise of motor buses.

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And of course trams are on this chart, but give you an idea of what was happening transport technology was changing.

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Affecting local agriculture. Okay. Now, during the nineteenth century, we start to get a regionalization of both crops.

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And of livestock. Selective breeding gives us bigger animals. Animal suitable for wood production or for meat production or leather production and so here we've got a Berkshire pig.

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At the top here, south down sheep which were developed early in the nineteenth century. To produce short stocky animals for wool.

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And for, meat. The top here, we had. South East of England produced a great deal of poultry, Norking fowl, Buff, orpington.

00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:15.000
Fowl and Buff Sussex. And that's a big trade in poultry, all going across to London.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:22.000
And at the bottom, one of my favorite characters This is the beast that won the Fatstop show in 1,936.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:31.000
His name is Han Cross Rover. And he was surprised Sussex bull. I showed this image at a farming talk I did a few years ago.

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:36.000
And it's always frightening to anyone giving a talk when someone jumps up and says, stop.

00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:42.000
And that this little lady said when I was a small girl Hank Cross rover sun was our breeding bull and I haven't seen him since, 1,938.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:52.000
She's a rather nice historic aspect. But we've got this selective breeding given us better strains.

00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:01.000
The poultry from all over Southeast England. Geese and ducks from East Anglia, Turkey is from East Anglia.

00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:08.000
Live stop coming down from the Thames Valley, but also I said from Surrey, Kent and Sussex and it is going to one place to let in full market.

00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:18.000
That new market was the big country market. Originally coming up life. With the railways introduction, you can have dead stock.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:37.000
In the home counties and then feed that into London. But it was an enormous trade. Okay, it also generated an industry so Nice stuff's poultry here, the champion white Sussex from 1,940, but they are fed using chicken fattening machines.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:48.000
Which were developed specifically for the purpose. And here we've got, town.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:33:00.000
In East Sussex as being the brewery also had the big Phoenix I am works they produced, and particularly in the Midlands and East Anglia and up into Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:10.000
And in Scotland local firms producing specific bailiffs. Combines various feeding machines.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:20.000
Egg production is important, variety of ways, not just for Could, a nice 19 forties map here of Kings Langley in Hertfordshire.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:44.000
With the oval Team Egg Farm. Our team was one of these new products produced in 19 in the early twentieth century along with rivita and shredded wheat because they all the adverts said grown in Britain makes Britons and Rye Vita was you know British wheat and barley go to make this British product an oval team similarly.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:45.000
It said in on that you can see the extent of the egg farm here, for oval team.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:55.000
So the niche market is not going to change things, but it was another aspect to food production.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:02.000
Now, not only to where they, selectively breeding for hens and for sheep, cattle and pigs, But wheat production changed dramatically.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:14.000
Now I'm going to take you to a very obscure part of the south of England. Down here, this is a eighteenth century map of West Sussex.

00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:19.000
And this is Chidam Peninsula. Yeah, it's right off the beaten track today.

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:39.000
It's just one road in and one road out. It's very near Chichester, the county town in West Sussex, but Chidham was famous for Chidam white wheat and during the early nineteenth century they produced a strain of wheat here at Cheddar, which is Beautiful grade one rich soil.

00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:51.000
The farmer noticed that his wheat he was growing was mutating to produce multiple heads of wheat. One stem rather than just one ear, he was getting multiple.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:35:00.000
He had the good sense to save those ears and replant and throughout the nineteenth century children, white wheat is listed.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:10.000
In farming journals and in newspapers as you know the the crop. To grow. It was a big crop, produced a lot of food as the population was growing.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.000
That's all important.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:23.000
Yeah, I'm gonna leave Sussex and go to Eastern Europe. So an area we've heard a great deal about over the last couple of years, we're going down to Ukraine.

00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:35.000
And this is a 1912 map I love on here where it says the province of the Don Cossacks, but these are places which are bigger than you, that they Crimea, Care Song.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:44.000
Kiev during the nineteenth century the big grasslands of southern Russia were being ploughed up for Arab production.

00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:53.000
And by the 1850 s large quantities of East European wheat are coming into Western Europe and pushing down the prices.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:36:03.000
But in the middle of the 1850, SA very obscure war, which we know a little bit more about because part of our culture takes place in the Crimea.

00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:09.000
The siege of Sebastian Pump, the charge of the Light Brigade, Florence Nightingale, things that we remember from school.

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:16.000
But this cheap wheat is pushing down prices but the Crimean War stops that wheat coming in.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:25.000
And so British farmers get a bolster that they don't realize they've got against an agricultural depression.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:34.000
10 years later colonists are flooding eastwards from the east coast of North America out into the Great Prairies.

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:44.000
And with the end of the American Civil War in 1,865, the opening up the prairie lands and huge quantities of wheat are coming in from the West.

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:56.000
So Britain is poised to be inundated from the east and the west with cheap grain. Okay, and by the 18 seventies this grain is flooding across.

00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:02.000
I initially thought it was coming with the new railways crossing America in 1,868.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:08.000
But I've since learned that railways were very expensive way of moving around. Big consciousness of rain.

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:15.000
The bulk of it either went to Boston in New York and went by sea. Or incredibly went to San Francisco and was sound right down through South America around Cape B, up through the South Atlantic to Western Europe that way.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:32.000
But we were flooded with this cheap brain. And the effect of that it just drives grain farmers almost to extinction they just cannot compete.

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:42.000
And what happens is that Cornland in the south and east of England goes down in value. And farmers from Scotland, Wales and the West of England.

00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:50.000
Moving to the South East to take advantage of that cheap land. And this is the great picture. This is a family of the Cross family.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:38:01.000
Who in the morning of this picture lived in Crewe Kern. In Somerset. When these pictures taken late in the afternoon they are at place called upper beating.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:07.000
In West Sussex. About 15 miles from Brighton. And they've moved lock stuck a barrel.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:11.000
With all their lives stop all of their kit on the new railway system they've moved into West Sussex.

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:22.000
Family smooth from the parish I live in which is called Patcham. Was a village on the north side of Brighton.

00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:27.000
In 1,901 there are 5 farms in Patchem, not a single one of them.

00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:39.000
Is owned by anyone born in Sussex. Someone from Cookburyshire, someone from Warwickshire, someone from Dorset, someone got too far away from Surrey and someone else from Devon.

00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:46.000
And they've taken advantage of cheap land to move into the South of Beast and all is going well with them.

00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:56.000
Okay. The sheet numbers boom, this is in the 1930, s at the great cheap fair at Finland in West Sussex.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:05.000
It's diminished, some still exist. It's on last week in fact. But this is a great picture show, the sheer amount of sheep coming in.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:16.000
So livestock farmers are booming. At the expense of grain funds. The problem is there's a lot of sheep in Australia and New Zealand and all the time they're on the other side of the world.

00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:27.000
That's not a problem for farmers in the South East. Except in 1881. First consignment, the frozen Australian mountain, leaves Sydney.

00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:34.000
And a rights in the London docks. 10 years before that frozen Australian mutton head left Sydney Harper.

00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:41.000
But the freezer ships consistently broke down. And they were rotting carcasses when they get to.

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:49.000
But in 1,881 It leaves frozen and it arrived in London frozen and so that's the end of exclusivity.

00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:59.000
For meat farming in much of Britain. And meat farming land. Plummets in price as well.

00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:16.000
Freeze the ships come in. We don't, we use empire preference obviously Australia, New Zealand and Canada, but we also own in places like Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Estancia's owned by British firms.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:25.000
Who export frozen South American meat into Britain. So the things we produce. Rain and livestock are plummeting in price.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:33.000
Okay. You don't have to look at this picture. This is 1921. Sean is a small port on the south coast very near to Brighton.

00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:34.000
Wasn't very big, you can tell by the telephone number of 75 Shoreham.

00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:42.000
But purveyors of high-class colonial beef. Canterbury button and land.

00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:49.000
This doesn't mean Canterbury in Kent. In the South Island of New Zealand.

00:40:49.000 --> 00:41:00.000
So we're getting this hitting even in agricultural areas they're being hit. Not only is that but New Zealand cheese, New Zealand butter things like this.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:08.000
Okay. We produce a lot of fruit, fruit. We saw Evesham and its fruit. Around Cambridge here.

00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:18.000
Essex, Tip 3, Cambridge. 3, fruit farms This is in Kent, it's a lovely orchard in Kent.

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:25.000
We produce a lot of fruit. But they also produce a lot of fruit around the world. A lot of it in the British Empire.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:35.000
Canning, which arrives in the early nineteenth century, allows food to be moved easily from the other side of the world.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:50.000
Difficult getting the stuff out of the can. In 1,875 someone managed to invent the tin opener the one we used today many of us and so you could bring in exotic foods from South Africa, Australia.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:42:00.000
Hawaiian pirate apples people don't want Kent apples or Worcestershire plums when they can get these rather very exotic things.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:06.000
The government of course has a big hand in all of these policies. British government as a cheap food policy.

00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:14.000
We are a heavily urbanized nation. Urban communities riot and rebel. They don't do this in the UK.

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:18.000
Oh, from the chances for riots.

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:28.000
Zapine large we are a peaceful nation. We are well fed on cheap food to the detriment of the farming communities.

00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:42.000
It does help that we own a lot of the world. Lovely old school Atlas actually shows you Australia twice on here but all the pink bits, of us remember from school, this is the British Empire.

00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:50.000
The dominions and they send us raw materials in the way food stuffs, we send them agricultural machinery.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:59.000
Okay, and this is where we shop the home and colonial. The international food stores, the Empire Food Stores.

00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:06.000
That's the shopping high streets of the twenties and thirties right the way through into the sixties and seventies.

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:16.000
We are taking the advantage of this Okay, we produce a lot of eggs in Britain. We set about the egg production particularly in the southeast.

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:25.000
Those eggs going in the oval teenage farm. But this is Brighton in 1910. And we have 2 big egg dealers in Brighton.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:39.000
You see a Lemiere and Monsieur Blondell. Because the French have a very advanced system of poultry production and egg production and the ferry coming from Sherbrooke to Portsmouth.

00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:44.000
To New Haven, belonging to Folkestone, Calais to Dover, come in.

00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:54.000
Just been passengers but with millions of eggs. And the south coast of England. And indeed London. Is flooded with cheap French eggs.

00:43:54.000 --> 00:44:03.000
Brighton is pretty exotic place but Lemiere is exotic Okay. It also helps that we have the world's biggest merchant fleet.

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:13.000
We have sophisticated docks. We have systems where we can unload ships with steam cranes. We have railway lines which come into the Keysides.

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:17.000
We have Derboats and barges and tugs to distribute this food on the canal system along the Thames to the railway yards.

00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:26.000
So we can move the food around very readily.

00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:31.000
And you only have to look. Now I do have to admit that I failed by O level maths.

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:40.000
But even I can work out here from this graph that corn return prices are dropping and dropping and dropping and dropping.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:47.000
Here we are, food, imports, and rising, rising, rising. And farm sale prices are going off the cliff.

00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:50.000
In 1,875 it's a good time to bring a British farm. 20 years later, not a good time to be a British farmer.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:45:00.000
This chart starts in night stops in 1,915 this could carry on until the Second World War.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:06.000
In a very very similar fashion. In fact plummeting a bit more before the Second World War.

00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:19.000
So bad times for farming. Nineteenth century a period of severe droughts. Which hit farmers series of very very very wet summers.

00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:27.000
Which hit farmers so mother nature is not to get with us. To the extent that it's hising us too hot.

00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:37.000
And then to where and so this is all combining with these sheep imports to force farmers out of business completely.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:50.000
That, that, that drops in price. New technology in the way of forced trams, force buses, motor buses, motor cars and now with this new cheap land on the edge of cities to be exploited.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:46:03.000
So this is a huge 1930 s housing state since 1934. And you can push out into accessible farmland which is coming down in price every year.

00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:10.000
Gets to the stage that London transport poster here for across the Colon to Beechy Bucks.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:22.000
You is seen as a children's nursery place it. This is a farm set. Here is Bo Peep and her sheep and a spotty dog.

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:30.000
So farming is no longer man's business, it's what children play within the nursery. Okay, it brings in a series of books.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:37.000
This is many of you know the Leftbook Club with the yellow covers. Guess well known the right book club with blue covers.

00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:44.000
Famine in England, tumble down barns, tumble down fences, no crops in the fields.

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:53.000
Second World War changes that dramatically. We need to produce food. The U-boat campaign is a devastating effect.

00:46:53.000 --> 00:47:02.000
The problem is the land that you grow, the bulk of your arable crops on is perfect for army maneuvers.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:16.000
The land that you grow your best Arab crops from in East Anglia. It's gently rolling to flat and is perfect for airfields for our Air Force and after a 1942 the US American air bases.

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:26.000
Proliferate in East Anglia. So you want to grow more food but the military need a lot of that land for their own purposes.

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:34.000
We get around that by employing civilian populations, second line job land ahead. Cloud campaign and land army.

00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:43.000
The young lady on this tractor in 1943 was one of my students in education classes. This is Pamela Holt, aged 17 with a beautiful hairstyle driving the tractor.

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:53.000
And I knew her at the end of her life when she had the same hair style but very very very white hair.

00:47:53.000 --> 00:48:04.000
Beautiful lady and she wonderful stories of being a land girl. British agriculture was coming back in ported American tractors, Canadian tractors.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:20.000
American machinery. Government involvement determined we weren't going to go through this again. Okay. When you get through into post war period, there's a lot more intensity in agriculture.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:31.000
There's a lot more technology being employed. Farmers are starting to make money. I, again, we go back to regionalization, things like.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:45.000
The polytunnels of fruit production. Become a staple part of scenery. You dry up around the British countryside, summer's evening like we've got certainly we've got here in Brighton summer, the fields will be glittering.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:49:01.000
With, the polytunes. Okay. Huge glass houses in Essex in Kent, the biggest glass houses in the world are out of place called Planet, which is North East Kent, Margate Ramsgate, that area.

00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:20.000
Big complexes around. Chichester Harbor. Where they produce the poly bags, know the big the pillow pack salads that are in every supermarket 85% of them are grown within 5 miles of Chichester Market Cross.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:25.000
Huge production. Bosom, which many of you, would love in picturesque. Part of the world but this is the center of pillow back production.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:40.000
So we've got agricultural working on particular ways. The problem with agriculture now it is Very difficult to get.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Adequate labour force. Many, if I dare say this these days, indigenous white British people do not want to work in agriculture for a long long time we relied on European labour.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:02.000
Do we really need to bring in pastips from Australia? Do we need it to bring in pigeons from Guatemala?

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:11.000
Thank you Mark Spencer for both of these labels. We bring in food from abroad because we don't have the workforce in many cases to pick it here, okay?

00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:23.000
We were of course part of the European Union. But after Brexit, increasingly difficult. Bicycle, specifically in things like fruit picking, hot picking, which still a lot of that is labour intensive.

00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:34.000
And in salad crop production. I'm very those people who get up very early in the morning and listen to farming today.

00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:45.000
And almost every week there is somewhere on there bemoaning the lack of because I don't want to get any more political than showing you that.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:54.000
Okay, thankfully. We do have an outlet. Climate change is affecting British agriculture across southern Britain.

00:50:54.000 --> 00:51:01.000
Big sways the chalk downland in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire are being brought up by French wine producers.

00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:06.000
The biggest growth area, certainly in the south of England, is in vineyards. Here is a vineyard.

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:20.000
The biggest vineyard in Europe. Is not in the Rhine Valley, it is not in Spain, Italy or in the Champagne region, it is on the South Downs between Eastbourne and Sea Ford.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:33.000
It's called Ratkini Farm, the biggest single vineyard in Europe. So we've got changes taking place here both in the labour market, the crops we grow and the challenges we have of.

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:43.000
Of climate change. So look, thank you all very much. I can't have mentioned all the areas that you have lived in or you do live in.

00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:51.000
I've tried to look at it as an international basis. I'm a geographer, I work at scale, so international.

00:51:51.000 --> 00:52:00.000
Down to national down to regional. Down to localities. So I'm going to hand you back to Fiona who's going to take over for the last bit of this.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:02.000
Thank you all very much.

00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:08.000
Thanks very much Jeffrey. We'll just go straight to some questions. I don't know if you want to just stop sharing your screen so that we can see you.

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:17.000
Not's great. Okay. And I've got 2 or 3 questions here. And apologies every day that we've run on slightly but obviously that's because of our little delay at the start.

00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:25.000
No, question from Liz. What effect did the corn laws and their repeal have in agriculture?

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:32.000
But it had a big impact, called laws for a government. To keep the price of growing high and farmers were very keen to do that.

00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:47.000
It was subsidized grain prices. Just meant that the big cities where the people were congregating, increasing the nineteenth century.

00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:54.000
Food prices bread which was the staple diet of working glasses was bread bread bread more bread to fill you up was ruthlessly expensive.

00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:03.000
And the repeal of the Corn laws meant that you got cheaper grain.

00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:13.000
Okay, hope that answers your question, Liz. And another question from Madeline. She's asking when did American wheat flood into England?

00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:18.000
She had ancestors who worked on the land in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire but they lost their livings.

00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:27.000
And ended up moving to to London. And so kind of roughly when was that?

00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000
Hello.

00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:48.000
Well, maybe after the civil war ends in Once the Civil War ends in in 1,865 there's this big push westwards out into the Great Plains but it's really the that period of the 18 sixties, the 1870, s you start to increasing shipments of wheat coming into Western Europe.

00:53:48.000 --> 00:54:13.000
A lot of it comes in. Into UK we were a wealthy nation and big fleet. And say the effect of that is that it pushes grain prices down relentlessly but people move to take advantage of the different changing economy and they come in from The West of Britain and the north of Britain down to the East Anglia and the South.

00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:26.000
I have yet to do a talk on agriculture anywhere in the south of England where someone at the end doesn't come up and say, my granny, my great granny, my grandfather moved here from and give me a range of places in the west of Britain.

00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:34.000
Okay, interesting. I hope that helps you out, and Madeline. And another question here, from Yvonne.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:42.000
So obviously I started throughout the presentation. You've talked a lot about us importing foods in and from other parts of the world.

00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:48.000
When and what foods did we start exporting?

00:54:48.000 --> 00:55:03.000
We export surpluses as they do today. You often get these stories where there's a famine taking place in Eritrea or Ethiopia and you go into Marx suspensors you can buy Eritrean green beans or you know Kenyon flowers.

00:55:03.000 --> 00:55:15.000
It's always happened across the anybody can get food down to a port and get it abroad. We will always been a wealthy agricultural nation and Northern Europe was pretty disorganized.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.000
It wasn't in the kind of nation states we see today. They did, they had a pessant agriculture.

00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:31.000
We had a very sophisticated agriculture and we were always exporting grain and vegetables, chickens to northern France and the low countries.

00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:35.000
It's always been a 2 way, but for a long time we were doing the exporting.

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:53.000
Hmm. Okay, interesting. We've got a question here from Cameron. And he's asking about this whole thing around, you know, people in this country not really being drawn towards the agricultural jobs these days.

00:55:53.000 --> 00:55:58.000
Do we, I think what your thoughts on and why that is.

00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:18.000
I think it's the fact that we consider ourselves to be a sophisticated economy. And agriculture accounts for something like half of 1% of the national workforce and in places where it's heavily mechanized like the south of England, East Anglia, it goes to an even tinier percentage than a half a month percent.

00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:29.000
People just aren't drawn towards agriculture. People don't live in rural areas. It's difficult to get from an urban area to an agricultural area.

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:39.000
And we could have got out of the habit of field work. Whereas without Just making it quite simple. Many people coming in from less sophisticated economies, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland.

00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:54.000
Quite readily adapt to working in fields area. My grandson And in Sounds crazy. In COVID.

00:56:54.000 --> 00:57:02.000
He got this job working on, on farms, in the west of England. He's a jobography graduate.

00:57:02.000 --> 00:57:10.000
He started out as him. And I think that we're kind of 16 other English people and 90 Romanians.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:17.000
After one week, he was the only single English person with 90 Romanians. The other sort just left.

00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:24.000
They just couldn't do the work. Because he did very well. And that was picking lettuce in Shropshire.

00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:31.000
Hmm. Okay, I hope that answers your question, Cameron. And we've got one final question, and I think we'll wrap up folks.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:33.000
And Question for from Patricia. Do you think we should be safeguarding productive farmland from development?

00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:41.000
That's quite an interesting question.

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:44.000
Oh, well that's a very big topic, isn't it? Comes in with issues of housing.

00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:46.000
Hmm.

00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:54.000
Often the land that is very good for growing houses is the land that's very much for growing a range of crops.

00:57:54.000 --> 00:58:03.000
And the land which is not good for housing. Steep, so I mounted tops. Are not good for growing crops.

00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:17.000
So you get this clash. And we've just got to be a bit more, this is where I get to annoy people, we've just got to be very have far fewer people in urban areas than they do on the continent.

00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:19.000
If you go to the Netherlands, they seem to get 5 times more people in a city in the Netherlands which is a pretty sophisticated country.

00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:33.000
That we do in the UK. We just demand semidetached houses, gardens backside and front and we don't have the land to do that anymore.

00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:38.000
We've just got to change our planning.

00:58:38.000 --> 00:58:39.000
That put the cat amongst the pigeons.

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:40.000
Okay, right one final quick question. One final quick question and then we'll wrap up both. And this is from Allen.

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:55.000
So today, what percentage, this might be a difficult question to answer. What percentage of land feeds animals compared to the percentage that feeds humans directly.

00:58:55.000 --> 00:59:02.000
Okay, 35 years of teaching told me if you don't know what you're talking about say and I do not know the answer to that.

00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:06.000
You go, so you're gonna have to Google that one, I'm afraid.

00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:11.000
Okay, right. Thank you. Thanks again, Jeffrey. That was really interesting.

00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:12.000
And just really interesting to look at farming and food production from all those different angles that we covered there.

00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:25.000
And okay, so I think that's us for today. Thank you very much, Geoffrey.

Lecture

The story of two Victorian novelists

In this talk, we’ll explore the rather complicated private lives of Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, two extremely popular 'sensation fiction' authors of their day, and consider the extent to which their personal lives and backgrounds influenced them and shaped the plots of their books.

Join WEA tutor Margaret Mills to discover the secrets unknown to most of their 19th-century admirers, including Albert, the Prince Consort.

Download useful links and book titles for further reading here

Video transcript

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Thank you very much Fiona and welcome everyone. I hope you're not sweltering in the heat.

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As we are here in Essex. Anyway, welcome to the talk. I will let you know as I go through the talk when I'm changing slides.

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There's a lot to say about these 2 authors and I've had. Trouble cutting it down really to fit in within the time but questions very welcome at the end because I won't cover anything.

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Everything, Rosa. I will be sharing my screen and I'm going to do that now. So hope that everyone Can see this, okay?

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Great. I hope so anyway. And that's how talk to Victorian novelists, the novelists we're looking at.

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One man, one woman, Mary Elizabeth Braden, Mary Bradden isn't so well known today.

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The author. Novelist is Wilkie Collins. Wilkie Collins, it's fair to say still very popular today.

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Both of them have had their work adapted for BBC TV and for radio. Lots of adaptations and stage.

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Adaptations as well. Just changing my slide now. And, this quote. Was said by Thomas Hardy, famous novelist of Tess of the D'urbervilles and so on and it really applies very much to these 2 novelists.

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Most successful fiction today contains murder. Blackmail, legitimacy. Impersonation multiple secrets suggestions of bigamy and amateur I'm professional detectives.

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Well, all I can say is Wilkie Collins and Mary Bradden's books contain all these and more.

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And some of it came from their own personal lives. So a lot to conjure with there. Right, I'm changing my slide again and here we have pictures of both authors.

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Mary Brighton on the left of course and Collins on the right. Looking quite like a very affable conventional Victorian gentleman.

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Conventional? No, anything but.

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Both of them wrote in the nineteenth century. You can, their gates of birth are on the slide, but Mary Brighton born 1835 lived till 1915 Collins born 1824 he was the older of the 2 and dive in 1889.

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And we'll be looking at each of them in turn. Both wrote what were known as sensation novels and I'll be talking about the definition of sensation novels shortly.

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And as I said, Both their work has been adapted for TV, radio and the stage. Changing my slide again.

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Here we have Mary Brighton. Now both of these authors knew each other. Bye moved in the same literary circles in the nineteenth century.

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They had this lovely expression. Literary lions. Which described authors, famous authors, people like Dickens, Henry James.

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Thackery, Brighton of course. And Wilkie Collins. And yeah literary lines describes them.

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Both were best sellers. Both of them made. Big amounts of money. From their writing.

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At one time, Wilkie Collins was paid even more than Dickens. For his work. So that'll give you an idea of how respected he was and how much money he commanded.

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They were adored by the public. Like most authors in the nineteenth century, initially each of their books was published in magazine format in serial format.

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Mainly in Dickens, magazines, Dickens, as you 2 magazines, all the year round and household words and both of them had their work in all the year round.

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So, every installment would end on a cliffhanger so that everybody rushed out the following week or the following month to buy the next installment and if you were rich of course you didn't queue up you sent your maid or your footman queue up but people would you outside bookshops overnight.

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To be first amongst their circle of friends. To buy the latest copy of the magazine with the latest installment of their books in and of course it then became the thing to say to your friends, oh haven't you read it yet?

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I got my copy yesterday. So, public adores them and they were both highly paid. So what were?

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Sensation novels. How can we just? I quantify what was a sensation novel. Well, they were mainly published in the 1850, s, 1860.

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By about 1870 they begun to become slightly less fashionable. And the plot lines were a mix. Of what was known as Jomestic Fiction.

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Domestic fiction. Was a fiction where the plot was set. In middle and upper-class homes.

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Safe hyphens. Asastians of respectability. Englishman's home is his castle and so on.

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Where you felt safe, you could shut out the outside world. So, safe or were you? Were you safe in your own home?

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Well, the plot lines often centered on the fact that no you weren't safe in your own home because there may be people in your home.

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Relations who have their own agenda. Servants who have a bad intention to ward you. So this was a new and rather startling idea to the Victorians.

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And I really enjoyed these books thoroughly. This domestic fiction was combined with a helping of melodrama and gothic influences.

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So we're talking the supernatural. We're talking the fact that and they were often set in very creepy country houses where there were strange goings on.

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They often involved men and women who had mysterious backgrounds. Pass lives that they kept very quiet although on the surface they appeared the epitome of respectability.

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When you were reading these books. The I of the writers was that if you were sitting in a room on your own and there was a sudden strange noise, you would jump.

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Up in the air. The failing was ice. The feeling of ice. Being pushed down the back of your neck, this shivery failing.

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I'm a feeling of fear and oppression as you read them. Your heart starts to beat faster.

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And the books also included as well as all the things on the hardy quote. Drug taking and fraudulent identity and drug taking was something wealthy Wilkie Collins knew.

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Quite a lot about. They also included theft, often a very valuable objects. The plot lines of these books often reflected what was going on in real life.

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The concerns that the Victorians had about their world. Just to give you a couple of examples of that.

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I think 51 of course was the year of the great exhibition and and people from all over the world.

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Flock to London. To see the great exhibition this fantastic exhibition of art, science and manufacturing.

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And there were great concerns expressed. In the press that people coming from abroad might have dubious intentions.

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And that something very nasty could happen in England because of the number of foreigners that were flocking into London.

00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:26.000
The other concern in the 18 fifties. Was Insanity. There were several high profile cases in the 1850 s of people being wrongly incarcerated.

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In asylums.

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This lady, Mary Elizabeth Braden, who you can see on this slide in an oil painting by the famous painter William Powell Frith.

00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:58.000
A Mary Pratten! Actually brought this in in her work as the Collins. In fact, Collins probably most famous book, The Woman in White, hinges on some poor woman who is locked up in an asylum wrongfully.

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And, her attempts. To, free herself. So it brings aspects of the Victorians concerns into the literature that they're reading.

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Both Collins and Bradden. Were fond of plots containing very strong and independent women. And the kind, Mary Bratton knew all about strong and independent women because of her own.

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Childhood and what happened to our mother, which we'll talk about shortly. It also brought in men and women with dubious paths lives, ladies who seem on the face of it very respectable but hide.

00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:57.000
Their past life. And, that's a particularly famous quote. From one of the books that Wilkie Collins wrote The Moonstone.

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Do you know what a lady is? A lady is a woman in a silk dress. Who has a sense of her own importance.

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Very famous quote, that's been used a lot over the years. So, yes, both of them had slightly troubled pasts.

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And they brought this into their work.

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Sorry that moved. This is Edward Nicholas Braden. Who was or Edward Nicholas Coventry Braden to give him his full name?

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Who was the brother of Mary Elizabeth Broughton? And he at some stage went to Australia did very well for himself and became Premier of Tasmania.

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Now. One of the things that Mary Brighton brings into her work is people who have Gone abroad, not just to Europe.

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Oh no, but long distances away, places like New Zealand, Canada, Australia and she's obviously writing from her own brother's experience.

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So another aspect of her life that she used in her books. This is the theatre in London called the Surrey Theatre.

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It no longer exists anymore. It was in the Blackfriars area of London. And this was really important.

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To Mary Elizabeth Braden or Mary Bradness, I'll call her for short. So she was born in 1835, a very conventional family.

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Father was the solicitor. And she had an older sister and her brother who we've just looked at.

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And all went well until she was about 4 years old. And the counts vary. This an account that her father was.

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In enormous that. Because unfortunately, a real disadvantage for a solicitor, he didn't know the difference between client money and his own money.

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And in time on a tradition he skipped abroad to the continent. And manufactured a new identity for himself.

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Leaving Mrs. Braden. And the 3 children behind him with no visible means of support. And now, account says that the couple split up for a more mundane reason.

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She was having affairs with other women. So, and there's a little bit of uncertainty about so much of Brad and's private life.

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So, Brad and grew up seeing her mother struggle. Becoming a strong independent capable woman. I'm Bradden herself at a very young age some time when she was in her teens.

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Decided to go on the stage. She was a very bright, lively, intelligent child. Fond of stories, loved writing stories, love reading stories or having stories write to her.

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Also very good at singing, dancing and projecting herself. So on the stage she went. She was quite a good actress.

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We're told she never made it to the really big time. But later on in her life she would play down.

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The time she spent as an actress. Because as we know in the nineteenth century it wasn't a particularly respectable career for a young woman, particularly a young middle-class woman.

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So, yeah, her character was formed by watching her mother. And she wanted to earn money for herself to contribute towards the family.

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And their support. So in her book she promotes strong independent women. Toots often flout. Convention as Brighton did herself on many occasions.

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And And here she is. This is a photograph of her. So hopefully a bit more lifelike.

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Than her painting. Photograph taken in about 1858.

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When she was in her twenties she decided she wanted to leave the stage. And she moves into a second career writing short stories initially.

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Now they short stories didn't pay very well, but they were successful. And she then begins to wonder.

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Is there more money to be made if I start to write novels? And there was. And the first novel that was really a huge success for Braden.

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Was published in 18600, sorry, 1861, I should say.

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After initially being serialized in Dickens magazine all the year round. And when the book was published in book form after serialization had ended, the the book was tremendously successful as the serialized installments have been.

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And the title of the book Lady Auldly Sacred. Now interestingly Mary Broughton used part of the Essex.

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Scenery in composing her book. She was staying at Engage Stone Hall in Essex when she had inspiration.

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For the plot line of Lady Audley's secret. And if you read the book today, you won't need me to tell you this is in Gates Stone Hall because if you visited the hole the whole yourself you will know.

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She also in her career became an editor of a magazine and this slide that I've just changed to.

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Is a bound copy of Temple Bar magazine. For January to June, 1874 and Mary Bradden edited.

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This magazine, so she was a busy lady, she's a writer, she's an editor.

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Now being an editor was groundbreaking for a female. In the nineteenth century. Temple Bar? Was described as a magazine for town and country and was very popular in its day, sadly it no longer exists.

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So how many books did Brad and write? Well, at least 70. She wrote a least 70 books.

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That doesn't take into account short stories, articles that she wrote. And she wrote them on any number of different subjects that she thought would appeal.

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In her books, as I've said, she often brings in Caracters who are the victims of parental separation using her own background for that.

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And women struggled. To her money she recognized how difficult in the nineteenth century it was for women to have their own money.

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She flouted convention by living with a married man. When she was in her twenties, she begins living with a very well-known publisher of the day called John Maxwell, an Irishman what living and working in London.

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Brighton incidentally lived in the London area for most of her life. Certainly she was born in London and ended up living at Richmond with John Maxwell.

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John Maxwell was already married. And he had 5 children. By his wife when Braton began living with him and again accounts fairy.

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Some accounts say that the first Mrs. Maxwell, Brad and would like to marry him. The first Missus Maxwell.

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Was incarcerated in a private Asylum in Ireland. Remember what I said about bringing in the concerns of the day.

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Now other accounts say that's not true. Hey, his first wife was actually living in the household when Brad and moved in.

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So they formed this sort of menage at with the 3 of them. So we're not quite sure on that, but what we are sure of is that eventually when the first Mrs. Maxwell died.

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John Maxwell married Mary Braden in the meantime before their marriage. She had 5 children by him. In his original 5 by his first wife.

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Now this was all kept very very quiet. But like Collins, Brad and moved in literary circles and everyone knew that she was living with Maxwell.

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Just changing the side again. Brad and incidentally, supportive women's right, she was always very vocal about supporting women's rights and equality.

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And women's independence, women's right to have their own career to have a job. And of course, a lady, all this secret when it's published in book format is a huge success.

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Makes her lots of money gives you the feeling of ice stripping down the back of your neck.

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And Braden's collection with Essex. Is as I've said, she's stayed at this house on my next side.

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Engage Stone Hall, in Gates Stone in Essex. And she stayed here for a holiday really, it's a holiday retreat for her.

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And she used No, only the interior of the hole, but she used the grounds as well in the book.

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The lime walk which is supposed to be haunted she used that. In Lady Auntly's secret she also used on the next slide the part of the lake.

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In the grounds a very gloomy, secluded part of the grounds and she uses that in Lady,ly secret.

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And there are people thrown into wells and meeting a horrible end. And, yeah, all sorts of melodrama.

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Brockham was also a very accomplished horsewoman. And in the early 19 hundreds she bought herself a motor car.

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So she was quite a spirited and independent lady for her time.

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Joe Maxwell predeceased her. He died in the 1890, s 1895 to be exact.

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And this is his memorial in the church of St. Elizabeth of Portugal in Richmond. In sorry.

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In 1863. Brighton publishes Aurora Floyd. Probably her second most successful book.

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And again, Aurora Floyd is a woman with a past. Secretly married.

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Well, A Braden would be secretly married herself. When the first Mrs. Maxwell passed away, almost exactly a year later, Brighton.

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:58.000
Married John Maxwell and legitimised her 5 illegitimate children. It was all kept very quiet.

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However, Your Mack's false brother in law actually wrote the newspapers. Exposing the fact that he had finally married the woman who was the mother of his 5 illegitimate children.

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And who he had been living with whilst. He's first wife was still very much alive.

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Now that caused a ripple of scandal. Braden lived till 1915. She actually volunteered to help.

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In hospitals during the First World War, the early part of the First World War. And her death A curved in 1915 as I've said and this slide it's a commemoration plaque in St Mary Magdalene Church, Richmond, Surrey and it reads.

00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:17.000
Sacred to the memory of Miss Brighton, Brackets Mary Elizabeth Maxwell, a writer of rare and refined scholarship who gave profitable and pleasurable literature to countless readers in her library of 3 score and 10.

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Works of fiction.

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Brandon incidentally once referred to Wilkie Collins. As her literary father and that caused a few eyebrows.

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To be raised, I can tell you. Right, we move on with this slide to Wilkie Collins.

00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:53.000
Or to give him his full name, William Wilkie Collins. His father's name was William, so he was always known as Wilkie to distinguish himself from his father.

00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:14.000
He was a fellow sensation fiction author and his work is still very popular today. This photograph of him was taken in Now Collins came from a somewhat unconventional household.

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:22.000
He's father William Collins was an artist. He's mother was Harriet Gettys.

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:34.000
And, he had a younger brother. Now, father on the face of it was a

00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:44.000
Quite successful. Victorian painter, exhibited at the Royal Academy, became a, a Royal Academy.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:59.000
But never really made the big time as a painter. He tended to paint rather sentimental Victorian pictures of a dead dog, the family pet.

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:22.000
And birds on trees. Both on unconventional farming, countryside, they're all all very conventional, very Victorian and what people today regard as typically Victorian, nothing really sensational there.

00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:34.000
He's work does not command huge prices. He's conventional painting was combined with the rather conventional household.

00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:47.000
Mother Harrier was deeply, deeply religious. However, she combined this with a complete tolerance of drug taking.

00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:50.000
And the family home was a very bohemian center for anyone involved in the arts and culture of the nineteenth century.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:29:04.000
So Colin screw up in this rather bohemian household. This is Yishun Kaprata.

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:16.000
Who followed his father. Into becoming a painter. Now today Charles Alston Collins is probably best known not for his painting as such.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:25.000
But for his association with the pre Raphaelite Brotherhood. Incidentally, he aspired to be a pre raffle light.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:34.000
But they turned him down. They either his work wasn't good enough or there was some other reason why he was turned down.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:41.000
Now, Collins, as I've said, was born in London. He lived in and around the Marlebone area.

00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:54.000
So most of his life lived in Harley Street. For part of his life as well. The family traveled abroad with his father so that his father could do sketching and painting.

00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:07.000
Collins went to a private school, was bullied unmercifully at school. When he was about 17, he had to find a career.

00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:14.000
Initially, he wants to follow his father to be a painter, but he was not successful.

00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:23.000
So he turned to working for a tea merchant as clerk. He didn't last long as the clock.

00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:36.000
He then decided he wanted to study lower. And he went to Lincoln's in to study law and in 1851 he was called to the bar as a barrister.

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:46.000
That knowledge would serve him very well when writing the woman in white, where legal knowledge was needed as the plot line.

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:52.000
Now the plot of the woman in Y is said to have originated. In the vicinity of the area shown on the slide that I'm on now.

00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:04.000
Finchley Road, Hamstead London. He said to have met a woman very late at night.

00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:13.000
Who was in dire circumstances, fleeing from a man who'd imprisoned and hypnotized her.

00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:27.000
Now, this woman was Caroline Graves. I, and he used this meeting with Caroline Groves who was said to be a widow with one daughter.

00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:46.000
He used This in the plot line of a woman in white, a psychological Terrilla. And I'm John Sutherland, contemporary critic, called it the most sensationalist successful of all the sensation novels.

00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:52.000
This slide has a picture of a modern. Copy of the woman in white. It was a runaway success.

00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:10.000
People loved it. Never out of print. Like Lady Oldley's secret that Brad and wrote, it has never been out of print since it was written and published in 1,860.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:20.000
And the next slide shows possibly the woman in white's greatest fan. Please say, well, Prince Albert, Albert Prince Consult.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:32.000
Albert read the book he absolutely loved it he sent copies to all his relations in Germany whether they thanked him for it.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.000
I really do not know.

00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:48.000
Now, Collins just moving on to the next slide, which is a copy of a painting by James Abbott Mcneil Whistler of Whistler's Mother fame.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:59.000
Come in to over 30 books, he wrote over a hundred articles he wrote short stories. He wrote over a dozen plays.

00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:09.000
He loved the theater, had a passion for the theater, also wrote essays. And And with Charles Dickens, he produced plays.

00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:20.000
Now the woman in what book? Close an explosion in consumerism. You could spray yourself with woman in white perfume.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:31.000
You could buy yourself a woman in white cloak. You could if you wished. By the sheep music for your piano of the woman in White Wolves.

00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:54.000
Consumerism exploded in Victorian England. James Abbott Mcneil Whistler was accused jumping on the bandwagon when he produced his famous painting of 1861 62 the white girl or symphony in white number one

00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:03.000
I'm moving on. The woman in white is still adapted today. Here on this slide we have Michael Crawford.

00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:12.000
In the role of the villain of the woman in white, Count Fosco and if you're wondering why he's got a white mouse crawling down his arm.

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:20.000
This is part of the plot line. Fostco had a weakness for keeping pet mice.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:36.000
Now another plot line that Collins used that ties in with his knowledge of lower. Is. Story of those who have been denied justice by the mechanism of the law.

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:47.000
Collins was a qualified barrister. He knew that the law It's an always. Doesn't always make the right decision.

00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:58.000
He knew that you don't always get the justice you deserve. So in his books he portrays a people getting justice by their wits.

00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:06.000
By unconventional means. He knew the law. And he knew the drawbacks of the law.

00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:16.000
He once said, The law is the servant of those with a long purse, in other words, those who are rich.

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:24.000
And this is probably Colin's second most popular book, 1,868, The Moonstone.

00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:41.000
Probably, probably the first detective novel. Sergeant Cuff! Is a character in the Moonstone and Sergeant Cuff was muzzled on a famous Victorian detective, Jonathan or Jack.

00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:59.000
Witcher and some of you might have seen the the BBC drama of a few years ago. On, on the subject of which are the suspicions of Mr. Witcher, you may have seen that.

00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:10.000
Charles Dickens, great friend, great friend of, Collins. They knew each other from about 1850.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:23.000
They kept each other's Yeah, little secrets. Dickens had plenty of secrets. Collins had plenty of secrets and they both were very discreet.

00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:34.000
When Dickens died in 1870, he's death. Absolutely devastated Collins.

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:42.000
Now, I mentioned Caroline Graves and how she was important to the plot of the woman in white.

00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:50.000
Caroline Graves became part of Wilkie Collins secret life. Her background is still shrouded in mystery.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:37:02.000
She presented herself as a woman. Oh, had been widowed. With one daughter. Many, biographers of Collins don't believe that.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:16.000
They believed that she was still married to her first husband, Mr. Graves, when she contracted a second marriage to a gentleman called Mr. Joseph Clowe.

00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:26.000
It's interesting that she and Collins began to live together. Collins, it said, refused to marry her.

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:32.000
And when it became clear he wouldn't marry her, she took off and married Mr. Clowe.

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:42.000
However, off 2 years she came back. Leaving Mr. Clowe, was Mr. Clow dead or was the second?

00:37:42.000 --> 00:38:01.000
Husband abandoned like the first husband. And some biographers of Collins have said this is the reason why Collins refused to marry Caroline Graves because she suspected that her first husband, Mr. Graves, was still alive.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:09.000
So yeah, famous detectives, and the law. Colin springs this in to his work.

00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:21.000
He got a lot of information from Dickens because Dickens was very interested in the work of the new Plain clothes branch of the Met Police.

00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:31.000
Metropolitan Police established in 1829. But the playing clothes are detective branch not established through 1842.

00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:39.000
And Dickens got a lot of his plot lines from talking to detectives.

00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:51.000
When Caroline Graves, I've just changed the side and we're now looking at the second lady in Collins, a private life, Martha Rudd.

00:38:51.000 --> 00:39:03.000
When? Caroline Graves left. Colleagues and briefly for 2 years was said to be married to Mr. Clowe.

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:14.000
What she didn't know was that in those 2 years he took up with another lady. Martha Rudd, Martha Rudd, was a humble Kitchen servant.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:29.000
Said she could neither read nor write. And it was very unusual for middle-class gentlemen. To contemplate setting up and living with a former domestic servant.

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:36.000
They might have a galliance but they very often Didn't let it go any further than that.

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:53.000
Collins set up Caroline Graves in one house, Martha Rudd in another house. I'm with Martha Rad he went on to have 3 children Marian Harriet and William William was always known by his middle name, Charlie.

00:39:53.000 --> 00:40:07.000
And he invented this fictitious name for them, Dawson. So they were known as Mr. And Mrs. Dawson and each of the children were given Dawson as a last name.

00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:20.000
Collins refused to marry either lady. Lots of speculation over this. Was it because his mother was very traditional about the church.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:26.000
I'm, he therefore believed that marriage was just a piece of paper. He didn't need it.

00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:30.000
Or was it witnessing? The vitriolic breakdown of the marriage of Charles and Catherine Dickens.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:43.000
I tend to think it was watching their marriage breakdown that caused it. Now, Collins loved Ramsgate in Kent and I've just changed the slide to a picture of Ramsgate.

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:58.000
You may recognize it if you're a regular visitor. This is one of the locations where Collins pursued his double life.

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:11.000
Every year he spent at least one holiday in Ramsgate and he would install Martha route in one house with the children.

00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:24.000
He would take a second house and install Sorry, Caroline Graves in the second house. And then he would spend the holiday scooting between the toe.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:41.000
There is no evidence that the women knew of each other until after Colin's death. Now I mentioned Collins was born in Marlborough, lived in the London area, part of his life he lived in Harley Street.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:59.000
This slide. Is a picture of some of the buildings in Harley Street. I think that if Collins haunts anywhere he haunts Harley straight He would love what goes on in Harley Street.

00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:13.000
Changing their identity, changing their appearance very much in keeping with his plots. Where people alter their appearance in all sorts of weird and wacky ways.

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:21.000
And I think Harley Street, he would just love it.

00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:32.000
Collins suffered all his life from ill health although he concealed it quite well. He suffered from gout.

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:46.000
And took industrial quantities of drugs. Huge quantities of drugs. And as the drugs began to take effect, his book started to get more and more bizarre the plot lines.

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:53.000
But nevertheless, they're still sold because they were written by Wilkie Collins.

00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:05.000
He spent an enormous amount of money, he loved wine, he loved good food, he dressed flamboyantly, he loved traveling a book abroad, he loved socializing.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:17.000
The public adored him. They didn't know about his private life. When he died in 1889 he died from a stroke.

00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:28.000
There was universal morning. He left strict instructions no more than 25 pounds to be spent on my funeral.

00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:47.000
And his reputation. Had begun to leak into the public arena. And the the side I have on at the moment is Lady Euthemia Millay or Effie Millay, formerly Effie Gray who was married to John Everett Millay.

00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:57.000
The painter. She was a great friend of Collins but she decided not to attend his funeral because of the prevailing gossip.

00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:13.000
So some people stayed away. We're told she sent an empty coach. To the funeral. Of course, after his death, his private life would become linked into the public arena.

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:21.000
Oh, it's left instructions that He's choice would be. To be buried with Caroline Graves.

00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:34.000
Caroline! Survived him, she survived him till the 18 nineties. And, Martha Rad survived him till 1919.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:46.000
But it was Caroline who was buried with him. And this slide is a picture of his grave. In Kensal Green Cemetery in West London.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:45:05.000
So yeah, Was a Berry Gaussian on her own and usually there are flowers on the grave because he's still so enormously popular today.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.000
Just a couple of things to finish with. Fackery, William Makepiece, Zachary, author of Vanity Fair.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:23.000
Once declared he had sat up all night. Finish off the woman in white. It was such a nail biter, he couldn't.

00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:35.000
Stop reading it. Gladstone! The Prime Minister once cancelled a very important engagement. So that he could carry on reading the woman in white.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:45.000
And nearer our own times, TS Eliot. Once commented, Read Wokie Collins, not Edgar Allan Poe.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:54.000
Wilkie Collins started the whole genre. I, Alan, don't bother.

00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:02.000
Just read Wilkie Collins. Wokey Collins is said to have had an enormous influence on HG Wells.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:11.000
As well. So I will finish on that at that point and I will come back.

00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:14.000
Thank you very much. And Margaret, I don't know if you want to stop here. There we go.

00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:15.000
I will stop sharing and return.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:18.000
We can see you properly now.

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:21.000
There were questions very welcome.

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:28.000
Yeah, and we've got one so far. Everybody, if you want to pop your questions in, we'll take a look at those.

00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:43.000
We've got a question here from, do, do we know, where the house is where in Ramsgate, where, Wilkie Collins have installed these ladies as she grew up in Ramsgate, so she very interested to know.

00:46:43.000 --> 00:47:01.000
Cool. Right question, I must confess I don't know Ramsgate well. Oh we know is the description that Collins gave to Dickens and Dickens being a bit of a chatterbox let the cat out of the bag.

00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:11.000
Ramsgate has a bay. Caroline was in a house at one end of the bay.

00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:21.000
Martha was in a house at the other end of the bay. And that's, I'm really sorry, I'm, that's as precise as I can be.

00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:26.000
Hmm. Okay, well I hope that helps you out a little bit, I know. Okay.

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:27.000
Thanks, Amal.

00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:36.000
We've got, we've got another, it's not such a question, but, a comment that you, you might have some thoughts on.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:43.000
This is from Denise. Mary, Mary Braden also had a second home in the new forest.

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:51.000
Near near lintest they were thought of as celebrities in the area and her only novel set there was vixen.

00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:56.000
I don't know if you can say You have any thoughts on that particular book?

00:47:56.000 --> 00:48:09.000
No, I confess,ixon I haven't read. I've read a lot of, but I haven't read all of it by any means and that's one I haven't read.

00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:10.000
Okay, that could be next on your list.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.000
So that's It's on my to-do list. Thank you. Thank you for that.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:15.000
Yeah.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:20.000
I will I will make sure it's on the to do's.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:30.000
And okay, we've got another question here from Miranda. Can you remind us who the brother in law was that you mentioned earlier who told the press about the manage.

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:31.000
Tells a little bit more.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:41.000
Yes, unfortunately I don't know his name. But he was very vocal in writing to the press.

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:47.000
To say that you know John Maxwell wasn't the nice man. And the very well respected publisher that he presented himself as.

00:48:47.000 --> 00:49:03.000
Bear in mind in the nineteenth century, publishers were the celebrities. Of their day. They were personalities.

00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:11.000
Who and he wrote to the press and said, look, he's not a nice man. He was living with Mary Bradley.

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:21.000
Actually, 9 names. She was living with Mary Braden and his first wife was still very much alive.

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:24.000
And he's a CAD, he's a bounder.

00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:26.000
Hmm.

00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:36.000
So, yeah, I, one of these days I will have to do some work in looking back back copies of newspapers.

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:49.000
Round about. I'm 1860 ish. And see if I can find. Any information about the letters that he wrote?

00:49:49.000 --> 00:49:50.000
To the price.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:55.000
And just another supplementary sort of question from Jen. How did they had a row? That might have prompted that actually.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:10.000
No! No, no, a not that we know of. Not that we know of. However, nineteenth century publishers are I've said they were the celebs.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:17.000
Of the dye, you know, if there was okay and hello magazine, they would have been in it every week.

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:26.000
People like George Smear, John Maxwell and John Murray. They were the big guns in publishing.

00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:36.000
It was a cut throat. Industry. Publishers were not known for being Shall we say, always very nice people.

00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:50.000
They poached each other's authors, a mercifully, they would entice and one author away from another publisher.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:59.000
And then after they got what they wanted out of the author, they would say, right, well, I don't want your books anymore.

00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:03.000
Don't bother, you know, coming to me to publish your book. I'm not interested anymore.

00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:14.000
That it was known as a really cutthroat trade. Chomari in particular was known as quite ruthless.

00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:21.000
In fact, very ruthless. He published books by, Benjamin Disraeli.

00:51:21.000 --> 00:51:33.000
And he perceived that Benjamin Disraeli I've done him wrong in some way. And he told Disraeli I am going to ruin you.

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:48.000
So, I think we need to bear in mind that, you know, in publishing it was very much a A trade where they weren't known for their softness and sympathy and kindness.

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:50.000
They were ruthless men.

00:51:50.000 --> 00:52:00.000
Hmm. Hmm, okay. Right, what else would we got for you with Margaret? And I can, more of a comment really from Carolyn.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:15.000
And despair of the morals of so called eminent Victorians. But will press the painter you mentioned, had a menagerie trio and hired he was horrible to his first wife were there some good guys I hope so.

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:16.000
Okay.

00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:22.000
Well, I mean George Smith, a very well-known Victorian publisher, very famous Victorian publisher.

00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:34.000
He published the Bronte. But show up one day's work. And she led a blameless life.

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:45.000
But most of them, I, I have, I'm gonna sound awful now, but a lot of the male authors had a pass,ackery.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:53:02.000
Had a past dick Kings? Most certainly. Had things in his private life. That I mean Collins would have known all about Dick in separation from his wife Katherine.

00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:08.000
He would have known all about Dickens relationship with Ellen Turner.

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:19.000
Andackery, his wife. Was an in an asylum. Now rich material there! For Collins?

00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:34.000
You know, all this concern about people being wrongly incarcerated. And while she was in the asylum,ackery was having an affair with his daughter's governess.

00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:35.000
Hmm.

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:43.000
So, you know, a lot of them had backgrounds. That were kept, it was much easier then.

00:53:43.000 --> 00:54:01.000
I mean today you've got social media, they'd never get away with it today. But of course in the nineteenth century they were able to keep their private lives very much under act.

00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:08.000
Okay. Right. Let's see. We've got a few minutes to go.

00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:21.000
No. Oh no, Am I was saying that apparently Wilkie Collins stayed with Martha Raddatz, 14 Nelson Present.

00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:34.000
Thank you very much, Amal. Thank you. I know that when they first met and, I think they began living together shortly afterwards.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:41.000
Martha was 19. Collins was faulty too.

00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:50.000
And of course, when if eventually the story was You know, it was out there in the public domain.

00:54:50.000 --> 00:55:01.000
That you know that was very much frowned on and the but strangely more people were critical of the fact that she'd been a kitchen maid.

00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:02.000
You know, there was this snobbery. Oh! Good he associate with the kitchen maid?

00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:09.000
Okay, Hmm.

00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:21.000
Hey, there was this awful. Sort of snobbery that perhaps we might think was not unusual in the nineteenth century, you know.

00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:28.000
You, you know, you might have a little bit of a dalliance with the kitchen, but you don't set them up.

00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:38.000
And a house. You just don't do that, but he did. Collins, incidentally, you'd be hard poor.

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:49.000
Find a biographer that's got a bad word to say about Collins. By all intents, bi, accounts that we have.

00:55:49.000 --> 00:56:06.000
He was a friendly affable. Man and he once said to his friends I have no pride and they all burst out laughing and he said no no you don't understand what I mean He said, what I mean is.

00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:20.000
I just happened to write books. Every man has his occupation. I just happened to write books. That doesn't make me any better than you.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:30.000
So, yeah, he was a modest man. He loved the public. And if you met him in the street and you said, oh are you Wilkie Collins?

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:38.000
He is the last person you would expect to say. Don't you know who I am? There was no snobbery.

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:44.000
He wouldn't walk to the front of the queue because hey, I'm Wilkie Collins.

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:49.000
He was, you know, he was a very modest, low-key man.

00:56:49.000 --> 00:56:56.000
Okay, right, we've got some more questions here. Let me just scroll here.

00:56:56.000 --> 00:57:04.000
I guess, that we're talking about here, and Jill is asking, does this foreshadow the current dilemma about people's achievements versus their personal lives.

00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:10.000
Suppose we see that quite a lot in the The places.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:13.000
Yeah, I, yeah, I, Jill, I think that is still very much current, isn't it?

00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:26.000
People say, oh well, you know, I think that is still very much current, isn't it?

00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:27.000
Hmm.

00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:43.000
People say, oh well, you know, I used to like him or her until I found out. What ever I mean everyone will make that judgment for themselves but yes, I mean, I can imagine that a lot of their, of Braden and Collins fans if I can use that expression.

00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:52.000
Felt very let down. When it became current gossip. About their private lives.

00:57:52.000 --> 00:58:05.000
And and they you know they they were a bit scandalized it's even said The Braton and Maxwell servants when it was discovered.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:18.000
That, they live together before they actually finally made it to the altar and got married. And the servants gave notice.

00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:28.000
Because they didn't want. Anyone to know that lived in an immoral house.

00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:33.000
So yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it is interesting. People, other people will say, well, he's personal life.

00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:56.000
Her personal life has no bearing on other things. But in the nineteenth century, yeah, you, I think it's fair to say you would be charged on your personal life and your respectability.

00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:02.000
Okay, right, I think we've got another couple of questions and then I think we'll need to wrap things up, folks.

00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:03.000
Okay.

00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:06.000
Question from David. I wonder if you could maybe talk a little bit more about how close Collins and Dickens were.

00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:17.000
Apparently there's a blue plaque outside. A hotel in Cumberland saying that Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins stayed there.

00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:20.000
Did they travel together? Did they write together? Well.

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:29.000
They did. They traveled together, they wrote together, they discussed plot lines together and they produce plays together.

00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:42.000
They produced their most famous play that they collaborated on was The Frozen Deep. Which is about an unsuccessful polar expedition.

00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:52.000
Now, that was attended on the first night by Queen Victoria Prince Albert. And King Leopold of the Belgians.

00:59:52.000 --> 01:00:02.000
Victoria and Albert, as you may know, were first cousins, so they shared an uncle. They shared King Leopold of the Belgians as their uncle.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:21.000
And apparently the plague was so moving. The first Queen Victoria burst into tears, then Prince Albert burst into tears and finally King Leopold burst into tears and the 3 of them to quote the newspaper article.

01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:27.000
Soaked themselves speechless.

01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:43.000
So yeah, you're absolutely right. They collaborated. They were great friends. Dickens Mentored Collins and Collins gave it advice and we know from his letters to Dickens.

01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:53.000
That he often gave Dickens advice. On all sorts of things. No, not only his books.

01:00:53.000 --> 01:01:10.000
But Dickens certainly helped Collins out because Dickens was so friendly. With the detective branch of the Metropolitan Police and he would gather all these wonderful stories, he would buy them drinks in the pub.

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:25.000
After they were off duty. And he would pass on. Some of the stories to Collins. Uncollins would use them in his books because the public were fascinated.

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:34.000
By the detective branch these plain close officers who mingled with the public.

01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:57.000
So, yeah, they, they were very, very close. And it's fair to say that Collins was devastated when Dickens died in 1870 only 2 years after Collins mother had died in 1,868 so it was a sort of double blow in a way.

01:01:57.000 --> 01:02:03.000
Okay, well I hope that answers your questions, David. We're gonna take one more question and then we're going to wrap things up.

01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:04.000
Yeah, thank you, David.

01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:09.000
And this question, question from Felicity. In fact, I've got another very quick question after that as well.

01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:17.000
But, this is from Felicity. And did he leave the mother of his children financially secure when he passed away?

01:02:17.000 --> 01:02:30.000
He did leave money for both Caroline . One Martha and particularly for Martha because she had his 3 children.

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:39.000
To bring up. But I have to say that Collins went through money. Very very quickly.

01:02:39.000 --> 01:02:56.000
She was a lavish spender. He enjoyed high life. Enjoy good living. Love could wine, love good food, loved eating out in restaurants, travel extensively.

01:02:56.000 --> 01:03:10.000
Both in the UK and abroad, sometimes with Dickens, sometimes on his own, sometimes with others. But yeah, he certainly spent a lot of money.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.000
But then he earned a lot of money as well.

01:03:14.000 --> 01:03:22.000
Okay, and one final very quick one from Janet. What book would you recommend for a bit club?

01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:23.000
From the

01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:33.000
I would recommend As far as Collins is concerned, got to be the woman in white and And or the moonstone.

01:03:33.000 --> 01:03:44.000
Brilliant books, both of them. Broughton. Got to be the 2 I mentioned, I guess.

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:54.000
Lady Audley's secret is a must. Particularly if you're an Essex person, when you read it, you will say this sounds like, in Gates Stonehole.

01:03:54.000 --> 01:04:03.000
It is Engage Stonehole. And she used Ingate Stone Hall as the fictional setting for the book.

01:04:03.000 --> 01:04:17.000
And the second one's got to be Aurora Floyd. Quite convoluted, but Aurora Floyd is a strong independent woman with a past.

01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:29.000
Okay, thank you very much Margaret. Colorful lives these 2 people and Really interesting to learn a little bit about their lives shaping their art basically.

01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:41.000
So thanks very much for that and I hope everybody enjoyed that out there.

Lecture

The evolution of modern humans

Homo sapiens, the modern-day human being, is the only Hominid species left alive on Earth and there are in excess of 8.1 billion of us. We populate every continent and our numbers go on increasing.

In this talk with WEA tutor Dr Joanne Wilshaw, we’ll take a whistle-stop journey through the origins and development of Homo sapiens (thinking man) and how we managed to outlive all of the other Homo species and how we spread across the world.

Download the additional Q&A, and useful links for further reading here

Video transcript

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Hello, I hope you can all hear me and see my first slide which is The green title, hominid evolution.

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The origin of modern humans. So I'm using the term modern humans to mean. Homo sapiens, although other people use that term to mean other HOMO species as well.

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But for the purposes of this talk, home, modern humans are homo sapiens. So let's get going.

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Oops, I'm sorry I jumped a slide. So, the kinds of questions that people invariably want to know.

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What is a human? No, I, this is a question close to my heart because as a third year undergraduate I was taking a philosophy exam.

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And the question, the one question on the paper, there was only one. And it said an alien lands on earth.

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And asks what you what you call yourselves and you reply we are humans. And then it said and you have the next 3 h to explain to an alien what a human is which i did and i remember at the end of the 3 h thinking i need more time because I couldn't get it all down.

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Which is where the fascination for evolution comes. You, you know, there are so many levels at which you could answer the question, aren't there?

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Now you could go for physicality or skeletal form or muscle process but what about cognition and thought and social behaviour you could go on forever in in fact.

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So what's a human? Very. Could spend a very long time on that one. What's a hominid?

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Again. We'll come to this, within the slides. But how many it's a human like?

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That's what hominid means, human like. So what were early hominids like?

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And we have some notion from things like fossil remains and tool remains and things and evidence of fire and dwellings and things like that.

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Depictions of early humans. I've chosen this picture on purpose. Sorry. Because the depiction that people mostly come up with is the sort of ape like and hairy, always hairy.

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Which is interesting because How many I haven't really ever been that hairy. It's an odd.

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Folk miss really and homo sapiens is the least hairy hominid of all.

00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.000
And thus why we're often known as the naked ape because we have very little hair.

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So how long have we had hominids? On Earth. It's again a difficult question that one because we have gaps in our evidence.

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Millions of years we know that but how many millions of years. Is getting answered slowly actually, but but it's a difficult task.

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Where and when did we? Come from, where do we originate? As an actual homo sapiens that the the human that we know today.

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I think we mostly know where. Where they originate. But it's when it's always the tricky question there.

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:13.000
And how have we changed? We have some really lovely fossil evidence to work on. That tells us lots and lots and lots, especially now that we can map the human genome.

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We can look at. Dna that's, and you know, occasionally you can derive some DNA from very ancient bones, which is almost a magical.

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Since we've been able to map genomes. And how do we come to populate the entire Earth?

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Homo sapiens, there are, you know, billions of us. Everywhere, every continent.

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So how did that happen? So, These are very big questions. That people are often interested in and I have a very short time in which to try and answer.

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Some of them. So I'll do the best that I can, but it will be, you know a quick answer to those questions.

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So what's the hominid? So homonage means human like, okay. So any species which is human-like.

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Is a It's bipedal what walks on 2 legs. Always walks on 2 legs that means doesn't sometimes walk on 4 and occasionally stand up.

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Treatly bipedal means that the animal never walks on 4, only has 2 feet and 2 hands.

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How many are intelligent? Now we know this from the the size of the skull. And the marks within skulls that show you where the attachments.

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Brain and you know the membrane and the fluid and so on in the head as being so we know that hominids have large brains.

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And we know that that the brain-to-body ratio on the whole tells you how intelligent an animal is.

00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:17.000
So for example, you probably know giant time Tyrannosaurus Rex had a quite tiny brain.

00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:28.000
So the brain to body ratio there. Very different to the brain body ratio of a hominid. Who, who's brains huge in comparison?

00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:40.000
Really? Yeah. Okay, excuse me. So they've been at least a dozen.

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Species of hominid in the last 5 million years, at least a dozen we say because we have some strong evidence for a dozen and some not quite so strong evidence for some others.

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There are big gaps in the data in the evidence that we have. So the best that we can say at the moment.

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Is there have been at least a dozen in the last 5 million years. A 1 million years in evolutionary terms is not very long.

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A 1 million years in evolutionary terms is not very long. A 1 million years in evolutionary terms is not very long.

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Because evolutionary processes are very slow. And evolutionary time is enormous. We're talking millions and millions of years.

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So 5 million years is relative drop in time in evolutionary terms so for that to have been at least a dozen in that time, shows a rapid progression, a rapid, relatively rapid evolution.

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And lots of change. In the species. Other animal species have not had so many versions, if you like, not in the last 5 million years, some have.

00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:06.000
But, a lot of animals, have remained fairly similar to how they were 10 million years ago, but not the hominids.

00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000
So homo sapiens, is, means thinking man. Hello, means man.

00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:24.000
And more correctly, we should be saying human. But Hi, is chosen as the the word to describe man a long time ago and it ought to be human now for political quickness really.

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But homo sapiens thinking man or thinking human as I prefer to say. The only X stant that means still living.

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Species of homeland left on Earth. So where did they all go? So if you have a look at, if I just move your some nails over a little bit so I can see the slide.

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If you have a look at some of the images of hominids. You can see there are a lot of similarities in the body type.

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And the movement as well. And you'll see, on the right hand side.

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Standing more upright perhaps than the others. But the others are all pretty upright too the others.

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.000
So we've got Australopithecus. Afarensis. And then, that means, handyman.

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I beless made tools. The first. The first that we have proper evidence for who is truly erect, truly straight standing.

00:09:45.000 --> 00:10:00.000
And then we know a little bit, don't mean most people know a little bit about HOME, sorry, these are all related very closely to homo sapiens.

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:21.000
The difference in our genetic makeup is is tiny. Between the Homo species. If I give you an idea down here, I've got a picture of our family tree as it were the Sylogenetic, little bit of the phylogenetic tree.

00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:32.000
And right at the bottom there, it's a tiny picture. But this yellow box at the bottom is our ancestral primate.

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So all of the animals in this diagram are related to the ancestral primate. So we've got lemurs and tasiers.

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:47.000
New and old world monkeys. Gibbons, Orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and humans.

00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:57.000
Now you'll see, if you can understand the branching. Diagram. That our closest living relative there is the chimpanzee next to us.

00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:05.000
Then the gorilla, then the orangutan. And then the given and so on to the left.

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:15.000
And the genetic difference between us one of the species of chimpanzee which is extant the bonobo chimpanzee.

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:26.000
Is about 97 and a half percent the same. That's how similar we are.

00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:33.000
To pan paneschis the pygmy chimpanzee as some people say. And our relatedness to these.

00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:42.000
Homo species in the time above would have been closer. So we would have shared much more genetic material than 97 and a half.

00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:47.000
97 and a half is is quite a lot isn't it but we would have had more in common.

00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:56.000
If those are homo species above. So.

00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:07.000
We are related to all of these species by an ancestral primate. Of about 60 million years ago.

00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:12.000
So 60 million years ago. An ancestral primate. Diversified, if you like, into these groups which are extant today.

00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:28.000
Over evolutionary time very slowly. Undertaking probably around 60,060,000,000 years to do so.

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:35.000
So, evolution's often. No, not in a hurry. It's often very slow.

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:46.000
So all species of hominid human-like. That means remember. more closely related to humans than chimpanzees as I've just said.

00:12:46.000 --> 00:13:01.000
So they are our direct ancestors closer to us. Chimpanzees and we split from chimpanzees some you know many millions of years ago.

00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:09.000
And the, come in between. The chimps and us. It's just that they're not on that diagram, they're no longer.

00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:17.000
Alive that they're extinct as opposed to extent. So you've got these major.

00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:23.000
Groups, Australia, Python, you'll have heard of some of these. Paranthrops us.

00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:32.000
Which is not easy. And the homemade genus. Of which, you know, there have been many.

00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:43.000
In the we know from various kinds of evidence that several hominid species lived at the same time.

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So we lived on Earth. Several 100 species lived on earth together at the same time. And it's only relatively recently.

00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:06.000
That we've only been left with the homo sapiens. In evolutionary terms it's relatively recent just to have the one homo species on earth.

00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:15.000
So. The gorillas, chimps, the other, great apes as they're called, where humans are a great ape.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:27.000
But there's a bit of a divide obviously between humans and the other great apes. Split about 6 to 8 MY A's 1 million years ago.

00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:34.000
Again, 6 to 8 million years ago is not a huge amount of time in evolutionary terms.

00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:47.000
So if we look at how many generations that is, that it's usually worked out. That every 25 years a generation passes.

00:14:47.000 --> 00:15:00.000
And that gives us about 320,000 generations of go. So if I don't know if that helps you to sort of visualize how how much time or how many.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:07.000
Generations of the species that is, but I think it kind of helps me to visualize how, far back that is.

00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:27.000
Strong natural selection, our natural selection will favor. Anything that adds a benefit in terms of survival or a benefit in terms of reproduction.

00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:47.000
Or a benefit in terms of fertility or something, you know, things like that. So evolution will work on whatever is present at the time and if anything offers a benefit to survive it will be strongly selected by evolution.

00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:55.000
I'm making evolution sound like an entity, it's not, it's a process. But, Obviously, there are, you know, changes, genetic mutations all the time.

00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:09.000
They happen all the time. Some of them are good. You know, they may help you survive. Some of them, neutral.

00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:23.000
They, don't. Harm you but they don't help you survive either. And some of them are negative, which means they give you a in inherited disease or life-threatening condition or an inability to cope with something.

00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:46.000
In survival terms and so those babies, children, young people tend to die out. And it's the the people with the genes that actually help them to stay alive or reproduce have more children have more success in reproductive terms than others that obviously pass on their genes.

00:16:46.000 --> 00:17:02.000
So strong natural selection means a lot of you know harsh conditions killing off a lot of Homo, Species, a lot of Homo individuals not making it beyond infancy.

00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:16.000
And my daughter said to me the other day she's studying anthropology and she said you know that all of the innovations of Neanderthals were made by people about 18 years old.

00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:27.000
And I did know that but when you put it that way you think correct goodness all the all the things that were passed on to homo sapiens from the Neanderthals were passed on by teenagers.

00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:34.000
Because there are no real, there's no real evidence for many Neanderthals living beyond teenage years.

00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:47.000
Imagine if all our knowledge was reliant on teenagers. They had to pass on everything it would be a different different matter.

00:17:47.000 --> 00:18:01.000
So, 320,000 generations ago. We became humans if you like. Okay.

00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:11.000
Now, we have to. What has happened in that time. As I said, it's not a huge amount of evolutionary time.

00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:19.000
But a lot has happened in the evolution of homo species has been compared to other species has been extremely rapid.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:34.000
Really in many ways. And one of the main things has been a chromosome change. So the other living hominids today have 48 chromosomes.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:43.000
But humans, we suspect other hominids but we only know about humans at the moment. Have 46.

00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:49.000
Now we know that we all came from a common ancestor, which would have been here on the diagram.

00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:55.000
This is where our common ancestor would have. Pictured if we knew what it looked like but we don't really.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:11.000
So 2 chromosomes are fused together. Into human chromosome number 2 and it's the largest chromosome because it is formed off to ancestral chromosomes.

00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:18.000
And the change happened.

00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:25.000
After our last common ancestor with the chimpanzee lineage. Just think about it for a moment.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:40.000
What do we understand about Kramer same changes? Well they can change in chromosome a mutation in a crane the same is very very common it happens all the time but some of them can be absolutely catastrophic.

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:48.000
And fatal so that some crane the same anomalies or abnormalities you might call them will cause the death of.

00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:57.000
An infant in pregnancy won't even be born. Because the chromosomes too different, too damaged.

00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:08.000
But lots and lots of chromosome mutations happen. They chromosome mutations will give us all you know possibility of different colored eyes for example.

00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:22.000
You could inherit. Some resistance to a disease, Kramer Somali. And there are people in the world who are resistant to things like malaria because they've inherited.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:30.000
A version of a Chrome the same which which gives them some resistance. There are some people who are resistant to.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:41.000
The AIDS virus in the same way. Cream same, inherited. Chromosome mutations come in 4 forms.

00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:47.000
I've written them down so I don't forget either. So they can be deletions where a chromosome lost.

00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:56.000
Now they're usually fatal. That, infant does not usually they could be translocations so they move.

00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:08.000
The change position. They can be duplications so you get another copy of a chromosome or they can be inversions where the crane is same.

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:24.000
Changes, fall. Excuse me. So for example, an extra copy of, yeah, so a duplication therefore of chromosome 21 causes Down syndrome.

00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:38.000
That's one, you know, that we would be familiar with. We understand how that works. There are other mutations which which allow things like lactose tolerance.

00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:48.000
So humans, homo sapiens have lactose tolerance. A lot of other homelands do not have it, but, human, human sapiens has it.

00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:54.000
Inherited from Neanderthals.

00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:04.000
And we might be resistant to diseases we don't even yet know about possibly. Sometimes you don't find these things out until the disease comes along.

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000
So there are probably my best guests would be there were probably some people out there who were assistant to COVID.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:26.000
From chromosomal mutation. So The Kramer same anomaly as it's known that that you know that of the hominids have 48 and the hominids we assume and we know for sure humans have 46 is very very significant.

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:36.000
The it will have changed. So many things and it's one of the reasons why the change in homemade species has been so rapid.

00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:43.000
Because of the, fusion of those. Ape chromosomes into a large human chromosome.

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:56.000
That's so just the background sort of notion of why the change has been so relatively rapid in the evolutionary terms and also so It's such enormous change, you know, such huge amounts of change.

00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:05.000
So you see there the orangutan gorilla chimpanzee, 48 chimpanzees.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:17.000
Only the human that we can, as 46 and we assume the other home and it's also had 46 because we're very close related.

00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:27.000
To them much closer than we are to the chimpanzee. So very significant. The Kramer same difference.

00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:38.000
Now this is. Skeletal remains, of an individual who's been called Lucy.

00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:50.000
She was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. She's about 3 million years old and possibly a bit older, maybe 3 and a half.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:24:01.000
More recent data. It's very hard to keep up with the data and the evolutionary. Things because as we get better at reading genomes and so on, dates change all the time.

00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:14.000
What's remarkable about Lucy is that 40% of her skeleton was found. Now in terms of find, you know, a fossil find or, you know, a skeletal fine.

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:21.000
That's a very large amount of material. 40% of her is more than we have of anybody else.

00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:31.000
And you can see from the diagram to the left. Which bits of her? We're preserved, you know, what's all found.

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:39.000
So quite a large amount of the skull. And the Pelvis. And then one of the legs and both arms.

00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:49.000
So importantly what we get from this is a notion of things like how big her long capacity was from the ribs.

00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:57.000
How did she walk? Because we have the pelvis there so we can see where the hip, attachment is.

00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:04.000
And the whether muscle processes. Where there's leave little marks on the bones where the muscles have been.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:12.000
So you can you can reconstruct where the muscles have attached and so on, which is how we get these artists impressions.

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:23.000
They're not made up, they're based on hard evidence. And they're based on you know, that the thickness of the bones and things.

00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:28.000
So you can see that Lucy is sort of a chunky animal. Chunky Pommed.

00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:39.000
And you'll see Good muscle tone or good sized muscles there in the arms. And in the thighs.

00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:50.000
And. A human like head and face. A little bit more ape-like perhaps than human-like.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:00.000
But very recognisably hominid, I think. And all of this we can see from the skeleton, so it's an amazing find.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.000
So. You know, a gift if you like in terms of reconstructing a homo species.

00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:16.000
We know for sure she was bipedal because of the way the head, the spine joins the head.

00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:21.000
So if you think about, an animal that walks on all fours called quadripeedally.

00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:29.000
Like a dog, let's say. Think about where the spine goes into the head. It's at the back, isn't it?

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:34.000
Whereas on a, a bipedal animal, it's underneath, it's at the base.

00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:45.000
It's an absolute. Definitive piece of evidence that she will come to legs. So she is an Australopithecus afarensis.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:52.000
She is one of our distant ancestors. And she's not so different. To us.

00:26:52.000 --> 00:27:07.000
And her DNA is not so different. To us either. You would. If we could, you know, meet her somehow, I think we would recognize her.

00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:13.000
A hominid species. We would see the similarities. With ourselves.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:24.000
So. Who are the first hominids? So we have quite a lot of gaps in the evidence, so we still aren't.

00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.000
Definitively able to say.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:37.000
Where who or what the first homeland was. But we do have fossil fragments from 5 million years ago.

00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:50.000
And so we have We are able to make what you might call very intelligent guesses about what the gaps may tell us if we ever find them, ever find them more fossils.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:28:01.000
More fossils being found all the time. So it is something to keep up with. You know, it is something to keep checking in on as more data comes in.

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:05.000
Our understanding improves all the time. Is one of the most rapidly changing areas of study for humans.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:24.000
And when did homo sapiens appear? You know when did We move on from Neanderthalensis, but when Neanderthals died out.

00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:31.000
You know, how long had homo sapiens been on earth with them? We know that we live together with them.

00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:40.000
We found fossils of the same age. The family Sapiens and Neanderthalances, but how long had homo sapiens been there?

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:48.000
Is it is a difficult question. But we have to assume that they had been there quite some time.

00:28:48.000 --> 00:29:04.000
Before, all the other homo species died out. Because the reason that homo sapiens it's such a dominant or as a dominant home a species it will come to soon.

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:12.000
Reliant on the fact that they live with other homo species.

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:23.000
So let's just have a quick look. Is a very brief look because. Again, you could do an entire talk just on these, you know, individual species.

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:31.000
There were several species in the genus Homo before homo sapiens. We don't know how many.

00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:41.000
And there will be some that we have never found evidence for. Almost certainly and hopefully that evidence will come at some point.

00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:49.000
So the oldest fossil that we have. Sorry, the earliest fossil that we have is Homo, Habelis, handyman.

00:29:49.000 --> 00:30:04.000
2.3 million years, okay, a drop in the ocean in evolutionary time. Call him handyman because we, also found some tools, simple tools.

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:14.000
Not. Highly sophisticated but well used. Tools. Pieces of bone or shaped stone.

00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:23.000
Perhaps not carved into the right shape, but. But they you know perhaps would have found a stone that was already the right shape and used it well.

00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:28.000
Or smashed a bone and used the sharp edge that was created. Rather than carving a knife, they just use things that were naturally sharp, if you like, as knives.

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:49.000
So there's a difference between tool making. Tool use because lots of several species of animal today will use very simple tools but they don't tend to make them.

00:30:49.000 --> 00:31:00.000
Accepting a couple of exceptions. With with some corvids and various bird species.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:05.000
So, homo hubilis would have looked something like this. And again, this is not.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:10.000
Made up it's based on hard evidence. So, HOMO, Hibilis is quite hairy.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:22.000
I think there's me saying then, you know, have not been that hairy. Evidence would suggest, was quite hairy but not as hairy as the ape species are today.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:29.000
So for whatever reason, Homo species have not been the hairiest creatures in evolutionary terms.

00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:50.000
Probably because they had the intelligence to get out of the cold. Or make clothes or you know do things that meant they didn't they wouldn't rely on to unfair to stay warm and protected.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:57.000
And Homo erectus, the the first time my species to stand perfectly erect perfectly.

00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:04.000
Upright. Now we know HOME, Erectus was a toolmaker, not just a tool user.

00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:13.000
Because from Homo erectus, finds. We see the carefully. Carved and flint napped.

00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:21.000
Tools that that we're familiar with from museums and things. Carefully selected stones. Carefully worked into the correct shapes or required shapes and so on.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:37.000
And we also know from the finds that they used fire. And this must have been a very significant.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:43.000
Thing, the ability to use fire. You think, you know, what's fire good for it?

00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:51.000
Well, it keeps predators away for one thing. Keeps you warm. You can make inedible food.

00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:55.000
Edible by cooking it on a fire or putting it at the edge of the fire. So hard, hard feeds can be softened with heat and so on.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:33:11.000
So you just have more foods available to you. More protection from predators. You wouldn't be so cold in the winter and so on.

00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:18.000
You know, for example, if you put If you kill an animal and you eat all the meat off it and it's really difficult to get the marrow out of the bones.

00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:27.000
But if you put the bones in a fire and they become brittle. Then you can smash them and get the marrow out and eat that as well.

00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:33.000
So it would have almost doubled the food that you got from an animal. Just being able to get the marrow from the bones.

00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:44.000
So fire is a very significant. Development. It would have had almost as much. Change in homemade species as the chromosome.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:52.000
Fusion did very significant

00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:00.000
And we have fossils of several other species and we also, you know, we have fossils.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.000
Of unknown species as well. We think that hominid, but we don't, you know, it's really difficult with some of them, especially if you can't extract any.

00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:21.000
Dna from them to work out what they are. Homer, Augusta, Homo Heidel, and famously the one that those people will have heard of or know a little about.

00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:39.000
Hi. A European Homo species extinct now as you know obviously sorry. And we know that they lived side by side.

00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:46.000
I thought probably there, but I should have put did live side by side. With homo sapiens.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:59.000
We know this because the are people alive to day. With Neanderthal genes. So we know that and Neanderthalence is spread together.

00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:08.000
Why did they go extinct and Homo sapiens not? The unstoel man is in this.

00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:14.000
Artist depiction here. Massively strong, much stronger than Homo sapiens.

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:28.000
Much bigger muscle processes indicating a much stronger body. Very human-like. Face facial you know from the the skull fragments that we have.

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:37.000
You can see, the heavy brow. Phone, which homo sapiens does not have.

00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:43.000
And that's one of the differences when you look at a skull from Neanderthalensis, you can see the heavy brow bone there.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:51.000
You don't see that with suck ins. But very human-like. Features. But a lot stronger.

00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:58.000
Then homo sapiens. So you might think That would be a survival benefit being really strong.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:08.000
I'm probably really tough as well. But it wasn't enough for whatever reason it wasn't enough and they became extinct and homo sapiens he was slighter.

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:12.000
Less hairy, less strong, less tough. Went on to populate the entire earth.

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:23.000
So what happened there?

00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:28.000
So. Homo sapiens. The anatomically modern human as I'm calling them for this talk.

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:45.000
The oldest fossils that we have are probably up to 200,000 years ish. These are the kinds of things that are found.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000
Not nice, complete, or almost complete ones like Lucy. But just little bits and bobs, really, little pieces of bone.

00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:58.000
If you're lucky, you get, you know, the bigger bones obviously. Have more information.

00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:06.000
Cause you can tell. How strong they are, where the muscles attached, you know, which you know, depending which part of the body it is, it can tell you different things.

00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:18.000
So we usually find little bits and bobs like this, tiny fragments rather than nice, you know, big.

00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:31.000
Big, finds some rather rare. And we know that from the fossil finds. That's modern humans originated from Africa.

00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:39.000
And we know this for sure now, it was always assumed we originated in Africa, but we know for absolute sure now.

00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:52.000
From the DNA analysis. There's somebody somewhere. Oh, sorry. I keep doing that.

00:37:52.000 --> 00:38:02.000
Somebody somewhere spends their days looking at an array like the one in the bottom picture there. These are DNA sequences.

00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:11.000
And computer programs use them to zip through and look for sort of similarities and matches much like they do.

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.000
With forensic psychology today and you're looking for, you know, the criminal.

00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:21.000
Whose DNA has been found at a crime scene. The same process really, you have some DNA material.

00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:38.000
From a find. And you compare it with other DNA samples. And that will give you an idea what species of how long ago and things like that, how old the bones are done by carbon dating.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:49.000
And whether the genes are shared. Any of the genes that you see in the sequencing there are shared by any humans today.

00:38:49.000 --> 00:39:01.000
And we know from that that we do share some Neanderthal genes so we know that we interbred.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:10.000
So here's the road map if you like. Of our evolution in Africa and migration to the rest of the world.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:26.000
So this is all based on the evidence that we have with fossils. With DNA testing of many thousands of of humans today, it's very simple now DNA testing you you just give some saliva.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:37.000
And your DNA can be extracted. And and used. In computer terms used to match the samples from all over the world.

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:47.000
Can tell you where you originate from. So You see the pattern. Of migration.

00:39:47.000 --> 00:40:00.000
Okay. So in Africa, you see the Myration up into Europe. And across. To North America, obviously we'd have a different shaped.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.000
Land masses that many millions of years ago. Even down to Australia. Through Asia and so on.

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:20.000
And we know that this is the route. Taken if you like just just from these simple saliva test now where we can match the DNA across people's across the entire planet now.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:27.000
Modern humans left Africa about 80,000 years ago, which is not very long. In evolution, but her is long enough to have changed the world.

00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:42.000
No, no less. Because what humans are capable of which evolution isn't is. Is cultural evolution.

00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:56.000
We can change the culture very quickly. Much, more quickly than. Evolution can work.

00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:04.000
So in one of the benefits of.

00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:11.000
And mapping the genome for a human teen is that we are able to follow what's known as the mitochondrial DNA.

00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:19.000
You may, some of you will know, mitochondrial DNA is passed. From mother to child.

00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:30.000
So all all women carry an identical. Marticondral DNA to that of their mother.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:36.000
And she inherited it from her mother. And she inherited it from her mother and so on and so on.

00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:47.000
So somewhere in Africa. All humans live today can be mapped back through the mitochondrial DNA to one single female.

00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:57.000
Scientists have called her Eve which is not terribly helpful I have to say because she is not the first woman she's not.

00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:01.000
But she is the only.

00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:12.000
The only place at which all the mitochondrial DNA we have converges. And so we can say without a doubt that we are all descended from.

00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:22.000
The same one. Well, one individual as a species. Which is a remarkable thing to say. The same is true of, domestic dogs.

00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:30.000
All the domestic logs in the world are descended from about 12 females. Female wolves.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:43.000
So again, very remarkable. Thing and being able to track mitochondrial DNA has been an absolute miracle in terms of what we can understand.

00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:57.000
Mitochondria tiny intracellular structures. They're within the cell therefore but they're not in the nucleus and when a human egg is fertilized.

00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:10.000
The egg has 50% of DNA from the father and 50% from the mother. But also this mitochondrial DNA from the mother because the male mitochondrial DNA is left outside of the cell.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:21.000
So only the female. In replica. It doesn't change.

00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:30.000
So how come we're here? How come it's homo sapiens and not all these other homemade species which of which there might have been dozens and dozens.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000
We don't really know. We know that they're have been a few, quite a few, but we don't know how many.

00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:55.000
Modern research on this question. Suggests that we interbred. With other homo species. We know that for sure that we bred with Neanderthals because we have DNA from Neanderthal.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:44:07.000
Samples that matches DNA from modern humans. Neanderthals therefore have contributed to the modern gene pool of humans.

00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:17.000
And we have to assume as closely related hominids that we would have been capable of breeding with other archaic humans as well.

00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:25.000
In much the same way as you know dogs and wolves can still breed because they're still closely enough related.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.000
Lions and tigers don't come across each other in the wild. But they're genetically related enough to breed still in zoos and things.

00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:42.000
So we have to assume that we bred with other. Humans as well if we did with Neanderthals why not the others?

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:54.000
So. Some of the genes we would have inherited. We're a mixture of all these other homo species.

00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:12.000
That seems to have been a bit of a leap in. Symbolic expression. And social behavior social connectedness which for some reason homo sapiens developed very rapidly and much more complex compared to the other hormones.

00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:28.000
Which we can derive from samples of you know, their bones and their fire using their tools and so on and they're artifacts like jewelry and beads and things like that.

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:33.000
And some people have put forward the idea that perhaps it was language. Evolution that allowed homo sapiens to prevail.

00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:45.000
They could communicate with each other better. They could pass on knowledge. They could.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:52.000
Therefore not have to discover everything by trial and error. So you don't have to come across a saber tooth tiger.

00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:02.000
Somebody can tell you they're really dangerous. You know, you can find a time without having to do it yourself, which would have saved your life in many cases.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:10.000
And about 50,000 years ago something happened in in evolutionary terms. Homo sapiens crossed a threshold.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:21.000
In cognitive ability. For some reason they became more reproductively successful as well. More offspring.

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:36.000
Living were surviving infancy. Probably because was getting better at surviving. Making clothes, staying out of danger, making weapons, lighting fire.

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:47.000
Eating more, varied diet, which, would have helped, general well being and so on.

00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:56.000
So homo sapiens about 50,000 years ago becomes unstoppable. Can go to any climate can wear warm clothes.

00:46:56.000 --> 00:47:05.000
Can survive the heat. For example can have dark skin. Or can have pale skin. Can have.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:14.000
Can be small can be large can be can work out problems can pass on information, can share culture.

00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:24.000
Something happened 50,000 years ago. Probably a series of mutations. Graeme's, will mutations which were advantageous.

00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:31.000
Which we can't easily know just yet. We probably will know eventually.

00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:37.000
Some of the DNA that homo sapiens picked up from Neanderthals at least.

00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:39.000
We're definitely beneficial. So we do know that already there are at least 7 sequences from the Neanderthals.

00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:53.000
Related to skin pigments. So, homo sapiens would have had to evolve paler skin as they went north.

00:47:53.000 --> 00:48:11.000
Because you can only get your vitamin D through the Sun. And if you have a very dark skin you can't, so you would, you would need to use the sun, the sunlight if you like, through your pale skin.

00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:20.000
And the homo sapiens for some reason was able to be a specialist in things like mountains and climbing and rainforests.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:32.000
Or mammoth hunters in the paleoarctic. So they were able to specialize in particular kinds of hunting and existing and surviving.

00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:40.000
Despite the fact they were what you might call a generalist species. So there are a very unusual example.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:53.000
Of a generalist specialist, which is an oxymoron. Probably we have been able to Gather the knowledge required to live in these diverse.

00:48:53.000 --> 00:49:02.000
Environments by cooperating with others, learning from them. Knowing what to eat, knowing how to survive.

00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:09.000
Knowing whether safe places are perhaps perhaps caves people could tell you where to go and then you'd be safe.

00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:10.000
They didn't rely on just kin groups, not just their own offspring.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:20.000
They could have shared food and communicated with other homo species. That they weren't related to.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:29.000
And so, you know, processing culture all the time. How to make clothing, you know, how to do things more efficiently.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:39.000
Make better weapons gather more food what's what's safe to eat even. So we owe a lot to our.

00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:51.000
Friends if you like in terms of the DNA that we. Doubtless inherited from them so that the beneficial DNA.

00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:53.000
Oh, so I think I missed out the Neanderthal genes that help with immunity.

00:49:53.000 --> 00:50:10.000
Sorry, I did. So some of our immunity comes from Neanderthals. We have to assume that a lot of the other benefits that we have came from other homemade species too.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:16.000
And I think I might have gone over time, sorry. But thank you very much.

00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:27.000
For your attention. I think the study of hominid species is absolutely fascinating because there's so much we still don't know.

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:37.000
And humans are so complicated. So all of these things I've listed here incredible. Destructive, creative, innovative.

00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:44.000
Problem solving, lots of positives, lots of negatives, but always complex and always more to learn.

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:50.000
Thank you very much.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:51.000
Yeah.

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:58.000
Okay, thank you very much, Joanne. I've got lots of questions for you. So I'm, I don't know if we're gonna get through all of your questions everybody, but as I said at the start, any that we don't get get to, we will take them away afterward and we'll try and get the answers to you.

00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:07.000
And pop them upside the recording of the, the lecture, hopefully tomorrow morning. So I'm just going to start from the talk, Joanne.

00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:20.000
And now, I have to roll up quite a long way to get to the top. Okay, no.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:30.000
So towards the start of the talk you were talking about the chromosome anomaly and the fact that other humanoids have 40, we have 46 which is quite distinctively different.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:48.000
And Jane was asking, to what extent can those different groups that you talked about interbreed? So obviously presumably not us with you know, chimpanzees and gorillas because of that chromosome thing but in terms of the others that have a similar have the same chromosome.

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:52.000
Number. To what extent could they integrate?

00:51:52.000 --> 00:52:09.000
You're quite right. We could, we could not breed with. The other great apes that are on earth now because we don't share the same number of But we have to assume any hominid that have the same number of premises as us.

00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:14.000
Could probably interbreed with us. Yes.

00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:19.000
Okay, excellent. Okay, I hope that answers your question, Jane, in a nutshell.

00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:28.000
And another question here again when you were talking about chromosomes you talked about Neanderthalensis being lactose and tolerant.

00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.000
How do we know that? What's the evidence that shows that?

00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:33.000
Oh, that's a tricky one.

00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:37.000
Yeah. Probably a good question.

00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:48.000
Because, if you go from, from the other way around. We know what a human who is lactose tolerance genetic.

00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:59.000
What genome looks like. If you compare that to a Neanderthal genome you see particular alle of genes.

00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:08.000
Absent, and they tend to be the ones to do. With. Tolerance and allergy.

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:17.000
And that's how we know because, Some of the, so for, for example, there are people today who are lactose intolerant.

00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:22.000
So for example, there are people today who are lactose intolerant. And so we know what a lactose intolerant genetic makeup looks like.

00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:36.000
We also know what a lactose tolerant genetic makeup looks like and we can compare it with Neanderthalensis who did not have the tolerance and had similar intolerance to people today.

00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:37.000
Okay.

00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:40.000
Who will actose in tolerant. So it's about comparison of genetic materials. That we have.

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.000
Yeah, okay. I'm just gonna say you want to take your slides down just so that we can see you and see you a bit more clearly.

00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:47.000
Oh yes, cool, sorry. Of course, sorry.

00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:57.000
And That would be good. Brilliant, perfect. And now, another question from Ruth. Now, you were talking about Hormo, Habilis.

00:53:57.000 --> 00:54:05.000
How do we know that they had lots of body here and supplementary to that? Did Lucy have body here?

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:08.000
It didn't look like it from the kind of reconstruction that we saw.

00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:21.000
Yeah. Is tricky. Again. Make some very intelligent guesses sometimes with gaps in the evidence.

00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:30.000
If you're lucky enough to have any fragments of skin that will tell you how many hairs.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:40.000
Per, you know, centimetre squared or something that that animal had. And we do have some.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:49.000
Preserved or ancient specimens, usually in ice. That had some hair or skin. Intact.

00:54:49.000 --> 00:55:02.000
So that we can look at the skin under an electron microscope to see very, very closely how many hair follicles and the nature of the follicles as well.

00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:08.000
Whether it's you know very fine hair or bristly hair or whisker pair you know that kind of the differences.

00:55:08.000 --> 00:55:19.000
But We also know from mitochondrial DNA from sampling and stuff that because of the, the, you know, the difference between homo sapiens and other homo species is not that great.

00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:37.000
In genetic terms. We have to assume. That hairiness. Is not a, you know, a big trait of hominids, or homo species, I should say.

00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:48.000
Okay. And I hope that answers your question, Ruth. Now, a quick question from Philip. And you talked a little bit about Homo erectus.

00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:54.000
How long ago? That's did homo erectus exist?

00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:55.000
Yeah.

00:55:55.000 --> 00:56:07.000
Oh gosh. That's tricky because the answer varies a lot. It would be It'll be up to 7 to 10 million years ago.

00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:14.000
Depending which evidence you Look at.

00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:20.000
Okay. Right. Okay. And another question from Pat.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:31.000
Actually, we're talking about Neanderthal lenses. And you had talked about the fact that they didn't live that long in terms of, you know, they got to be teenagers and probably not much more than them.

00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:32.000
Hmm.

00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:34.000
They looked a lot older than that. This popat was saying, why, why would that be? Again, that's maybe a big question.

00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:50.000
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, when you can tell from the remains, how old an animal, you know, any, any animal bone remains will tell you how old the animal.

00:56:50.000 --> 00:57:05.000
Was when it died. You can also, Get some evidence as well about things like disease, you know, so for example if they had arthritic joints and things you can find you see that evidence as well.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:13.000
And we didn't see any evidence of the illnesses of older age that you would see in homo sapiens aged 50 plus.

00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:19.000
And the evidence that we have, the case that they were all kind of below 30.

00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:35.000
And, the, you know, the vast majority were more like 1820. So they You know, harsh climate, harsh life, difficult, you know, difficulties with predators and food supplies and so on.

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:40.000
Would have. Would have meant, you know, difficult survival.

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:49.000
Hmm, okay. Right, what have we got next? No.

00:57:49.000 --> 00:57:52.000
Oh, you seem to have disappeared there.

00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:53.000
Thanks. I'm still here.

00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:56.000
Are you still here? You're sharing your screen again. We can see a nice talk. Yeah.

00:57:56.000 --> 00:58:00.000
Hello.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:01.000
No, I don't think I am.

00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:04.000
But no you're not somebody else is You're not someday else I've switched that off.

00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:16.000
There we go. Okay, now one, species that I guess we haven't spoken about today is Cromagnan.

00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:20.000
Where does it? Where does that species fit into the sort of hominids? Scenario.

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:28.000
Oh, I don't know too much about Grey Magnum. I have to say I've, focused an awful lot of study on these older.

00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:41.000
But much more recently. Much more recently in Homo lineage.

00:58:41.000 --> 00:58:47.000
All I can say at the moment without the data before me.

00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:48.000
Cool. Yeah.

00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:54.000
Okay. Okay. That's maybe an area of research for you next day. And okay, now, just keep an eye on the time here.

00:58:54.000 --> 00:59:00.000
A question from David. Obviously you talked about, you know, the fact that We've originated from Africa.

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:03.000
And spread across the globe from there. Can we, I mean, can we be sort of specific about which part of Africa?

00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:11.000
And David is talking about did we originate from the Rift Valley, which would be modern-day Kenya?

00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:19.000
Do, are we able to sort of pinpoint?

00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:20.000
Yes.

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.000
Yes, we are. It that would be about right. Yes. The Rift Valley, yes, definitely.

00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:28.000
That's the region. Where, where some of the finds have. Indicated from mitochondrial DNA.

00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:32.000
Yes, yes.

00:59:32.000 --> 00:59:38.000
Right, okay, and supplementary to that, there was a question from Karen and Andrew.

00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:42.000
Did all the other hominids originate from the same place?

00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:43.000
Whoo!

00:59:43.000 --> 00:59:45.000
Another big question.

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.000
That's really difficult because

00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:56.000
Without any extant hominids. Of the other homage species. We can't.

00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:03.000
Use the living relatives to track back through the mitochondrial DNA. So it's really difficult to map.

01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:15.000
Exactly where. They all came from. But I think the the quick answer to that is no they didn't all originate in Africa.

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:20.000
They would have come from other parts. And

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:29.000
Impossibly, home, it's homo sapiens that's come out of Africa, whereas other homo species may not have.

01:00:29.000 --> 01:00:30.000
Okay.

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:33.000
Much more difficult to track them because there aren't any living relatives to to use to track back through the DNA.

01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:41.000
Yeah, yeah, of course. Okay. Right, now let's have a look.

01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:48.000
What can we do next? As I say, I think some of the questions we are going to have to take away.

01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:55.000
No, let's have a look. When you were talking about mitochondrial DNA.

01:00:55.000 --> 01:01:05.000
Questions for similar questions from Lucy and from Colin. Do male children also inherit the mothers mitochondrial DNA DNA?

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:08.000
You talked about mother to daughter but do the male children also inherit as well?

01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:18.000
No, it's, She'll pass on a copy but then that child that male child will not pass that on.

01:01:18.000 --> 01:01:19.000
Bye.

01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:33.000
So he will have it in his self. But if his sperm fertilizes an egg. His mitochondrial DNA will remain outside of the cell.

01:01:33.000 --> 01:01:34.000
Right. Okay.

01:01:34.000 --> 01:01:38.000
Where is the mother's mitochondrial gene will be within it. So no, so yes, she does, but no, he can't pass it on.

01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:47.000
Right, good. I hope that answers your question. And, and, Colin.

01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:54.000
No, let's just have a look because we've got about a minute left. Let's see.

01:01:54.000 --> 01:02:07.000
No, from Jen. There is some of it evidence that humans were able to tell stories and recognize star groups before we left Africa, say, 100,000 years ago.

01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:14.000
With that fit with the cognitive leap. Happening that you talked about.

01:02:14.000 --> 01:02:17.000
Yeah, I mean, that would.

01:02:17.000 --> 01:02:26.000
Yeah, it's one of those mysteries, isn't it? I mean, if you ask people today to, you know, to consider the constellations, they wouldn't be very good at it.

01:02:26.000 --> 01:02:32.000
And yet we know that early humans use constellations to navigate by because they've in some cases has been drawn on caves and all sorts.

01:02:32.000 --> 01:02:42.000
And constellations which are recognizable in the night sky today. Yes, I would think.

01:02:42.000 --> 01:02:50.000
Maybe that is one of the. The leaps being able to know where you're going.

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:59.000
Yeah. Perhaps navigate where you're going. Might make a huge difference to survival and reproductive success, yes.

01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:17.000
Hmm. Okay. Right folks, I think we're gonna have to leave it there. I know that we haven't got through all of your questions, but what I'll be doing once we've finished is I will pick out all the questions that we haven't answered and make sure that Joanne receives them and as I say, will try and get those answers upside the recording of the website as soon as we possibly

01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:25.000
can. No, thanks. Thanks again for that, that was really, really fascinating. Really interesting to learn a little bit.

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:35.000
Like pressure.

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:36.000
Yes. Yeah.

01:03:36.000 --> 01:03:42.000
You know, why we are the only hominids left that remain today. And, and obviously we've only been able to skim the surface today, such a, an enormous subject that, but hopefully it's, it's way to you appetite to try and find out a little bit more.

01:03:42.000 --> 01:03:53.000
And about the evolution of humans. So And so thanks again, Joanne. And I hope everybody enjoyed that.

Lecture

Plastic: global menace or miracle material?

Every year millions of tons of plastic waste enter the world’s oceans, causing devastation to aquatic life. But why and what is plastic anyway? From stockings to Tupperware to artificial joints, plastic has transformed our lives, but its pollution is leading to environmental disaster.

Join WEA tutor Pearl Ryall to explore some synthetic polymers that make up ‘plastic’ and the properties and advantages over other materials that have made them so ubiquitous. We’ll also consider the technical solutions that could mitigate the impact of plastic waste and if there is the social and political will to do something about it!

Download list of research sources and useful links for further reading here

Download slides

Video transcript

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:15.000
Thanks very much Fiona and thanks for inviting me back again. I'm just going to try to find my share screen.

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And Today we're going to. Talk about plastics and the role they have in supporting our lifestyle and the impact they're having on the environment.

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There's quite a lot of technical information, so if it's all new to you, you don't worry about it.

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The slides and recording will be available afterwards. And I'm more than happy to try and answer any questions at the end if you just put them into chat.

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But because there is quite a lot of data and information. It's fairly slide heavy. So I'm just going to share my screen and we'll be working through.

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Through the slides that I've prepared. Okay, so. Couldn't apply that.

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Sorry. Was it right?

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Good beginning. Why is it not working?

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Right. Hopefully everyone can see that. I can. Okay, right.

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Yep.

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Well, let's, let's kick off then. That's my question. Global menace, let's kick off then. That's my question.

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Global menace all miracle material. So any of you who know me or mean know immediately that the answer is going to be both.

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So, thought we just start off by thinking about what you maybe think about when plastic. Comes into your head.

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I you thinking about a pair of tights or more likely a plastic bag? Or even a beer wheel out of an electric motor.

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Or maybe you've got a less positive image in your mind and you're thinking about landfill or turtles getting caught up in fishing nets.

00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:22.000
Or even the Great Pacific. Garbage patch. All of these things are true representations of plastics today.

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So how do we take the good and lose the bad? These are some of the things we're going to try and done pick in this talk.

00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:44.000
So the first thing I want to look at is exactly what is plastic. It's not just one thing, that's for sure.

00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:51.000
So plastics are synthetic or man-made polymers. Polymer coming from the Greek for many parts.

00:02:51.000 --> 00:03:00.000
So a polymer is a long chain of carbon atoms with different functional groups along it. And carbon chemistry is the basis of all life on Earth.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:13.000
We wouldn't be here without it. So I thought we just start by looking at some natural polymers.

00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:17.000
So if we start with the polysaccharides, these are polymers of sugars and they can be straight and strong.

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And form plant cells and tree trunks in the form of cellulose or the exoskeletons of insects in the form of chitin.

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Or they can be more.

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Globular like starch and glycogen. So they can quickly break down to release the sugars for energy.

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We've got the polypeptides. These are proteins and they're long chains of amino acids.

00:03:48.000 --> 00:04:03.000
And they actually have the same structure as the polyamides. We use things like nylon. But the difference with proteins is that It's a long sequence of all different amino acids, whereas in something like a polyamide it's just one or 2 monomers making up the long chains.

00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:15.000
Then we've got DNA and RNA on its backbone of sugars and phosphates.

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:25.000
And more interesting materials such as trees that can make natural rubber which is a polymer of isoprene.

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So over the millennia, humans have been using these materials for all sorts of things. Their clothing, insulation, waterproofing and products such as cones and jewelry.

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:53.000
We first started playing with the natural materials to change their properties in the nineteenth century. So Charles Goodyear discovered that he could heat rubber with sulphur and make it much harder and heat resistance through the process of volcanization.

00:04:53.000 --> 00:05:02.000
Similarly, celluloid, which was used in early Sydney film but also an early packaging material, was made by nitrating cotton fibers.

00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:14.000
The first truly synthetic polymer was Bakelite in 1,907. This was a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin and most famous for the old telephone.

00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:22.000
But since then, some 10 billion tons of synthetic polymers or plastics have been made.

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So they came about because in the early twenties and 30, s they were looking for uses really for waste material from the processing of crude oil and natural gas.

00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:41.000
So as we started to use more fossil fuels for energy, then we had a lot of other products that came out of it.

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And one of the most abundant of these was ethylene gas and ICI successfully turned that into polyethylene in 1,932.

00:05:49.000 --> 00:06:03.000
And this was originally used as insulation for radar tables. Other early polymers would do pump nylon in 1935 and Teflon, which is polyteetrafluoro ethylene in 1,938.

00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:13.000
I'm always surprised by how long Teflon's been about. It feels like it's more a space-age material, but was one of the first polymers that, that were made.

00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:23.000
So one of the main distinctions to make when talking about thermoplastics is the difference between thermoceting and thermoplastics.

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If you something like a 2 pack epoxy you get a chemical reaction which forms these cross links between the polymer chains to fix them in place.

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This means the polymer chains can't slide over one another, preventing the material from melting.

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So common thermostats include epoxy resins, phenolics and polymites, which are used in engineering composites.

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But these types of plastics are virtually impossible to recycle because they don't melt. Although waste product can be crushed and added to concrete and other materials as fillers.

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So most of the plastics that we're familiar with are thermoplastic. This means the can be melted and reformed because the long chain molecules can slide over one another.

00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:15.000
They can have a very, degree of this branching which can affect the density and the melting point.

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But fundamentally, they can be. Made into all sorts of different things from fiber to film to car bumpers.

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So at this point I should compress that after graduating I spent 10 years developing plastic packaging. This was in 1979 the first year that globally we made more plastic than steel but packaging was still pretty primitive.

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It was the start of a massive explosion of new materials and structures. And as a scientist, when someone comes along and says, wouldn't it be great if we could make a plastic that can be processed like a can or glass and give food the same shelf life and have all the advantages of being lightweight and easy to transport and decorate.

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And people will love it. Then that's what you try to do, I'm afraid. At the same time, the food technologists were developing ultra processed food that took advantage of these new materials, tasted great and made people want more.

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Somehow we didn't foresee the complete change in food consumption habits and the shift to a throwaway society.

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So as we move through the talk towards the end, then I'll start looking at how we can address some of these problems that us as humans have created.

00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:40.000
But before we start that, I just want to give you some understanding of the materials that we're talking about because there are a lot of them.

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It's not just one thing. So I'm gonna start with the. Polyolphins.

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Okay. So polyolphins. Materials that only contain carbon and hydrogen. The first of these will look at is, is Polyethylene and that can come in 2 forms.

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So, high density or load density depending on its molecular weight and how branched it is. So low density was the material that ICI first made back in the day.

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Whereas HDPE, high density polythene, is very versatile. It's tough and abrasion resistant and used for things like chopping boards, play equipment and packaging for chemicals like detergents and oil cans and probably your milk bottles.

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HD is very recyclable. Unlike the low density version which has a much lower melting point and is therefore more difficult to reprocess.

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But LDP has the advantage of being very cheap and good for all those low demand. Products like bags, squeezy bottles, some pipes and insulation.

00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:08.000
So they have their advantages. On the disadvantages. The other poly, of note is polypropylene.

00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:14.000
This is similar to high density polythene, but the extra methyl group that you can see. On the chain reduces its density, it spreads out those chains.

00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:21.000
So it's even lighter but it also increases its melting point so it has much better temperature.

00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:28.000
It has much better temperature resistance. Dimensionally, it's really stable so it has much better temperature resistance.

00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:36.000
Dimensionally, it's really stable so it can be used in car components like bumpers and it can be spun into very tough fibre for carpets.

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:48.000
And it's high level of microbial and chemical resistance means it's used in lots of medical applications such as disposable, syringes and even sutures that need to remain in place.

00:10:48.000 --> 00:11:07.000
But it's much harder to recycle. The HDPA. So you'll be familiar from your recycling codes maybe that they they all have these resin codes and actually the higher the number the harder it is to actually recycle that.

00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:14.000
So the next ones to look at are the, those materials that are more commonly made into fibers.

00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:22.000
So polyester. They're a big group of materials that have this oxygen containing group in them.

00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:29.000
The most common and the only one we're going to look at today is PT or polyethylene This semicrystaline resin can be made into fibres for clothing.

00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:40.000
Containers for liquids and foods and formed into shapes. Or combined with glass fiber for engineering resins.

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:48.000
So it's very versatile and it's become so common because it has excellent properties that can be controlled by the way the crystallinity develops when it's processed.

00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:58.000
It has really good gas and moisture barrier. And excellent transparency and trance and shatter resistance.

00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:06.000
So as a PT bottle. When it's in its purest form. It's the most recycled material.

00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:27.000
And that's why it's number one on its resin code. But it's much harder to reclaim it from a film or when it's spun with cotton to make cotton polyester, which is a shrink resistant and easy care fiber that we're all very used to to using.

00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:36.000
Nylon is, Dupont's brand name for the polyamides. So they're synonymous really.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:13:00.000
You can get different forms of nylon depending on the monomers that you can use. So you can see on the graphic that I suggest 9 1 6 6 6 10 and they're just about the the types of monomers that are used so nylon 6 is just a single monomer that makes the polymer and it has 6 carbons in its.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:09.000
In each unit, whereas 6 6 is made from 2 monomers both with 6 carbon atoms in in the unit.

00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:17.000
And uses of nylon are very similar to that of polyester so it's used in fibers packaging and engineering applications.

00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:23.000
So things like those gear wheels that I had on the first slide and most likely nylon.

00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:31.000
It has got a really good gas barrier to things like oxygen, but it doesn't have that same moisture resistance that the polyester has.

00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:40.000
So in packaging you have to protect it in a laminated film with something like high density policy on either side.

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:48.000
And that again makes it more complicated to, to recycle. And pure nylon fabrics tend to attract static.

00:13:48.000 --> 00:14:04.000
I don't know if you, you know, remember when things were just made of nylon that were terrible, you're always getting, electric shocks from them and they were very clingy and also the tights made out of nylon very easily laddered.

00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:18.000
So it's not often used as a pure fiber these days. It's nearly always combined with cotton or polyester which makes it much more durable and easier to use.

00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000
But nylon fabrics have the advantage of being really easy to waterproof and to make fire retardant.

00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.000
So they used in lots of different kinds of materials. Nylon itself is hardly recycled at all.

00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:39.000
So you'll see that it doesn't even have its own category. It appears in the in the miscellaneous.

00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:46.000
Half degree for for recycling.

00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:58.000
So here's some more. Common polymers that you'll be familiar with. Pvc is the third largest plastic in terms of volume produce.

00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:03.000
And when I started work in the industry it was used in all sorts of packaging applications because it has excellent barrier properties to oxygen.

00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:16.000
Water and chemicals. It's gradually being replaced in most applications because of concern over plasticizers that are used to make it flexible.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:27.000
And the toxins released when it's burned. But it can be made into all sorts of things from vinyl records to foe leathers to IV bags for medical.

00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:36.000
UPVC or unplasticized PVC. Is rigid and that's the material of choice for drainpipes, windows and doors.

00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.000
And this is much more readily recycled. So you can see that it's got a number.

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:46.000
3 on its on its code.

00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.000
Polystyrene comes in a number of different forms. So you've got general purpose which is cheap and cheerful and used for those things like cake trays that supermarkets use.

00:15:50.000 --> 00:16:07.000
High impact polystyrene is co-polymerized with rubber which makes it 7 times more impact resistance than general purpose and that's used in all sorts of applications.

00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:22.000
Like linings for refrigerators, but also in packaging for yoghurt and margarine pots and disposable cutlery and plastic partyware which is currently being like to the gate is also made from polystyrene.

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:33.000
And then finally you can get expanded polystyrene which is blown with pentane as it's extruded and this creates a material that is 98% air.

00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:37.000
89% there. I'm sure it's not Jake's center.

00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:43.000
Might have that wrong on the on the graph, sorry. It has, Really good shop resistance.

00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:53.000
So if you're thinking about transporting something like, you know, washing machines that you really don't want to get bounced around, they all come packed in this expanded polystyrene.

00:16:53.000 --> 00:17:02.000
As well as it's ubiquitous use in fast food applications, which are something that one would want to get rid of.

00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:11.000
Finally, this is just a list of a few speciality materials that are maybe less familiar, but still really common in everyday life.

00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:21.000
So ABS is another code polymer of styrene, which is strong and rigid and used for phones and luggage and electrical housing.

00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:31.000
Is used for all sorts of flexible tubing where you're not using silicone, so particularly medical uses but also household.

00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:36.000
PTFE. Which is polytetrafluoro ethylene, that's your Teflon.

00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:42.000
That's a fluorinated polymer. But it isn't just used as a coating for pans.

00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:49.000
It's really important in all sorts of medical and electrical and plumbing applications. It's the tape you wrap around when you joining.

00:17:49.000 --> 00:18:03.000
Yeah, steel pipes together. Poly butane that's interesting that's the material that makes all those easy peel seals work on cartons and cold meat packs.

00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:10.000
Polycarbonate you may be familiar with that's 200 times stronger than glass and used in greenhouses and the like.

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:19.000
Polyfinal alcohol was one of the first materials I started working with. It has really excellent barrier to oxygen and is important in extending food shelf life.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.000
But it's also water soluble. So at low molecular weights, it's used in things like contact lens solutions.

00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:46.000
But in packaging it has to be well protected by other materials in some form of laminate. And then thermoplastic, a lamp, to, us, or the rubbery things that give bounce to our trainers whilst melamines are used in all sorts of household applications from picnic wear to toilet seats.

00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:55.000
So that's our very brief introduction to the world of plastics. So what are the things that we wouldn't want to lose?

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Packaging for food is obviously really important. Although we may think there's too much packaging.

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In many lower income countries the lack of packaging is a major contribution to food waste. Where you've got largely urban societies we need to be able to transport and distribute food in a way that maximizes its shelf life and ensures its safety.

00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:31.000
By selecting the right combination of materials you can get a packager is lightweight, usually cheap, can exclude moisture and oxygen from products that will spoil and be printed and formed into a protective shape.

00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:43.000
And preventing food waste is one of the biggest impacts we can have on protecting the environment. And the impact of plastic production and handling is much lower than the impacts which would result from food waste without packaging.

00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:55.000
Synthetic textiles also offer some in environmental advantages. Reducing the impact of cotton and replacing lever while providing affordable clothing to many people.

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The issue is how we manage the overconsumption and the marketing of fast fashion. It would be really difficult to remove plastic from health care.

00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:15.000
Again, although there are plenty of opportunities to reduce consumption, we couldn't manage without the plastic tube being the PPE and the components of equipment.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:23.000
And then if we look at transport all forms of transport, whether trains, cars or buses use a lot of plastic in their construction.

00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:30.000
This makes them lighter and more fuel efficient as well as contributing components to the electrical and mechanical functions.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:40.000
So hopefully that gives you some idea. Of how useful and important plastics are in society.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:54.000
But we obviously need to look at the impact of plastic pollution. Around the world a million plastic bottles are purchased every minute and up to 5 trillion of those plastic bags are used worldwide every year.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:03.000
In total, half of all the plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes. And therein lies the problem really.

00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:11.000
So if we just look at some of the things that happen when waste gets plastic waste gets into the environment.

00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000
It causes multiple problems. Entanglement in debris is a problem for animals and birds on land.

00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:30.000
And in the ocean. Surveys of marine wildlife have shown that 344 species have been found trapped in waste, including all the turtle species and a quarter of the seabird species.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:42.000
Eating the plastics another problem resulting in starvation because they the animal just feels too full to eat anything else or it can actually damage the gut and disrupt the biochemical processes.

00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:51.000
This great shearwater was found to have 194 different plastic fragments in its stomach.

00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:59.000
And one of the sperm whales that was recovered was found to have 9 meters of rope inside it.

00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:08.000
Plus the very small microplastics can be absorbed by filter feeders and passed on up the food chain.

00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:19.000
Plastic waste can also wreck habitat by leaching contaminants, degrading the environment and attracting animals to unsuitable habitats like landfill.

00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:27.000
And micro plastics can act as carriers for toxins which absorb onto their surface and then move through the water courses.

00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:34.000
And the very small nanoparticles that are shared from synthetic fibers and tires are also a new cause for concern.

00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:47.000
Numerous studies that now showing that microplastics are present in living people having been detected in human blood and lung tissue.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:23:03.000
These growth graphs just show the exponential growth in plastic production and waste. We've not been making plastic that long in 1,950 we were producing too 1 million tons a year and by 2019 we produced 460 million tons.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:11.000
And since the eighties, although recycling and incineration have increased, the vast majority of plastic waste is still dumped.

00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:27.000
Recent report from the OECD suggests that the amount of global plastic waste is set to triple by 2060 with almost 2 thirds from short-lived items such as packaging, low-cost products and textiles.

00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:35.000
So what are we actually doing with the stuff? These are some of the current options for managing waste. We've got 3 main routes.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.000
Recycling is generally the best option, but not always economically viable and definitely not suitable for all plastics.

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:52.000
At the moment, 9% of the waste globally is recycled. But this rises to about 30% in Europe and other higher income countries.

00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:04.000
Incineration reduces landfill but can be polluting if it's not done properly. It's increasingly popular in Europe, especially in small countries without much landfill space.

00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:25.000
Landfill returns the carbon to the ground. But take resources out of the economy. The worst thing is that 22% of all the waste produced is not treated in any way and ends up in uncontrolled dumps in the sea because the infrastructure is not in place to deal with it.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:30.000
If we just look at recycling in a bit more detail, it's worth considering what actually happens.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:36.000
I don't know if you actually read what your local authority will take, but it is often limited.

00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:43.000
Most recycling plants can only handle HDPE and PET. So their numbers one and 2 on our resin chart.

00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:44.000
And the rest is sorted and removed and goes back into the landfill or incineration stream.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:56.000
Some plants can manage PVC and polypropylene and some of them more complex laminates, but low density policy, polystyrene and the mix of polymers we discussed earlier.

00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:11.000
Are rarely recycled at the moment. This line only first domestic recycling because products such as cars and electrical goods are subject to regulation, about dismantling.

00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:24.000
This is because hazardous chemicals have to remove before the recycling process can begin. And authorized treatment facilities aim to recover 95% of the materials before sending the rest to landfill.

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:36.000
So it really is the packaging and the text files that are the big. Problem. This diagram shows the principles of mechanical recycling.

00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.000
So after the collection's been split into the paper, metal glass and plastic streams it's further sorted into those types into the different types of plastic.

00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:51.000
So this is where the labeling does help for example telling HDPE from polypropylene.

00:25:51.000 --> 00:26:02.000
Which will look very similar. But if a PT bottle has a tamper proof ring on it, then this is likely made of HDPE and would need to be removed before processing.

00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:10.000
So all that has to happen first. And then the clean material is shredded and remelted to reform new granules.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:19.000
Actual polymer structure in not changed through mechanical recycling, but the molecular weight can be reduced and this affects the performance.

00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:33.000
So material often goes into lower grade applications such as benches rather than back into the food packaging. Or if it is used in food packaging, then it soften has to be skimmed with a layer.

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:41.000
Those plants that can manage more complex structures use solvents to dissolve out some of the polymers before separation.

00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:50.000
And any material that is heavily contaminated has to be taken out of the recycling stream, which is why they usually ask you to wash your bottles and tubs before.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:56.000
Collection.

00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:16.000
In Europe about 40% of the plastic waste is ininerated. I mean this is quite good. If it's just replacing fossil fuel because as we've seen you know they're carbon-based polymers and when they're burnt they release energy which can be converted to heat or electricity in the way that a fossil fuel can.

00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:32.000
So, do any relative gain is dependent on the mix of energy that it replaces. So you really wouldn't want to be using incineration to replace renewable energy, but if you're replacing fossil fuels then that's not too bad.

00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:53.000
The problem is when that's not done in a regulated. Of way so studies from countries in Africa and Asia where there's less regulation show that pollution from toxic gases such as carbon dioxide and dioxins is really significant.

00:27:53.000 --> 00:28:00.000
So the third option is landfill and here you can see 2 landfill sites, one from Europe and one in Asia.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:12.000
On the surface they look very similar apart from the mechanization. But the way in which modern landfill sites are treated makes them much better so long as they're properly operated.

00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:25.000
So this diagram shows how they have to be lined with various layers of material to prevent leech, wet, leachate getting into the groundwater and they have to monitor.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:28.000
The groundwater to check that the pollution isn't getting in. And then when they're full they're capped with clay.

00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:47.000
In order to then re vegetates them, so that they're, they can go for other uses.

00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:58.000
So here we're looking at. The main concerns that people have, which is around, the pollution of the oceans.

00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:12.000
So, 82 million tons of large plastic items and 40 million tons of small pieces below 5 are washed up, buried or resurfaced along the shorelines every year.

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:26.000
Most of this, 80% of this is fairly recent from the last 5 years, but the rest is decades old, are showing how long it takes for large lots of plastic to break down to be low 5 which is what we call the microplastics.

00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:32.000
So the problem is never actually degrade or break down. They just get smaller and smaller and smaller.

00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:40.000
In the ocean, the macro plastic, the big pieces are even older. So they don't break down to the microplastics so quickly.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:49.000
Thank you back to the fifties and sixties and 75% of the micro plastic that tiny bits in the ocean was made before the 1990.

00:29:49.000 --> 00:30:01.000
So really the ocean is storing up. All our waste. Most of the plastic entering the ocean from the rivers is less dense than water so it floats on the currents.

00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:13.000
And best estimates suggest that 80% of ocean waste actually comes from the land with about 20% coming from the fishing fleets and other sources.

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:19.000
So what happens is the ocean currents take the plastic waste on very, specific paths or gyres.

00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:30.000
This concentrates the material in these 5 distinct areas. So every one of those circles will have a big garbage patch in it.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:39.000
But the largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is located halfway between California and Hawaii.

00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:44.000
And this is what it looks like. Not very pleasant. It covers an area that's 3 times the size of France to give you an idea of size.

00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:54.000
And it contains about 80,000 tons of material.

00:30:54.000 --> 00:31:05.000
As we've seen, 80% of the ocean pollution is coming from rivers. So finding out which rivers is a really good way to help us start tackling the problem.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:11.000
And you can see from this graph that most of the top 10 polluting rivers in are in the Philippines.

00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:25.000
Which accounts for a third of the total waste going into the oceans. This is because waste management is nearly non-existent in these areas and the paved surface of heavy urbanization allows the plastic just to be washed into the rivers by rain.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:47.000
One real life example compared the river basin in Java with the Rhine in Europe. And although the Java Basin is 275 times smaller than the Rhine and generates 75% less plastic waste, it actually emits a hundred times more plastic into the ocean every year.

00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:57.000
This map just confirms what we've already discussed with packaging and text styles being by far the greatest producers of plastic waste.

00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:02.000
And therefore the obvious place is to look for easy wins in reducing the problem.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:12.000
But before we throw the baby out the bath water, it's worth looking at this lifecycle analysis of a grocery bag from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:21.000
It shows that comparison between a single-use policy and carry bag and other types of bag that are often deemed more environmentally friendly.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:29.000
Because the inputs into producing a plastic bag are so low, you have to use the alternatives and all the lot before you get to the same impact.

00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:33.000
So if we look at the cumulative results, you need to use your organic cotton bag.

00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:40.000
Every day for 6 and a half years before it's better than a single use polythene bag.

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:48.000
That's not impossible. I have bags that are at least 10 years old, but equally I wouldn't use a plastic bag once and then throw it away.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:57.000
So I'm not advocating mass use of polythene bags. The 5 p taxes work wonders in reducing usage and we need to do more.

00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:06.000
But equally, we mustn't leap to snap judgments that may seem intuitively correct, but aren't based on the actual facts.

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:14.000
Another thing that is a lot to talk about the moment is bioplastics. Now this is used confusingly and 2 entirely different ways.

00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:15.000
It can mean polymer that's made from a plant-based feed stock, a bit like biofuel.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:29.000
So that has similar environmental impacts to biofuels and is not ideal. The other meaning is that the plastic itself is biodegradable.

00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:36.000
Not at the moment. Plastics that are biodegradable aren't durable enough to be useful.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:41.000
But lots of magazines and things are now delivered in these compostable bags. Now they're not great if you try and put them in your domestic compost.

00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:54.000
They won't break down. There's lots of studies have been shaped have shown that. And if they get into the ordinary recycling stream, they're a really serious contaminant.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:01.000
But if you can put them into your food waste, they will go to a commercial composter and fully degrade.

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:08.000
So that's where they need to go. Now I'm given to understand that not all local authorities have composting services.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:15.000
We have one here. But again, that's a matter of infrastructure. We have one here. But again, that's a matter of infrastructure.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:23.000
So these things are being sent out as being degradable but again that's a matter of infrastructure so these things are being sent out as being degradable but if you can't get them into the system to actually be composted and it doesn't really help.

00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:32.000
So that's where we are. Plastics are generally useful materials and they account for less than 4% of global fossil fuel production.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:47.000
But the problems are caused by the throwaway society that generates a huge amount of waste and the lack of infrastructure for managing that waste, particularly in low income countries, where they actually create less plastic waste per person than we do.

00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:54.000
So what can we do? We're onto actions.

00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:03.000
I start with a really cheery subject because I don't know if you've heard of ocean cleanup, but, it's a great organization.

00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:14.000
They've got a great website that you can look at. The idea came from a young Dutch teenager when he asked his parents why you couldn't just pick the plastic out of the ocean.

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:25.000
And in 2013 when he reached 18 he actually started his charity with this very intention and by 2,019 he was actually pulling plastic out of the sea.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:34.000
In the meantime the UN had launched its Clean Seas program to restore the marine environment back to good health and was supporting the project.

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:35.000
So ocean cleanup works as a research program that develops the technology that can be scaled up and replicated.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:53.000
And currently on system 2 and soon to progress the system 3. They use these floating booms to create an artificial coastline that tracks the plastic and can then be hauled into the towing boat.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:59.000
So far they've removed 246 tons, which isn't a massive impact on that.

00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:06.000
80,000 tons that's there, but they aim to remove 90% of the floating plastic by 2040.

00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:14.000
And I believe that they really can do that. The modeling suggests they need 10 full size systems to clear the great Pacific garbage patch.

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:27.000
So really that's a question of investment. The material they pull out all goes through a recycle and recovery process just as if it's been collected on land.

00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:30.000
So here's some of the things that they've pulled out. You can see that it's obviously not just plastic.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:44.000
It's anything that floats, but the full array of, toys, cutlery, clothing, fishing nets, bottles that you'd expect.

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:52.000
But of course it's no point pulling it out. If we keep putting it back in. So the other thing they're working on.

00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:01.000
Is the rippers. We saw that. You know, very few ripples are creating most of the problem.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:16.000
So they're also developing ways to catch the plastic before it escapes into the sea. And they're looking at a range of hi-tech and low-tech solutions for this because rivers vary a lot according to the tide, the width and the depth.

00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:33.000
But again, it's just short-term solution until effective local infrastructure can be put in place. They aim to make themselves redundant once as much plastic as is possible is being cleared and new sources of pollution have stopped.

00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:41.000
The other people that it's worth looking at as the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, they're doing some of the best work in this area in terms of innovation, collaboration and driving policy change to reduce simple useful plastics and the associated waste.

00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:58.000
Their foundings principle is based on the circular economy in which design is used to minimize the waste and keep all resources in the economy.

00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:07.000
Ellen Macarthur was really affected by her solo voyage around the world. And seeing so much plastic in places where humans hadn't ever even been.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:15.000
So the ambition of the foundation is to use lifecycle analysis to create a circular economy. For plastics.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:24.000
This involves eliminating plastics we don't need. Enabling sustainable product design. And ensuring proper waste management and collection.

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:34.000
The plastic that exists already is a global resource. It should be looked after just like any other material.

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:40.000
So some of the projects that the Ellen Macarthur Foundation support in a small scale social enterprises such as appeal.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:50.000
I'm always hearing people complain about the plastic covering. On a cucumber, but it keeps the oxygen out and the moisture in so extending the shelf life of the cucumber.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:39:01.000
To allow transport from grower to consumer. Appeal is a plant based soil that can be applied to fruit and vegetables to extend shelf life but reduce environmental impact.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:13.000
It's an edible coating that you can eat or just wash it off. You still need to consider the bruising damage of fruit and vegetables during transport.

00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000
But as they were already trialling this in Oxford with avocados and oranges.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:23.000
So it's definitely going somewhere.

00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:30.000
You may know that Scotland's looking at introducing a deposit scheme for single-use bottles.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:37.000
And even though it's popular with consumers, it's receiving varying levels of support from industry because they think it's too complicated.

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:38.000
Well, they might learn something from this innovative idea from a small tech start up in Indonesia.

00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:52.000
They're focusing on reuse of plastic bottles. Before recycling. The bottles they make are designed to be reused 10 to 20 times before being taken out of service.

00:39:52.000 --> 00:40:04.000
As we've seen, Asia has huge issues with plastic waste and 70% of in Indonesia's waste is hard to recycle in it that it's a lot of those laminated pouches.

00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:13.000
The interesting thing about This project is that, and, controls the whole distribution logistics. They get the product to consumers.

00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:21.000
They collect the returns, they clean and biologically test the containers before supplying them back to the brand that fills the product.

00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:28.000
And they do all this with a QR code and an app to track the lifespan of every single bottle.

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:35.000
And because there is social enterprise, they ensure they work with community out there and pass on the reuse savings to their customers.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:58.000
And they now have a hundred outlets as well as online sales. So that's really a different approach where you're looking at you can actually tell how long your plastic bottle has been reused and when it needs to come out of the system and get recovered in some other way.

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:02.000
Chemical recovery is one of the new technologies that's being developed in order to move towards a circular economy.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:15.000
We talked about the mechanical, recycling which, which doesn't change the polymer. Something like pyrolysis uses high temperatures and the absence of oxygen to break down the plastic into its constituents.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:33.000
Impurities such as nitrogen from nylon have to be removed in the refining steps, but the material is processed into a high quality feedstock called NAFTA, which is similar to that obtained from crowd from crude oil.

00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:45.000
So, once it's been produced, it can go back into making brand new plastic resins that can go into high-grade use like food packaging.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:55.000
And it could recycle large volumes of flexible packaging and mixed polythene and polypropylene waste and polystyrene waste into material.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:12.000
That otherwise is really hard to recycle. So Europeans to be at an industrial scale with this by 2,025 and hitting its targets for dealing with those hard to recycle plastics by 2,013.

00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:28.000
However, this means investment in 60 to 70 new plants and a secure supply of waste material. So that's the other thing about when you're looking at waste as your feedstock is you've got to collect that material and get it to your plant for the recovery.

00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:35.000
The other thing is that pyrolysis can't deal with the PET because it's oxygen content is too high.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:45.000
But mechanical recovery is good with PET so at the moment that's less of an issue.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:55.000
Another thing that you see a lot of stories about in the press is using microbes to digest plastics and as a carbon-based product this seems plausible.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:00.000
And some microbes have been found in the North Sea that are revolving to feed on those micro plastics.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:09.000
And it's been proven in the lab that some microbes can degrade some plastics to carbon dioxide and water.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:22.000
The main issue is that most of them don't work at low enough temperature and you need lots of different microbes because each one would be specific to a specific plastic and you still be composing something from a non-renewable source.

00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:32.000
So you need to factor in carbon capture. So it's interesting, but probably not going to solve our problems.

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:48.000
Text files are still the really big knot to crack. The fiveers that are currently recycled are done so by that mechanical dissolution process but they are looking at chemical recovery and Mackinac McKinsey think this could get to as high as 26%.

00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:55.000
By 2030 but this does seem overly optimistic. How's we just seen nylon can be processed through pyrolysis but to recycle polyester they need a completely new hydrolysis system.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:44:25.000
And you know the research is happening but it's going to need major investment. Patagonia, the outdoor clothing supplier, is really committed to reuse and recycling and they're already using over 80% renewable and recycled materials in their new products and they claim that they will reach a hundred percent very soon.

00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:36.000
They also promote second hand or pre loved. And they hit the headlines with that do not buy this jacket advert.

00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:43.000
The second hand and rented trade in close is undoubtedly the best way of keeping these materials in the economy rather than ending up in land.

00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:51.000
And there may be lessons to learn from the wall trade in how to work collaboratively. Collaboratively.

00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:55.000
Preto in Italy is home to hundreds of companies that together they claim to process 15% of global waste clothing.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:07.000
And they would claim all of the wool and turn it back into useful fiber. And it might be that something similar could be done with plastic fibers.

00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:16.000
So let's think about the things that we can all do. This is just a short list off the top of my head.

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:27.000
You're probably already doing most of them, but behavioral change is something that we can lead. The use of reusable drinks bottles and cups has increased enormously, but there's still scope for more.

00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:37.000
But we can't forget that when there's a natural disaster, the delivery of palettes of PET bottles is the quickest and safest way to get drinking water into these communities.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:44.000
As I've said, food waste both in the distribution chains and the domestic environment is one of the major problems we need to solve.

00:45:44.000 --> 00:46:01.000
So making sure we don't add to it is something we can all do. Part of this is about buying fresh and local where we can, but also eating more like our grandparents did ditch the ultra process food and you'll be healthier at the same time as reducing that hard to recycle plastic mountain.

00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:18.000
I'm remember to check your local council guidelines for what you put into the recycle stream. Using solid detergents, whether for yourself or use your washing reduces the packaging, the water consumption and the transport emissions because you're shipping less water about.

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:25.000
Good back to some basic hygiene standards. Covid's made people extra sensitive to risk, especially in health care.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:31.000
But again, it's about the data. If there's no risk, there's no need for the PPE.

00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:40.000
Wearing a face mask won't stop you catching something, but if you have an infection it will greatly reduce the risk if you're passing it on.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:57.000
The biggest contribution we can make is just keeping using our old stuff, get it repaired, exchange clothes, think before you buy and share these ideas with our friends and family and campaign to our counselors, MPs and retailers.

00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:00.000
So what do we want from our leaders? I think what we need is systemic policies that treat plastic as one of the many resources in our economy.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:19.000
We want governments to adopt systems thinking rather than a growth mindset and to work collaboratively with each other and NGOs and corporate organizations to invest in solutions.

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:28.000
A priority must be to support those low income countries in securing infrastructure that prevents the continual flow of plastic out into the environment.

00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:34.000
For many years we were exporting our rubbish to these countries without any accountability for what was happening to it.

00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:48.000
Thankfully, it's mostly stopped, but the legacy remains and needs fixing. One thing that would really help recycling recovery would be standardization about how different products are packed and labeled so that customers understand what has a reasonable chance of being recycled and how to give it the best chance.

00:47:48.000 --> 00:48:03.000
Of that actually being successful because at the moment so much material that goes into recycling just still winds up in landfill.

00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:13.000
And regulation needs to go alongside incentives to encourage people to do the right thing. Reducing landfill by increasing fly tipping just makes the problem worse.

00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:27.000
But the producers and users of packaging must pay to have it retained in the economy. If a full lifecycle analysis was done on all products, then plastics would be a sustainable alternative to glass paper metal in many cases.

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:36.000
But while we're allowed to throw stuff away without counting the cost in the economics, will not solve the world's environmental problems.

00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:37.000
So that's about all I've got to say, but I'm very happy to take any questions.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:44.000
If you have them.

00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:48.000
Thanks very much, Pearl. We'll go straight to some questions. I've got a few for you.

00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:49.000
Okay.

00:48:49.000 --> 00:49:00.000
Let's just start from the top. Thanks for sending in your questions. And so early on in the presentation you were talking about, you know, the dangers of plastic ingestion on animals.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:08.000
Joe is asking, and what research is being done currently on how plastic ingestion affects humans?

00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:10.000
Do we know?

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:21.000
I think it's at a much earlier. Stage. As far as I know, there is no evidence that it's harming humans.

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:25.000
That's not to say it isn't, but I just think that that research has not been done.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:38.000
Certainly there is lots of research that shows that it is present in our bodies. So it's there, whether or not it's causing a problem, is not something that we fully aware of.

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:53.000
But things like those nanoparticles which get deep into the rump to the lungs, we know that, that nanoparticles coming from diesel or whatever form, we know that those are dangerous to health and will cause cause a problem.

00:49:53.000 --> 00:50:03.000
Whether or not the actual ingestion through the food chain is causing a problem is you know It's an unknown.

00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:15.000
Alright, okay. A question from Nicki. This is an interesting one. I'm much of the house will plastic waste in the UK is shipped abroad.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:21.000
And at the risk of ending up in the sea or other unsafe disposal methods because you do hear about that.

00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:33.000
Yeah, so it's, It has almost stopped. I don't know know what they, you know, whether there's good local, you know, data to show that it is completely stopped.

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:38.000
But a few years ago, China can just stopped accepting any exported waste and most countries in Asia did the same thing at the same time.

00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:55.000
So that That's flow of waste. Has been. Paused or stopped. But that's what I say that the problem is that that all went without them having any infrastructure to deal with it.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:51:25.000
So it's like a legacy problem really. So we might not be adding to it but there's still that legacy problem of it all in open dumps and landfill that can still get into the ocean that needs to be dealing with and that's why we need to look at how investment from the West can actually support the you know, the infrastructure that's needed to stop that because it's all very well trying to take it all out

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:31.000
and stop it going in but you've got to do something with it and you can only do something with it if you've got proper infrastructure.

00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:43.000
Yeah, and that was actually a question from. Bridget actually, you know, and which we might as well just tackle that now, you know, it's all very well pulling stuff out of the sea, but what then do we do with it?

00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:55.000
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, I think that, you know, the idea of moving towards a circular economy is that over time there will be a lot less waste produced.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:52:01.000
So that. You know, we'll stop using a lot of the stuff that we just don't, that, you know, we need to reduce is a big thing.

00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:07.000
We use loads of stuff that we don't need to. But you know, there's a very good argument for lots of it that you do need to still be using that plastic.

00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:14.000
And that is where the circular economy needs to come. And in the meantime, we need to be collecting that waste and dealing with it.

00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:32.000
And I think the chemical recovery things offer good solutions because it does return it to very usable feedstock so it's a proper circular process.

00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:35.000
The problem is the, you know, it requires energy to do that. So you need to make sure that you're running those processes on renewable energy.

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:53.000
So that you're not adding to the problem. And the other thing is the the sort of at the moment we've got lots of waste that needs to be dealt with as you reduce it and get to that circular economy then the amount of the waste should reduce and so therefore getting the investment to deal with the problem.

00:52:53.000 --> 00:53:07.000
If you think you've got a deal declining sort of feedstock is. Difficult.

00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:12.000
So none of these things are simple solutions. And that's why I say they need regulation and cooperation and collaboration.

00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:20.000
To to make them work.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:31.000
Okay, thank you. And question here from Deanna. Do plastics or old plastics give off toxins which get into the air, say for example inside your house.

00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:33.000
Or in buildings.

00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:41.000
Not really, I mean they're all very safe. I mean there's obviously there's this thing now which has really only recently been discovered around the shedding of these nanoparticles.

00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:55.000
And they are everywhere. And then whether or not they do any damage is, Is, is, is, is debatable.

00:53:55.000 --> 00:54:10.000
Is this a bit of an unknown. Some of the materials that they most have concerns about things leaching out of his PVC because to make PVC usable in many of its forms they have to put a lot of these materials called thalates into them and they do leach out.

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:20.000
They're sort of controls around you know sort of how much you can put in and how much you can put in and how much can can leach out.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:42.000
And They've been used for a long, long time and there is not a lot of evidence that they were really damaging but the reason a lot of PVC is being replaced in a lot of applications is for for that reason.

00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:45.000
Other things less, you know, they have less stuff in it. So.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:54.000
Hmm, that actually leads onto a question from Carol and actually she was asking about Salates. She was asking, is it, phthalates that were removed from babies bottles?

00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:59.000
And can you see anything about what other products are still in and the possible effects which you've touched on a little bit?

00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:06.000
And either other plastics we should be similarly, similarly concerned about.

00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:24.000
Yeah, I mean as I say they're the plasticizers that make the the plastic. Easy to process and to turn into the materials that that you want and there's a lot of but I mean a lot of things have been removed and other plasticizers have replaced them.

00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:31.000
So that's the thing. They said it's always a sort of a moving feast of, of looking for other materials that will do the same job.

00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:56.000
And pose less, less risk. So that development is going on. All the time. I think phthalates are the only things that people have, genuine concerns about because there is some I think they're in that category where they sort of May the terminology is.

00:55:56.000 --> 00:56:09.000
It's always very sort of. Odd but you know they kind of made cause some cancers that There isn't any evidence that they actually do, but potentially from, work that's been done, you know, there is a sort of possible.

00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:27.000
So, so they work quite hard to remove those and certainly out of sensitive things because obviously the thing about baby bottles is that you know if they're going into babies you've got to be you know, sort of a small volume of baby.

00:56:27.000 --> 00:56:35.000
So it's gonna have a, you know, relatively a bigger impact. So we'll see they're really careful about things like that.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:45.000
Okay, thank you. Right, here's a question from another budget which kind of really gets to the nub of things here a little bit, it's a little bit of a million dollar question.

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:59.000
Assuming that is a choice for a drink container, you've got a glass bottle, a can or a plastic bottle, which is best for the planet in terms of original production verses reusability.

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:03.000
Cool.

00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:04.000
Yeah.

00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:05.000
Yeah. I can't pull though relevant life cycle analysis off my head to answer that question.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:25.000
But, You know, that's why. They're arguing that that should be the case for every product because glasses high energy to produce.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:40.000
It has got quite long reusable. Factors an aluminium can is very high energy to to produce but very good recyclability.

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:52.000
But those are dependent on actually getting them back. I mean, I think this reuse, so like we've loved, we always used to get your 5 P on your bottle, didn't you, when you bought it?

00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:53.000
Oh.

00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:56.000
I remember that. That was my job when I was little to take the glass bottles back to the shop.

00:57:56.000 --> 00:58:23.000
So in many ways getting back to reuse rather than. Recycling is always going to be good but your inputs are still high right at the beginning so you got to reuse a lot of times i mean that's the thing about plastics is that the what goes into them in the first place is very low energy and very low input.

00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:28.000
That's why they're so good. And it's only what we do with them that's the problem.

00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:44.000
And if you're starting to look at plastic that have 10 to 20 reuses before they go into a recovery process then they start to look quite advantageous because you just look at the sort of the transport costs of you know, sort of moving glass around.

00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:56.000
The reason we went to plastic, you know, I mean, I worked in the industry. We didn't go into plastics because you know We thought nothing, you know, other things were complete rubbish.

00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:14.000
We were generally trying to, you know, reduce the amount of fuel that was used in the transport to make things more accessible and you know, that that's was the starting point with the guy who invented the plastic bag, you know, he wasn't trying to create an environmental disaster.

00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:33.000
He created something that had virtually no input in terms of energy or resource and he produced something that was really useful that you can use time after time after time.

00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:42.000
You don't have to throw it away after one use. So You know, I think a lot of these things are quite complicated and the actual data around which is best under which circumstances will vary.

00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:53.000
According to where you are in the world and what's available and what your distribution systems are like, but.

00:59:53.000 --> 01:00:02.000
You know, we need to think about them and we need to think about how we reuse all of our material, how we use all of our materials and resources, not just one thing.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:13.000
Yeah, okay, thank you. Right, question from Sally. Should we be worried about microplastics with polyester clothing getting into the water supply from washing machines?

01:00:13.000 --> 01:00:17.000
Yeah, so I say, I mean, this is kind of quite a new concern. And again, there's not much research about.

01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:19.000
Hmm.

01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:24.000
I mean, what they where they've got to is they've identified that it's happening.

01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:27.000
And they've identified that it's in the water courses and they've identified that it's coming from.

01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:38.000
From the fiber. Now, Again, intuitively you think gosh that's got to be bad but.

01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:52.000
There isn't any data that says that it is bad. So, you know, it's a bit of a cop out, but, I can't answer that question because I don't know if it's bad or not because I don't know if it's bad or not because I don't have the data.

01:00:52.000 --> 01:01:00.000
Okay, thank you. Right, I've got 2 more questions and then we'll need to wrap up folks because we're just beyond and 60'clock.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:10.000
Okay, so one from Stuart, question from Stuart. How significant in the school syllabi is the issue of environmental degradation and recycling?

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.000
Do you know?

01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:34.000
I mean, I'm not involved in school education, so I don't know what's, what's in the curriculum so I don't know what's what's in the curriculum but I know there is an increasing emphasis in trying to make science in schools more applied and relevant to you know, sort of.

01:01:34.000 --> 01:02:04.000
Everyday life and the issues social issues. And I think that there's no doubt that environmental concerns are way up the the agenda for for most people, you know, people are concerned, people are worried people are asking questions.

01:02:11.000 --> 01:02:12.000
Yes.

01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:19.000
And that is how things will get get dealt with. And I think young people especially are really worried. You know, they look around and they they see Well, I say that, but I think they're really warm and then I go for a walk and when the teenagers have all been down the field the place is absolutely littered up and you know 3 yards away from a bin so that's the sort without weight making any

01:02:19.000 --> 01:02:20.000
Yeah, okay.

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:22.000
sweeping statements. So I think it probably goes both ways. I think some people care as some people don't.

01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:23.000
Yeah.

01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:34.000
Right, we're gonna finish off with this question from Sue. Would it help with the super wealthy currently trying to put themselves into space put the resources towards helping with this instead?

01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:49.000
Absolutely. I mean that's why I love Patagonia. I wouldn't normally put, you know, a brand in a, in a talk like this, but, you know, I wouldn't normally put, you know, a brand in a, in a talk like this, but, you know, the billionaire guy who owns Patagonia has just turned back over to a charitable foundation.

01:02:49.000 --> 01:03:03.000
So, you know, all of the profits when you buy, I mean, Patagonia stuff is expensive, but all of the profits go into, you know, sort of environmental products and sustainability.

01:03:03.000 --> 01:03:08.000
And a lot of the, you know, they're using the, the feedstock from the ocean clean-up.

01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:18.000
So, you know, they're making lots of things from this ocean plastic that is, that is coming and they use that as an advertising deploy to kind of try and get people engaged with it.

01:03:18.000 --> 01:03:23.000
And, you know, he buying up vast areas of chilly and rewilding it and stuff with me.

01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:32.000
So You know, I'm obviously you can think about whether they should be allowed to make as much money as they do in the first place.

01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:44.000
But, you know, you definitely think that they should be spending on solving some of the problems.

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:48.000
That's just a personal opinion. Sorry, I'm probably not supposed to say things like that.

01:03:48.000 --> 01:03:54.000
Probably many of us share your opinion, so. Okay, so thank you very much for that Pearl.

01:03:54.000 --> 01:04:00.000
Really enlightening. But I think all we can see is it's really complicated, isn't it?

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:02.000
Yeah, like all these things. There's no simple solutions.

01:04:02.000 --> 01:04:08.000
Thank you

Lecture

Marilyn Monroe - Hollywood movie star

Marilyn Monroe’s star remains undiminished. Some would say first among female film stars, an object of allure and fascination, a subject for ongoing scrutiny and debate. Katie Blair once said: ‘there’s a reason why movie stars captivate us, and it’s not just because of their looks. Their unique personas shape films as much as the director's vision and the technicians' skills’.

In this lecture, we’ll take a look at the image that Monroe projected on and off screen, and alongside examples of other female stars, we’ll learn about the star system that Hollywood created and what it continues to mean to audiences as well as performers. We’ll also explore the notion of the male gaze and how it is leading to re-evaluations of what makes movie actors like Marilyn Monroe such enduring icons and cultural figureheads.

Download the list of clips, and useful links for further reading here

Video transcript

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Thank you very much. Lovely to see people. And we have about an hour. To talk about a very fascinating subject.

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I will dive straight in. I'll focus this Marilyn Monroe, I will reference some other Female film stars, I have got a presentation and I've got some short clips.

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I've got to get out of the presentation to show you the clip so bear with me on the technical side when I do that and there will be a slight sort of moment of changeover.

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So let me,

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Get straight into it.

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So. Marilyn Monroe. Has been called a true icon. Like sort of likened to Mickey Mouse or Elvis Presley with a sort of global enduring following and and people still know about her and are very interested in her.

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So we want to take a look at Marilyn Monroe the icon the movie star and what a star is this evening I want to start with a clip so that we can either remind ourselves of what she's like and how we might all have seen her and get us in the mood and see what her persona looked like most of the time.

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In the films she made and then we'll dick into the background. So I have a famous number.

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From How on Hawke's film gentlemen prefer blondes which is from 1,953 which was in many years.

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The year of a sort of the peak of her influence. And success and the number as diamonds are girls best friends are come out.

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And I share the clip with you.

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Okay.

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Alright, D.

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No No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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No.

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Oh

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No.

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Wow!

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The French One love.

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But I prefer

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And, Expensive. J Kiss on the Maybe quite got to mental but down

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It's best friend a kiss maybe grand But it won't pay the rattle on your humble flat or help you add the And we all lose our But squint Shake these rocks don't shape.

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So there she is in a very famous number. So hopefully that got us.

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Into the mood and knowing what we're looking at this evening. So, as I said, Marilyn Monroe, there's an enduring appeal.

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She's got an Instagram account where you can also purchase things. There is a lot of interest, I think.

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For different reasons and one of the things that always informs when we look at her when she's discussed.

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Is whether she's a feminist icon or whether she's the opposite. This is also reflected in some of you might have either heard of it or already seen it.

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Just the latest in an enormous amount of analysis about her writing about her thinking about her, discussing her is a documentary that's currently on the BBC.

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And in the wider context Some of you might have seen this film. Coming hot on the heels of this Marilyn Monroe documentary is the Barbie film even if you haven't seen it you're likely to have heard of it.

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I have just put together a little selection of all the things that have been written about this film. And of course Barbie in a way she's almost the same age as Marilyn in terms of the peak of Maryland's career, she comes along in the fiftys just like Marilyn Monroe.

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And she has a similar sort of significance and she's being discussed as a figure. As a symbol in a similar way.

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So all of this makes it, I think, very current to have a closer look at Marilyn and what she is about.

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I do not want to dwell for too long on her biography. I just want to share some key facts and figures so that we have a bit of context.

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She was born and bred and lived most of her life in Los Angeles. So born in 1,926.

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Relatively short career because she died of course relatively young she made 29 feature films her deputy was the 1947.

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And and her last film to be released was misfits in 1,961 so really She works mainly during the 1950.

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Just to show a little bit of her impact as a stand, her standing. Twice she won the Henrietta World film favorite female so she won us being the sort of cinemas favourite female personality in 53 and 62.

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In terms of major film awards she only won the one she was nominated a few times for others and she won for some like it hot for best actress in a musical or comedy performance.

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What we also seen though, her huge success in terms of her box office ranking. 53 number 6 54 number fifth If you're interested, you can dig into these statistics more deeply.

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Little bit about her biography and some of you might well know it. She had a really difficult child put.

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Her mother was mentally ill and her mental illness progressed during Marilyn's childhood. She spent a lot of time.

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As a walk of the stage in foster homes and in an orphanage. During World War II, she married her husband, really young, mainly.

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So that she could stop being award of the state and stay in LA. She then became a housewife.

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She almost died of boredom according to herself. So she started working in a musician's munitions factory.

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Not that unusual during World War 2. In this factory she got discovered by a photographer and she started her career as a pinup girl.

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And this career she pursued with great ambition and seriousness. So it isn't the case that she kind of got discovered.

00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:11.000
And then the people who discovered her were kind of building her up and making her big she very, very in a focused way.

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Firstly, Pesuto creates a PIN-up girl and then to become an actress and she took acting lessons and she worked very hard to get into the Hollywood studios and get a contract and start making films.

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And what's really significant what many of you might not be so aware of is that due to disputes with the studios and she wasn't the only actor to have those.

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She found her own production company in the late fiftys. So that's a significant step and shows again her ambition.

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And how serious she was taking her. So also, as I said, She is a star of the fifties and she reflects developments in the fiftys and sixtys.

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Particularly in the fiftys obviously in terms of popular culture of tastes. Social developments and also of what was happening in the movies.

00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:28.000
So very quickly she becomes successful. And as I mentioned, 53, a big year for her and according to Wikipedia by 53 she had become one of the most marketable Hollywood stars.

00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:43.000
And they focus on the fact that she had an overt sex appeal that she also had the star image as a dumb blonde and very significantly the same year that she makes a number of very successful films.

00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:54.000
How new images were used as the centerfold and cover of the first issue of Playboy magazine, which is not something that had she agreed to by the way, but it obviously contributed.

00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:01.000
To the attention that she got and the image that she was beginning to develop.

00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:12.000
And yet, behind that screen persona, behind that incredibly sexy woman and very sort of contemporary.

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Modern in the 19 fiftys sense sexy woman and dumb blonde was a very, very different personality.

00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:37.000
I have just put together a few photos of her that show her reading. None of which are post for they were shots of Marilyn being captured as she's reading and lots and lots of different situations that one of her writing.

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So, her personal, her personality, what she was like as a person was very very different to the image.

00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:58.000
That she had on screen. So how come how was that personality that persona constructed? How did it work?

00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:21.000
I want to show just some very brief clips. Some of her main films and performances they're very very Sean I'm going to play them one after the other all being well that they run and they in chronological order of of these films and again it's for us to kind of get a bit of a, of these films.

00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:29.000
And again, it's for us to kind of get a bit of a reminder bit of a taste of her roles and very typical roles and that persona that she projected.

00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:55.000
So let me aim to get the up and running for you. Give me a moment.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.000
Good morning, Dr. Fulton. Good morning. Aren't you here early?

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:07.000
Oh yes, Miss Doxy's been complaining about my punctuation, so I'm careful to get here before 9.

00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:13.000
Mr. Ox is on the telephone. Won't you sit down? Oh, I'm glad we have a moment.

00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.000
Something I want to show you. For instance.

00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:25.000
Isn't it wonderful? How big a gun? The no nonre plastic stockings you invented. Oh, the info one acetate project.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:35.000
This is an experimental pair. The first pair of the factory. Aren't you proud? Turned out rather well.

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.000
I'll say you can't pair him or snack him or anything. I'm familiar with the pressure.

00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.000
How hard you try. You'd be amazed, Doctor. Oh, no, I wouldn't be a maid.

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.000
I've done a lot of experimenting with this kind of thing. Because I'm through with all of that.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:50.000
Your good name? Were you gonna meet in May? Eskimos?

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:56.000
Did you see this fellow I'm with? I saw him. What's he look like? Very nice for a one-eyed man.

00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.000
That all he's got? What do you think he's got that patch on for? I didn't know it was a patch.

00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:06.000
I thought somebody might have belted him. Honestly, Paula, why can't you keep those cheetahs on long enough to see who you're with anyway?

00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.000
No, no, I'm not gonna take a chance like that. You know what they say about girls who wear glasses?

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:16.000
Maybe somebody shot him in the eyes. He sounds just wonderful. He hasn't actually curious to know what he looked like.

00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:21.000
Who is he? I don't know that either, but he hasn't mentioned anything under a million dollars yet.

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:29.000
My guys, real class. Never mentions his wealth. Just refers to it. Oh, Mr. Brewster talks about is what a horrible family's got.

00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:34.000
But I'll say this for him. We haven't ordered anything yet under $5 a fortune.

00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.000
If there's anything left over, don't forget to tell the way you want to take it home for the dog.

00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:42.000
We better be getting back before they crew off.

00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:47.000
I do.

00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:54.000
The mission!

00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:59.000
Sort of cools the ankles, doesn't it? Well, what do you think be fun to do now?

00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:04.000
I don't know, it's getting pretty late. It's not that late. The thing is I had this big day tomorrow.

00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:09.000
I really have to get to sleep. What's the big date of mine? Tomorrow I went television.

00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:21.000
You remember I told you about it? The dance of the dollar? Oh, you're getting another one!

00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:26.000
Till me, that's a dent toothpaste. It's funny, you know, I don't think I ever try it.

00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.000
You should, it's excellent, toothpaste. Is it? Yes, I use it myself.

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:40.000
Well, then you do recommend it. I mean off the record between France. Definitely. It cost only a few pennies more than ordinary toothpaste, but a recent survey shows that 8 out of 10 or on hygiene.

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:45.000
Now you sound like a commercial again. If I believed every commercial I heard. You can believe this one.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:53.000
Every word of it. What's that you say on the program? He'll never know because I stay kissing sweet the new dazzled Dent Way.

00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:04.000
Now really. It's true. I'll prove it to you. Oh Well?

00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:13.000
Yes.

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:19.000
Terribly sorry. It's up to Sweet Sue, you won't tell anybody, will you?

00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:26.000
Tell what? Well, to catch me once more, they're gonna kick me out of the bank.

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.000
Placement but the basin sacks? That's us. And I'm danced me.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:36.000
I know this is a Joe, Forget it. I'm sugar cane. I sugar cane?

00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.000
Yeah, I changed. It used to be a sugar caval chick. Polish?

00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:46.000
I come from this musical family. My mother is a piano teacher. My father was a conductor.

00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:52.000
Where did he conduct? On the Baltimore, Ohio.

00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:58.000
Maybe you colliding I sing too. Sings, well I don't have much of a voice but then.

00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000
This isn't much of a band either. I'm only with them because I'm running away.

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:08.000
Running away from what? Oh, don't get me started on that. Hey, you want, sir?

00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000
I'll take a rain check.

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.000
Why would you think I'm a drinker? I can stop any time I want to, only.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.000
I don't want to, especially when I'm blue. We understand. All the girls drink.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:29.000
It's just that I'm the one that gets caught. Story of my life. I always get the fussy end of the lollipop.

00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:39.000
My seems straight! I'll say. We'll see you around, girls. Bye, Sugar.

00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:50.000
Hit the ball! They catch for any? I'll bet you 2 dances can't hit it 10 times in a row.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:18:00.000
Go ahead. Right, away.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:08.000
5, 6, 3, 6,

00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:26.000
Poor fire! Right. Great, Thank you. Oh.

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:33.000
I

00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:48.000
Yes!

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:58.000
Hey!

00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:04.000
Thank you.

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:19.000
A few of her biggest films and her most famous performances and some well-known scenes. And you might see that image coming together that she had the typical roles that she played.

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:33.000
Very often you know these bl blanche bomb shells extremely attractive with a great amount of sexuality.

00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:52.000
That was very very contemporary and sometimes even daring in the 19 fiftys and sort of represented the modern post-war society but there was also kind of dumbness naivety sexual availability and artificiality.

00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:59.000
So a lot of the time she plays characters who are very innocent. We're very sexy without being deliberately provocative.

00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:09.000
To be very kind of blonde form sharing very natural way almost and that was all part of that sort of modern, 1,900 fiftys.

00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:21.000
Image but she also very often played the girl. And we see her that most of her Characters are singers or actors or models.

00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:29.000
Secretaries. So if also women are looked at where women are performing. So, so which is also quite significant.

00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:34.000
So as I said, how, what, how is that star persona created? You know, what made her big?

00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:50.000
What made her so successful and so significant in so many ways? Let me bring my our presentation up again.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:58.000
And we'll have a look at that. Give me a second.

00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:15.000
Oops. There we go. So there are some concepts. That various writers and film critics and film viewers and academics have explored.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:28.000
Around somebody like Marilyn Monroe and that is the actor as O'ter. So a term being the person who is significantly involved in shaping a film.

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:35.000
And what it's like and how we read it. This goes back to the work of a British film.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:46.000
Analyst Richard Dyer. And the main theory is that the film star is an image, not a real person.

00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:55.000
And that starts constructed. Out of a range of materials as well as the film roles their play, you might very well be familiar with that.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:06.000
We discuss it a lot of the time. We discuss it more in the age of what we call celebrity and online celebrity culture and influences, etc.

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:15.000
But let's bring it to the forefront. You know, how many actors are not simply actors or character actors and we see them in different parts.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:28.000
But they have these personas, their cultural icons, their points of reference. They take on these specific characteristics, typical role, typical personality traits, typical looks.

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:38.000
Typical personas. And these contribute to how we read a film, how we perceive it, how we look at the characters out there portray.

00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:47.000
And a really good way of looking at that is what's put down here is that you can talk about a John Wayne movie or a Clark Able movie.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.000
But less so perhaps of a Robert Deval move or a Dustin Hoffman movie who we would see much more so-called character actors.

00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:00.000
They haven't got a fix persona. They haven't got that iconic personality that is utilized.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:12.000
Films to contribute to how we understand them. So Marilyn Monroe is most definitely A star, a film star, not a character.

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:19.000
Thank you. And how we also see this. In so many ways. You know, what makes a start?

00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:28.000
What makes a culture icon? What makes Marilyn Monroe so enduring is How often she is copied for want of a better word.

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:42.000
Already during her lifetime and we can think of other. Actors or roles or moments or performances where people have copied her reference her as an or a satire.

00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:51.000
Etc. Etc. And I've got one example of that which is Billy Wilder who made 2 films with her.

00:23:51.000 --> 00:24:06.000
The 7 year itch and some like it. Houghton in 62, met 1, 2, 3, which is set in Berlin and the German actress leaves a lot of pulver and placed the secretary of James Cackney who has one of the main roles.

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:21.000
So let's have a quick look at an example of how the image of an icon like man in row gets sort of copied and referenced So give me a second.

00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:35.000
Here we go.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:47.000
Right. Here we are.

00:24:47.000 --> 00:25:00.000
Kavanaugh! Help the Bellmeister! More rock and roll! And

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:12.000
And Thank you.

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:26.000
Hey! You

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:56.000
You like this, We give you a hundred pounds! I want piffle! And The and

00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:09.000
Would you take new automobile? 1,961 Mosque which hardtop convert the 2 tone?

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:23.000
You mean that Russian hot rod parked outside? His wonderful car. His exact copy of 1,937.

00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:35.000
And

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:51.000
You

00:26:51.000 --> 00:27:03.000
The

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:09.000
Right, so it is a lot of both a very, very clearly referencing Marilyn Monroe there.

00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:28.000
And just one example of Marilyn Monroe's influence. Madonna is currently in the news for turning 65 and we see her as somebody who has modeled herself in parts on Marilyn Monroe and her persona.

00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:35.000
So many films stars and we can say this about other ones will be copied and referenced.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:40.000
And and often over time so to speak.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:52.000
So let's look a little bit into how the star The concept of the star sort of emerged particularly in Hollywood.

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.000
But I should also mention that the film industry in India, Bollywood, has also got a star system.

00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:16.000
Other industries perhaps less so. So very briefly, the first ever movie star. We can say it was Florence Lawrence, a silent movie star in the very early days.

00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.000
The people who were in silent movies and were never referenced with their names because studios were very worried that this could give them ideas which indeed it did.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:50.000
So Lawrence was always named the biograph girl. She was in 62 company films and 1,909 alone and then she jumped ship to the independent motion picture company and they had a publicity stand to Advertise that they flatter now this big star very popular and they planted stories that she'd been killed in a streetcar accident and then there now she was alive, you know, that had all been a

00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:03.000
mistake that she'd been killed and they gave her star billing. So she's the first movie actor whose name appeared on Posters.

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:16.000
And so then, We move with in Hollywood as it established itself as an industry in really utilizing the star power of its film actors.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.000
And so all already in the silent period we see What female movie stars were like, even if this plate slightly different wrong.

00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:44.000
So Mary Pickford one of the earliest biggest movie stars hugely influential co find universal pictures very often played nice neighborhood innocent girls but on publicity shot like the one here she is posing in a rather appealing post.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:57.000
We've got Louise Brooks very family working with WD Paps in Germany playing a sort of vanilla siren, very revealing sort of outfits.

00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:09.000
Clara Bow, another silent female movie star you might not have heard of her, you can see her films in an incredibly revealing highly modern, 19 twenties dress.

00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:25.000
And slightly later on the left as Mae West. Who came late into films based on her Broadway shows which were incredibly daring, most of which were censored, some of them got her arrested and banned and all of that.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:39.000
She was a writer, she was a director, she was a very independent woman, very powerful. And yet she was a blonde bombshell and it was very much based on sex appeal and innuendo and men just falling at her feet.

00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:51.000
So from the beginning we see in Hollywood that Female movie stars have something in common. What kind of qualities they have to have, so to speak.

00:30:51.000 --> 00:31:10.000
And we see this here too, and it also illustrates how the movie star image is shaped as I said by varying tastes and times on the left, Katherine Hepburn, one of the biggest stars of the forties, the fortys were full of independent women.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:22.000
And Katherine Hepburn epitomises this year she's in trousers we very rarely see her in sexy kind of pose a sexy dresses and generally speaking not having a lot of over sex appeal.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:33.000
In the fifties then this changes. And we see Marilyn Monroe again in a typical pose with that with that very very bad sex appeal. She's a platinum blonde.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:40.000
So was Grace Kenny, another massive start of the fifties. And both of them epitomized the fiftys.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:53.000
Moving away from the sort of independent strong women of the 4 teeth. And film roles. And stars that appeal to a male audience coming out of the wall.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:03.000
And continuing the success of Blonde pinups and and Blonde Benjamin's like Betty Grable who were huge in the war years and for the wartime audiences.

00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:11.000
But Grace Kelly of course hasn't got overt sex appear, isn't dumb, she's cool, she's sophisticated, she's unattainable.

00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:26.000
So we have all of these variations. Yet there is an underlying. Understanding of what even at different times and a different focus these female film stars should be like.

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:30.000
The kind of image they should project.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.000
Connie Woods in the heyday with its studio system, its vertical integration at the studios doing everything.

00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:51.000
Created a star system, they build stars, they manage stars and they're managed all aspects of it and everything about their a listers the big stars was carefully under their control.

00:32:51.000 --> 00:33:11.000
I have got an illustration here of Judy Garland just 2 very briefly. Either remind ourselves or alert ourselves to the fact that Judy Garland who started almost as a child star of course how carefully her image, her star persona, her work was managed.

00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:41.000
So she is. In adverts of course it's an effort about jelly making it fits in with her personality the kind of innocent lovely girl she's only she's normal she's cooking kind of a thing we see the merchandising that was produced there is a doll there is a collage of her photos that got published, the postcards, the material that you could get that you could order from the

00:33:43.000 --> 00:34:05.000
fan club. There is just one of the Hollywood magazines that told stories about the star's screen romance with her on the cover many many others but again she's homely she's with a tub of tomato, so it's nature, it's small town, it's it's healthy.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:19.000
And she is in a kind of wholesome outfit. And of course there is a shot of her at Mickey Rooney, their peanut on screen together, but her studio created stories that they were romantically linked.

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:27.000
And of course what we now know is that a lot of this control that was exerted on her, the dieting that she was subjected to, the dictating of how she should live, who she should go out with, what functions she should appear at.

00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:47.000
Really took a toll. And lots of romances between stars were manufactured and Hollywood starts a very often last go out with each other to peer in public together to foster their images.

00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:58.000
So it was really, really part of the Hollywood studio system. To not simply promote their big actors with their biggest successes but to have a whole system around it to really create these star designers to make them even bigger.

00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:07.000
To get people even keener on them.

00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:20.000
And there were other icons and other big stars as we've already seen before Marilyn Monroe and I wanted to show clips of 2 of them.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:28.000
To sort of contextualize a bit and and remind ourselves of some other big stars. I want to start with Greta Garbo.

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Massive start in the 19 thirties. At the turn of the sound film from Sweden originally of course totally different to Marilyn Monroe she was a dramatic actress a serious actress she played a massive roles tragic figures she was dark but at the same time her remove was that she was mysterious.

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:53.000
She's a bit like that unattainable female like Helen of Troy kind of a figure perhaps.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:36:05.000
And who famously said, I want to be alone. And even though she played more serious figures, she also is part of the system that as a film star she needs to be alluring.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:13.000
She needs to attract. Be attractive. She needs to attract the interest of viewers, particularly male viewers.

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:14.000
And again, it was a carefully constructive image, the role she was given, how she performed and how her persona around that was constructed.

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:35.000
Alexander Walker the critic as I've quoted her feminine face, her masculine body, and it was very spiritual and her kind of pessimism all contributed to her persona on screen.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:47.000
I want to show a short clip. From her film Matahari where she placed the famous viewers aspires from the very beginning and it's from 1931 so we can compare contrast to the performances that we've seen off Maryland.

00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:55.000
So let me get this up and running for you.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:25.000
Hang on. Here we go.

00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:53.000
You

00:37:53.000 --> 00:38:23.000
See, I dance for you tonight, Mr. Bayer, dance and the sake of

00:38:53.000 --> 00:39:01.000
So he's Greta Gallbo, again performing, we see men being utterly. Utterly fascinated.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:15.000
We might fear that some of them might throw themselves at her. Very daring even the 19 thirties she's almost naked you know so it's just one example of another female film star.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:25.000
In a similar kind of setup I want to say. To Marilyn Monroe.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:31.000
Right, I won't be able to show all of the cliffs because this is all taking a bit longer because of the swapping and changing.

00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:38.000
So let's just let me show you by way of illustration. Some other examples at reference points.

00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:46.000
Read to Hebrew. Marilyn Morona, early career was modeled on her. A guild is a very famous performance.

00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:47.000
You can have a look at the clip of you haven't another moment of where female is performing.

00:39:47.000 --> 00:40:01.000
And she epitomizes the 1,900 fortys femme Veronica Lake is another one.

00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:15.000
Again, extremely alluring very often nightclub singers, dancers, etc. Etc. Extremely attractive, lots of blonde bombshells, but also redheads among them.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:39.000
It's not just, limited to Hollywood. As I said, it's a little bit less so in Europe perhaps but hot on the heels, I want to say off Marilyn Monroe comes because you, Bardeau, some would say the France's answer to Marilyn Monroe very famously shoots to fame in a Bourgeois.

00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:49.000
And the film and Created Woman from 1,956. You can have a look at her performance and that and it is just like Marilyn, so to speak.

00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:57.000
It's It's just the same sort of thing again. I mentioned Pollywood and even though Bollywood of course is subject to very severe censorship from our point of view.

00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:27.000
Where you can't even show kissing on screen. It has, as I said, a massive star system and Bollywood of course the main genre as the musical so Bollywood stars are performers and dancers and singers and when you look at the biggest female Bollywood stars even they are in extremely what we would say attractive, alluring, daring, sexy, poses for engine sort of standards and this is just one example and

00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:40.000
there are more and even more daring in a way. So even they have to be sort of beautiful and sexy.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:52.000
They on and off screen so to speak. Now, so the star persona or the star system, the star's, the stars that contributes to this, but how come?

00:41:52.000 --> 00:42:07.000
Female actors. Are very often have these particular roles to play. Half that sex appeal. Has to be alluring, have to be attractive and all of that.

00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:14.000
And some people would say there's 2 reasons for that they're interconnected in some ways.

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:21.000
But of course some of that is down to the sheer fact that the industry continues to be dominated by men.

00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:35.000
And so this is the famous Bestel test developed by a Swedish person which looks at what women on screen in films, how are they, how do they appear, how often do they appear.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:48.000
And it uses a certain yardstick. It says do fewer than 2 women appear, women don't talk to each other, women only talk about men.

00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:58.000
And as you can see when you look at a representation in movies between the seventys and the 20 tens.

00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:06.000
We still have a system that privileges films about men, men in the lead roles, men driving narratives.

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:14.000
And being most important, the women sort of being arranged throughout them in terms of the characters and the relationships and the plots and the narratives.

00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:22.000
To illustrate this. Reese with a spoon. Very interesting. She is a modern blonde bombshell, we might want to say.

00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:34.000
Very interesting. Has formed her own production company again very successfully is developing a lot of her own films. There's been a lot of interesting films about powerful women with feminist messages.

00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:46.000
Legally blonde is a great example of that and yet it is about supposedly Marilyn Monroe type character who is a dumb blot who of course goes to Harvard to study law.

00:43:46.000 --> 00:44:04.000
And she in 2,015 when she got a glamour award famously said I dread reading scripts that have no women involved in their creation because inevitably I get to that part where the girl, not the woman, the girl, turns to the guy and she said, what do we do now?

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:18.000
So there is a dominance of that where women Okay, play a secondary role and their function within films is some people say to be eye catty.

00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:29.000
Now, underlying that some people would say, or coming out of that dominance is, and some of you might have heard of that, it's an enormously influential concept.

00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:39.000
And we still use it today off the male gaze. Developed by Laura Malvey, a legendary.

00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:50.000
Film academic from the UK. And she basically said that the majority of film were made by men for men and for their pleasure.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:58.000
And that women were in these films to be looked at through male eyes. To please them to attract them.

00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:19.000
And to sort of be that sexual interest object of desire. In films and said there are many many examples of where this male gaze is at play and interestingly the Barbie film does look at that a little bit and some of you have seen it might have spotted that.

00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:45.000
And it's from an essay called Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema from 1,973 and she was one of the first people who psycho analytical context and feminist context to look at film and and to interpret it and she very strongly comes from feminist point of view that says Western cinema has been structured by the unconscious of patriarchal society.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:52.000
We could say that there is a male gaze though at play perhaps also in Bollywood and in cinemas from other parts of the world.

00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:05.000
So that's that's an interesting question to pursue. Just to illustrate that before I, oh sorry, that I didn't want to do that.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:31.000
Before I have to stop for your questions. The male gaze can be illustrated beautifully in what is probably a very also for you a film franchise as we call it now that you very much enjoy James Bond he is, and the first one, so to speak, in order of things in Dr.

00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:37.000
Now, by Terrence Young, May, the, 1962, and I'm sorry, I would have time to show that clip.

00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:40.000
But this is how we meet. And I'm sorry, I'm out of time to show that clip.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:45.000
But this is how we meet. Ursula and some of you might remember it. James Bond sleeping on the beach. He wakes up.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:50.000
There is this apparition like a merm It can be argued that her entrance and that we see her singing whilst she's cleaning the seashells.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:51.000
It does not necessarily all of it drive the plot forwards. A beautiful illustration of the male gaze.

00:46:51.000 --> 00:47:06.000
She is there for the male. So the female viewer. To be looked at and might. And is it still at play in the male gates?

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:18.000
Well, let's look at. Die another day from 2,002. Hailberry and in some ways this was intended as an almash.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:19.000
To Dr. Noe which in the Order of Things was the first one that was released 50 years earlier.

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:37.000
Here's a very she's actually a female agent yet we get introduced to her as she comes out of the sea in this alluring bikini and James Bond Spotser.

00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:44.000
He actually is in the bar on the beach and he gets a pair of binoculars to see what's going on and this is the figure.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:48:03.000
Who he sees, that's an introduction. And people, as I said, would say this is perfect illustration that the male gates are still at play and when we think back to the clips that we've seen of Marilyn earlier, they're all there for her to be at mired.

00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:12.000
Even as I said, Greta Gabo in the role of Matahari, the female spy, and very often a much more serious dramatic roles.

00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:27.000
There they are performing for the pleasure of male and presumably sometimes maybe always female viewers. So this is just a very quick look at Marilyn Monroe ask.

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:36.000
And I come as a female and movie star, one of the biggest female stars ever. What makes her an icon?

00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:44.000
What makes her typical as a female star within the Hollywood system? How do stars contribute to how we understand films?

00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:54.000
How are they constructed? How are they? Constructed within the industry and how do we as audiences read female performers?

00:48:54.000 --> 00:49:02.000
How do they contribute to our pleasure to our understanding of cinema and what we enjoy about it.

00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:08.000
That's all. I've got time for, I am afraid. Thank you very much.

00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:16.000
Thank you very much, Ruth. That was fascinating. And let's go straight to some questions now.

00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:26.000
Let's have a little look here. Question from Jane. Although Marlon Munroe was a persona actor, didn't she have aspirations to be a character actor?

00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:32.000
For example attending Lee Strasburg studio classes for example.

00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:39.000
Absolutely. So Marilyn Rise, I said, was very driven, very ambitious. She kind of understood how the industry worked.

00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:45.000
She was very much involved in the shaping of that persona and then at the same time realized it was limiting her.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:58.000
So she was forever trying to overcome it. A good example is the film bus stop. I didn't have time to show a clip from that, but it's the first film that her production company did and she goes against the grain.

00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:09.000
It's also interesting to consider that some of her earlier parts she is in some thrillers and some kind of serious crime films like Asphalt Jungle and she doesn't play the blonde bombshell.

00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:17.000
So one of one of the strategies I want to say for her was to break out of that persona and Just in her life she didn't manage to get there.

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:27.000
So absolutely that is the tension that she lived with all through her career.

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:40.000
Okay, thank you. A question here from Judas. Some directors try to show a new narratives led by women, but so many films still have men as the leads.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.000
Well, Hollywood change before society in general does.

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:53.000
Oh, that's a very good question. That could be the subject of another session. I think we are making progress.

00:50:53.000 --> 00:51:10.000
Progress is slow and that is I think also illustrated in the discussions around the film Barbie. And when you look at some female directors films and how they challenge the male gaze, it is discussed a lot again.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:16.000
So it's I think it's a it's It's kind of Hollywood sometimes running ahead sometimes running behind.

00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:20.000
So yes, we are on a very slow road.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:29.000
Okay, thank you. I hope that answer your question, Judith. A question from Sue.

00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:38.000
Is it as much about how these women are treated as much as the cultural images they present? And are we all conditioned by the male gaze approach?

00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:43.000
It was everywhere in my youth. And changing now.

00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:54.000
Yes, I think lots of people totally agree with you. And yes, what we, what we see with M in Monroe and with other female actors.

00:51:54.000 --> 00:52:04.000
Us is that they're often treated worse than they may have counterparts. They find it harder to assert themselves.

00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:05.000
They get paint worse. You know, Marilyn Monroe was not paid very well a long time.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:21.000
Even though she was so massive. So they have a harder time in asserting themselves. And being taken seriously as contributors to the films that they make and how they shape them.

00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:33.000
Most definitely. And yes, and this is why I keep saying, you know, when we talk about the male gaze, you know, we might equally enjoy that and we should ask ourselves as women, how do we wreck to Marilyn Monroe?

00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:45.000
You know, how do we talk about her? You know how do we gutter do we judge her you know and do we recognize some of what she presents on screen and what we hear about how she was treated and how she was struggling to assert herself in her career most absolutely.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:56.000
And this is also why I think she's such an interesting. Actor and start to look at.

00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:07.000
Okay, thank you, and I hope that answers your question, Sue. And we've got another question here from Carolyn, this is an interesting one.

00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:19.000
And why, although what happens less often, is the female gaze less criticized. Thinking of Levi's adverts, diet co-adverts, that kind of thing.

00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:29.000
Well, that's a very good question, isn't it? I think that, It gets less criticized because it happens less often.

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:37.000
And I do think and I find this really interesting. I mean, I do think when it happens in films It does very often get discussed in particular way.

00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:48.000
So one of my film classes recently looked at the Clare D. Film of Or Travi, which is about young, a bunch of young men in the Foreign Legion.

00:53:48.000 --> 00:54:01.000
And you see them training a lot in the heat, half naked, I want to say. There's a lot of discussion in the film how we look at them and how they project whether that's okay with their time ever rotten if it's not how is it not.

00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:12.000
So it does get slightly controversial, actually. But we also notice it and I sometimes think we notice that women that we that we are allow the same moment of pleasure.

00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:20.000
That men get and it is very often very challenging and it's interesting when you when you are in films where you have a moment where it's reverted.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:28.000
The How audiences react to it and how men react to it and what that causes. So I think it's part of us.

00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:44.000
Recognising the male gaze becoming aware of it, beginning to challenge it and at some point yes we need to ask ourselves whether it's okay to have the female gaze you know to me so it's a very kind of It's a big discussion at the moment and around that.

00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:53.000
You know, and at some point we probably will end up. In the same place whether it's male or female g but we're not there yet.

00:54:53.000 --> 00:55:02.000
Hmm. Okay, thank you. No, we've got another question here which possibly might be our last one because we're starting to run out of time a little bit.

00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:11.000
And obviously Marilyn did pass away in a relatively young age. What happened to her? How did she die?

00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:12.000
I guess the documentary talks a little bit about this.

00:55:12.000 --> 00:55:16.000
Well, Yes, yes, and I mean what I what I'm quite happy to do via Fiona is to send some links.

00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:22.000
A first to the clips that I've shown in the other side I couldn't but also some further reading.

00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:23.000
Yeah.

00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:26.000
The Wikipedia article is excellent, very detailed, but just briefly, Mona was struggling with anxiety and in somenia or her life.

00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:48.000
She became dependent on medication. When she was married to Arthur Miller, they were trying to have children, which didn't work, she had a number of miscarriages and very poor health generally.

00:55:48.000 --> 00:56:00.000
During the last film that she was making and a huge stress. So she died of an overdose of barbiturates and it is believed that it was not accidental.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:13.000
Because she had tried to take her life beforehand. And there are conspiracy theories. There are question marks we don't know for certain but the circumstances suggest that she took her own life.

00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.000
Hmm. Okay, now let me just have another little look just in case I haven't missed anything.

00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:29.000
And there's actually maybe a couple of comments that might actually be worth. Mentioning. Let me see if I can find them.

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:34.000
Just kind of talking about, you know, the personas that you were talking about there back in the fiftys.

00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:45.000
And and linking that to more modern times. And There's a comment from Len about they still speak of Clara Bowl lips as a shape.

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:47.000
Yeah.

00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:58.000
And also, Jill. From Jill, looking at some of these personas from the past that reminds her of Debbie Harry in the pop world, which you think is quite interesting.

00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:09.000
Yeah. Yeah. I mean when you start sitting down it is interesting how many you can see. You know, to me and, and, It's a long, long line.

00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:10.000
You know, yeah, absolutely.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:16.000
Yeah. Okay. Right, well, thanks very much for that. That was really, really interesting.

00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:22.000
And I would absolutely recommend to everybody to have a watch of that documentary that's on and the iPlayer. It's in four-part.

00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:23.000
Yeah.

00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:31.000
I watched it a couple of weeks ago and it was absolutely fabulous. Opened my eyes, I have to say.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:32.000
Thanks very much.

Lecture

Isaac Newton: the man behind the apple

Mention Isaac Newton and you'll probably think of gravity, or 'the shoulders of giants'. But, did you know that he wrote more on religion, mysticism and alchemy than on science? Or that he could hold on to a feud for decades, but often forgot to eat his lunch?

Join WEA tutor Jo Bath to meet the teenage Newton, and the list he made of his sins, the terrible Member of Parliament, and the older man intently hunting down coiners and counterfeiters. Even the production of his masterwork, Principia, is a story of petty secrecy, a bet, and an Encyclopaedia of Fish. There's a lot more to Newton than meets the eye!

Video transcript

00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:11.000
Okay, hello everybody. Good to have a big turnout and I think you know I'd like to think some of that's me but most of it's Newton isn't it?

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He's one of those names everybody remembers everyone you know has some mental picture of even if it's just the idea that an apple landed on his head and he had this bright idea, which is of course far more simple than the reality of it.

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But yeah, we all would struggle to understand the physics but at least we know there is something exciting going on there.

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Now I'm not a physicist by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of it baffles me utterly.

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But how'm interested in the man because he is a very complicated, very peculiar man of his time, which is the late seventeenth century, which is a fascinating time anyway.

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And it's a time when ideas about science and Ideas about sort of superstition are still both in play at the same time.

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And yeah, we'll whizz through. A lot of things about him as a person and some of the areas of interest he had and the fact that basically he hardly got on with anybody ever.

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He was not an easy man to like. And in the end you will be able to think about what your opinion of him as a human being was I think he's an interesting chap but I wouldn't want to necessarily have him around for dinner.

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So he was born in 1643 his father's already dead when he's born and the the only story we have about him from when he's very little is that he apparently later told people that when he was born he was so little, quote, they could put him in a court pot.

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And And so weekly he was forced to have a bolster all round his neck to keep it upon his shoulders and so little likely to live that when 2 women were sent to Lady Packham at North Witham for something for him, they sat down on a style by the way and said there's no occasion for making haste for we're sure the child will be dead before we can get back.

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So a very weak little child then. Don't do anything else about his very early days.

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When he's 3, his mother remarries and marries a local minister called Barnabas Smith.

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And Isaac is sent to live with his grandmother. And if If I were a different kind of psychologist or looked at things in that way I would say some of his many issues in life start right there.

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So he goes to live with his grandmother. He still has plenty of visits back to his mom and his stepdad and his increasing family of other step brothers and sisters.

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But he is sent to, I'll be kind of skipping in and out between pictures and My own face overtime, but he's, he's, this is where he was born, Wolves for the Bat walls.

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There, Wolves thought manner. It's harder to say than you think. And yes, he was still going back regularly there.

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And something that's been found there not that long ago is these pictures. On the wall so these are 2 different images both showing the same sort of shape.

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And then this one has something else that we don't really know what he's actually trying to draw there.

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But it is generally believed that these are pictures by the very young Isaac Newton. We think that because well for one we know he was a wall scribbler as an adult one of his adult friends, as an adult.

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One of his adult friends, later says, the walls and ceilings were full of his adult friends later says the walls and ceilings were full of drawings which he had made with charcoal and ceilings were full of drawings which he had made with charcoal.

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There were birds, beasts, men, ships, plants, they were birds, beasts, men, ships, plants, mathematical figures, plants, mathematical figures, circles and triangles.

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So So, you know, when the idea comes to him, he puts it on a wall. And also we know that when he was young A post mill was built very close to the house and these are pictures of a post mill.

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This is a very young lad trying to understand what is going on with a post mill. Which I think is absolutely marvelous.

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One of them was only discovered quite recently. The angle of the light being spotted. And again, we don't really know anything else until he hits about 12.

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When he's 12, Isaac Newton is sent to live with an apothecary in Grantham called William Clark.

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So we could learn a bit of the trade there, but he's also going to the free grammar school in Grantham so he needs to be staying somewhere close by.

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He does really badly. In school. I think someone with that bigger brain is going to either do really well or really badly.

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He isn't particularly interested in the school lessons. He is far more interested in making his own mechanisms throughout his school days.

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He is making little devices. We know he liked making clocks, for instance. This is a sort of description, contemporary description of the things that he liked to make and I won't try to get you to read all of it but can you see here he likewise made a good wooden clock.

00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:05.000
Went by weight in the usual manner and he's probably about 14 at this point. And the rest of this description is mostly about the clocks that he made.

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But at the top here there is another rather lovely description. To pay a visit to Isaac's.

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Mouse Miller. And the farmers readily supplied him with handfuls of corn. On market days.

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So what's that about? A mouse miller. It appears that he actually made a tiny functioning mill.

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To grind corn that ran on worn mouse power.

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We don't know the mechanism, we don't know, was the mouse going round in circles or was it in a wheel?

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But he had a one mouse power mill. I think that is just beautiful to imagine him creating that.

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I say about 1415 he must have been doing this. We know we had a temper at this kind of time.

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We know that he Put up with people bullying him until he snapped one day and basically pushed the guys, the lads face into the side of the church until he decided not to do that again.

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What he's about 15, his stepfather dies. He has, so he has 3 half siblings.

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Oh, a lot younger and his mother. And his mother calls him back to the family farm.

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No more education for you. You've got to run the farm now, you're the man of the house now.

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So he's, dragged back to Walsall. But he hates it.

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He was, you know, he does not want to be a farmer. He's making devices, not, you know, planning fields.

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He absolutely hates it and I suspect because he hated it he was probably not very good at it either.

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And eventually his schoolteacher persuades his mother. To let him go back to school and just say, you know, he's young Isaac's wasted on this.

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He belongs in education. And that does eventually work.

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At about 16 we start seeing some more of his notebooks coming through. And he writes quite a lot of notebooks and quite a lot of information between sort of 16 and 20 and we get some lovely little insights into him as a human.

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From that era. So we have notebooks like this which are full of instructions and recipes and things like that.

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So we have recipes. For different paints to lay gold on anything. At to melt metal quickly.

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To make a hard glue. And the more fun ones are on this side. You can see here it says to make birds drunk.

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I don't know why he's trying to make birds drunk, but there's an entire page with descriptions about how to make birds drunk.

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Which is not a complicated method, it basically involves putting things with alcohol on the ground for the birds to eat.

00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.000
So, putting things with alcohol on the ground for the birds to eat. So to make pigeons, portrait, alcohol on the ground for the birds to eat.

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So to make pigeons, partriages and other birds drunk. Set black wine for them to drink where they come.

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Not complicated. Again. Don't know why he's doing that. It's a bit weird.

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He's also coming up with some awful magic tricks where in order to turn water into wine, what you do is you hide a little bit of logwood, which is a red dye in a pouch in your mouth.

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And you take in the water and around and the dye from the logwood will come out and then you spit it back out again and it's miraculously turned into why you as long as nobody drinks it.

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But you know, this is the sort of thing that a 16 year old lab finds funny. And that's what I love about it.

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He seems to, you know, not be.

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He seems to be fairly well in with society at this point. He has friends, he must do to be doing this kind of thing.

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And then it goes to university. So this starts at 1661 and he is 17.

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And he is studying maths and philosophy. Now, again, this isn't entirely a good match for him.

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Maths? Fine. In philosophy he's supposed to be studying Aristotle mostly.

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He is not interested in Aristotle. He pretty much ignores all of his sessions. On philosophy, gets very low marks for them and he's lucky that he's talent spotted by one of his tutors who realizes that, you know, that's that's clearly just not his thing.

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We need to nurture what he is good at. And again, these these diaries continue to show us some really fascinating things.

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So this is his account book. And it's got a wonderful mix of different things. This is all his his outgoings.

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:14.000
And some of them are to do with his work. Like here, a magnet compasses glass bubbles.

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My bachelors act as his degree money spent on acquaintances. He seems to lend money out a lot and doesn't necessarily always get it back, but he doesn't seem to mind that.

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He still lends it out to the same people. He's giving cloth to be made into clothes for him.

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He's playing books. The history of the Royal Society, which at that point has a history that's about 10 years long, but someone's still written one.

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To my lawn dress.

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At the right of the bottom there, perhaps my favourite.

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Lost at cards. That's twice.

00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:10.000
So, yeah, he's probably getting on with student life while also randomly buying these, these other things.

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:15.000
This one on the other side you'll notice you can't make head or tail off because it is written in code.

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:26.000
And that code wasn't deciphered again until, you know. This century, certainly. And it's written in code because it is the most marvellous thing.

00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:47.000
It is a list of his sins. He writes a list of a confession, if you like. And this is a list, it's so in 1,662, he writes 48 of them and then a few months later he adds another 8 onto that list.

00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:52.000
And you can find the whole of this list online if you look up Newton's list of sins, you will find it.

00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:05.000
It's marvellous, it really does show you the human being. There's a lot of, because he's very religious man of course, he's a very religious lad of at this point, 19.

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:13.000
But he just keeps getting this urge to do things like Eating an apple, at thy house. Making a feather on my day.

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Did not I made it? There's a lot of lying to people about the other things that he's done.

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Putting a PIN in John Keys hat on by day in order to prick him. Cool jokes.

00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:30.000
Robbing my mother's box of plums and sugar.

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Setting my heart on money, learning and pleasure more than thee. Stealing cherry cobs, denying that I did so.

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It's that sort of thing. And then every now and then it breaks out into severe violence. Every now and then it just gets punching my sister.

00:12:46.000 --> 00:13:00.000
Wishing death and hoping it to some. So yeah, there's a lot going on in there and then it reverts back to, you know, making pies on a Sunday night.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.000
Missing Chapel, beating Arthur Storer. So yeah, back to the temper again.

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:21.000
Gluttony. Lying about a louse. So yeah, I really recommend you look up and read the full set of them because It's It can definitely be read for comedy, but it also really gives you an insight into the man.

00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:30.000
So he's gone to. University? He's finished there. Plague hits.

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1,665 6 7. And he's forced from Cambridge by the plague.

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And he spends that time, he's back on his mum's farm, probably should be working on the farm.

00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:48.000
Reading people like Galileo and Kepler. And from that coming up with his own ideas. And he later writes, all this was in the 2 plague gears of 65 and 66.

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For in those days I was in my prime age for invention. Minded mathematics and philosophy more than at any time since.

00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:09.000
I mean, how many 22 year olds would say that? Clearly this is the time that I am most focused on maths.

00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:17.000
The idea that an apple landed on his head at this time comes from a conversation that he had with Voltaire years later.

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:24.000
And he said to Voltaire, oh yes, I had a breakthrough on gravity when I saw an apple fall from a tree.

00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:30.000
There was never a mention that it fell and landed on his head, but you know, thought about when he saw it fall from a tree.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.000
It's almost certainly made up. There is a suggestion that he thought that Voltaire was an idiot.

00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.000
And therefore the only way he could get Voltaire to understand was to use this metaphor.

00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:49.000
So yeah, probably not true, but it's a nice story. So this is the era that he comes up with.

00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:59.000
A lot of things to do with gravity and the laws of motion. It's also the time that squeamish people look away now.

00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:12.000
He does things like this. Just to see what happens. Sticking a bodkin in behind his own eyeball to kind of mark whether where the colors go and how it gradually heals, what happens when he wiggles it around.

00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.000
It's all to do with figuring out how the eye works of course. He also stares into the sun for long enough that he's blind for several days.

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:28.000
Again, just to see what happens. And to keep track of how his vision comes back. So yeah.

00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000
Not afraid to put himself on the line.

00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:41.000
And then returns back to Cambridge again where he has made a professor of maths. Really not anyone with the talent for teaching.

00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:45.000
Quite the opposite. He wrote a whole lot of lectures on algebra, we still have them.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:16:05.000
But he never checked whether they would be understandable to his students in any way. And one of his Friends later said, few went to hear him and few were yet understood him and off times he did he did this in a manner for want of hearers to read to the walls.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:13.000
So, you want to do a lecture, nobody turned up, so we read the lecture anyway. To the walls.

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.000
I mean, I've come close to having. Talks like that.

00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:24.000
The feuds begin. The first one is second longest because it's only 30 years, is with Robert Hooke.

00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:31.000
Now, we don't know what Robert Hooke looks like. We have pictures of all the other early Royal Society members, not Robert Hooke.

00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:47.000
This is almost certainly because Newton when he took over as president of the Royal Society got rid of the picture of Hook because there was a picture of all of the society members in there and that one is just Strangely missing.

00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:55.000
So yeah, a hook. Was actually a really, really clever man who did a lot of things in different areas.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:09.000
And he's largely been forgotten probably because he disagreed with Newton. Hookies a bit older and he is I think the problem is he's almost trade.

00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:17.000
He's being paid, he's the first paid scientific researcher in England because he's paid to come up with experiments or Do the experiments that are asked by the other members of the Royal Society.

00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:29.000
So he is very good and he's very good at the hands on bit. But he's being paid, he's just doing the manual bit, not the thinking bit.

00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:37.000
He was actually doing the thinking bit but that was probably Newton's idea. And he thinks light is made of waves.

00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:43.000
Newton thinks light is made of particles. And of course, as we're aware, that's an argument that ran and ran, isn't it?

00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:53.000
And they, they could not agree on this and eventually Newton agreed not to publish and on subject of light until after Hook's death.

00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:58.000
That is many, many years later.

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:06.000
You does have one friend. In this period. This is a chap called John Wickens.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:29.000
And according to Wickens Son gives us some great descriptions. Wick and Son is the one for instance that tells us that his father had told him of Sir Isaac's forgetfulness of food when intent upon his studies and of his rising in a pleasant manner with the satisfaction of having found out some proposition without any concern for a seeming want of his night's sleep.

00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:42.000
He was turning grey, I think, at 30. He sometimes suspected himself to be inclining to consumption and he would make use of balsam so he mixed up his own medicines because he thought he had 2 tuberculosis.

00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:57.000
But didn't notice a lack of sleep. It's also at this era that he comes up with that one famous sentence that if anyone knows, you know, we have the Apple image if you have one sentence in your head, it's probably I saw further because I stood on the shoulders of giants.

00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:05.000
Again, this isn't quite what it looks like and it's actually a dig. This is written in a letter to Hook.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:17.000
Hook was a very short man and a bit of a hunchback. So when he sang, I am standing on the shoulders of giants, he's saying, I may be standing on the work of some people.

00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000
But not you.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:30.000
Subtle but you know if you hook probably not that subtle yeah. So yes, we're getting a bit more of a rounded picture here, aren't we?

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:46.000
The second sort of Big battle between Hook and Newton comes in 1684. When Ren Christopher Wren of, of some Paul's fame.

00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:47.000
Hook and Hally of Comet Fame. It's a lot of interesting important people in the Royal Society at this time.

00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:58.000
It's absolutely the brightest and best of the nation. All of whom appeared to have no social skills.

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:13.000
The 3 of them are meeting in a coffee house Rain has decided to offer a cash prize to anyone who can provide a proof and an explanation of the way planets move.

00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:24.000
Based on the inverse square law of attraction between them. If you have a stationary son, then how does that affect the shape of what's going around it?

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:31.000
And Hook said, I have proof that all these paths are ellipses, which indeed they are.

00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:38.000
And he'd been working on this for 4 years, but he couldn't quite, he hadn't provided proof of it.

00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.000
So Red says, well, okay, give me proof. If you can't give me proof, Hallie, can you give me some proof, you know?

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:52.000
And I'll pay whoever does. Hallie has not been working on it for 4 years, thinks smarter rather than harder, and just goes to Newton.

00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:57.000
And says, Newton, do you know why? And what the proof is that all planets go round in ellipses.

00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:04.000
And Isaac says, oh yeah, I worked that out years ago. I've got it around here somewhere.

00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:10.000
And starts looking in his papers. Disorganised desk and he couldn't find it.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:16.000
And so,ally said, well, okay, could you try and recreate it? Could you do it from scratch?

00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:26.000
When he forgets about it, 18 months later. By a different method. And actually proving the inverse of what he thought he was trying to prove.

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.000
Or the, the inverse of the proposition He does. And that piece of work is what eventually becomes the print Kippia, his greatest work.

00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:49.000
He makes it difficult deliberately because he says I don't want to be pestered by mathematical smatteras So, you know, I'm not going to make this easy on you.

00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.000
This is this is a thing which is full of marvelous wigs as we can see here.

00:21:52.000 --> 00:22:08.000
So here is a Red Hook and Halle meeting in the in the coffee house there. So yes, that's how Principia comes to be written.

00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:20.000
And As I say, it proves the inverse. Later he said that he didn't bother writing down the original version of this because well I mean It's very obvious.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:30.000
No need, it should be obvious to anyone that can do this sort of thing. In the 80, s he gets a new assistant.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:49.000
Who gives us some wonderful, again, sort of personal details about the man. We learn here that, He was very meek, sedate and humble, never seemingly angry of, and, and, and, of it of profound thought.

00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:55.000
He always kept close to his studies, rarely went to visiting and had few visitors except 2 or 3 persons.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:03.000
I never knew him to take any recreational pastime, either in riding out to take the air, walking, bowling, any exercise whatsoever.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:11.000
Thinking all hours lost that were not spent in his studies. So intent and serious upon his studies he ate very sparingly.

00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:18.000
Nay, oftentimes he has forgotten to eat at all so that by going into his chamber I have found his mess untouched.

00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:26.000
Of which when I reminded him he would reply, oh have I? And then making to the table would eat a bite or 2 standing.

00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:36.000
He very rarely went to bed until 2 or 3 of the clock. Sometimes not till 5 or 6, lying about 4 or 5 h.

00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:40.000
At which time, sorry, and also he says that in spring and fall he would sleep even less because he would have experiments going on in his laboratory.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:51.000
That would need to be permanently tended so one or the other of them would have to be there all the time.

00:23:51.000 --> 00:24:11.000
Humphrey says he very well, rarely went to dine in the hall. Except on some public days and then if he has not been minded would go very carelessly with shoes down at heels, stockings untied, surplus on, and his head scarcely combed.

00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.000
When he designed to dine in the hall, he would turn to the left hand. And go out into the street.

00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:23.000
When making a stop when he found his mistake, would hastily turn back. And then sometimes instead of going into the hall.

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:29.000
Would return to his chamber again. Yeah, it shouldn't be going that way. And then. Straight back to his rooms.

00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:38.000
He's obviously not comfortable. In public. William Stuckley said he had heard Newton laugh only once.

00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:44.000
And that was when Newton had loaned an acquaintance a copy of Euclid's element.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.000
And the acquaintance said, well, what use is this to me? And Sir Isaac burst out laughing.

00:24:51.000 --> 00:25:03.000
Because to him, it was obvious. Of course, why could you possibly not realize why you clear is going to be valuable in your life?

00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:15.000
In the 16, late 16 eighties, starts getting also more into his occult studies. And this is very important to him and another side that often isn't.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:27.000
Looked at enough because there's just too much to the mound to give everything enough weight. But he really wanted to uncover lost wisdom as well as doing his sort of new discoveries.

00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:38.000
That included interpreting the book of Revelation. And for instance or looking at the proportions of the Temple of Solomon and trying to apply maths to that to see what the significance was.

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:52.000
And of course a lot of alchemy. Chemistry is in its infancy, so of course a lot of what he does is actual genuine useful chemical experimentation just explained in very esoteric language.

00:25:52.000 --> 00:26:06.000
He's not actually cutting edge though, Boyle another member of the Royal Society has begun to establish norms of experimental practice in chemistry which Newton completely ignores because that's not what it's about for him.

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:15.000
For him, it's about hidden truths. We have some records of this but Some of them nobody's been able to figure out.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:28.000
There are notebooks of his. Which are in such coded language. Partly because it's all this mystery stuff and partly because some of the things he was doing were illegal.

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:49.000
That yeah it's it's just not been deciphered but we know he was interested in getting gold we know he was interested in the elixir of life But to him there's no division between the scientific and the alchemical because it's all just about understanding the unseen forces of the universe.

00:26:49.000 --> 00:27:09.000
And demonstrating how the universe is tending towards perfection. Because that is God's plan. And that is visible in maths as it is visible, he would say, in the theoretical existence of the philosopher's stone that will turn other things to the perfect metal I.

00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:14.000
Religiously, he's sort of a Protestant, but some of his ideas are a bit heretical.

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:20.000
He's technically a non-trinitarian area. Which is a bit of a mouthful.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:29.000
And that is a version which makes Jesus the first of God's creations rather than having been inherent from the beginning.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:30.000
But then beginning, if it's the very first thing that happens, it's a bit slippery.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:39.000
Doesn't seem to have believed in an immortal soul as such, which is very unusual for the time.

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:50.000
And he thought that the universe had been made in such a way that God would need to occasionally get involved.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:59.000
He thought that things like the elliptical orbs of the eccentric orbits of some planets suggested this, that sometimes God was going to need to personally set things on track.

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:14.000
Libniz, said that He's understanding of Newton was that he said that Newton thought that God Almighty wants to wind up his watch from time to time, otherwise it would cease to move.

00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:21.000
He had not, it seems, sufficient foresight to make it perpetual motion.

00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.000
He, he didn't want to be in holy orders because then he would have to have made various oaths.

00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:33.000
And you manage to wriggle out of it. It's very unusual being a fellow of Cambridge and not being in holy orders.

00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.000
But he managed it.

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:46.000
The president of the society in the 16 eighties is Because he gets everywhere. Samuel Peeps.

00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:54.000
Some peeps. He's not a scientist, he's interested in a sort of academic way and he likes having connections with interesting and important people.

00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:01.000
He is not a scientist. He admits that he doesn't really know. He doesn't really understand everything the others are talking about.

00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:07.000
He tells on the other hand have connections and miniature stretch of skills and those are very useful to the Royal Society.

00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:17.000
This does not mean he's always making the right choice. So here is a story about the publication of Principia.

00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:26.000
Edmund Halley finally persuades Newton to publish those theories of motion and gravitation that were the subject of that bet.

00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:33.000
And he says, you know, we can get it published. The Royal Society will publish this for you.

00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Sadly, there are society earlier that year had spent its entire publications budget. On this. Francis Willoughby's history of fish.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:53.000
Big, huge, lavishly illustrated book, therefore very expensive. They printed loads of them.

00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.000
And, yeah, we've, we've got, we've got no money left.

00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:13.000
For any other groundbreaking works of physics. In the end, Halle bankrolled it himself because he felt he'd made this promise to Newton that we will get this published, trust me I'll make sure it all you know nobody messes with your words or anything like that.

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:21.000
And yet. When you look at this, the first edition of the Principia Mathematica Whose name gets to be on the front?

00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:30.000
In just as big letters as Newton's. It's peeps. Don't know how we manage that because yeah, Halli had to backer all in himself.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:39.000
The Royal Society then said, yeah. You know, we've spent all that money on those copies of the natural history of fish.

00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:51.000
Well, they haven't actually sold that well, so that means we can't afford to pay you your salary as our clerk but here have a stack of leftover copies of the book

00:30:51.000 --> 00:31:00.000
I mean, really. Isn't that just staggering? Here, here are a whole load of leftover copies of the book that you don't think should have been done in the first place.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:06.000
To pay you at a time when you've bankrolled the good book anyway.

00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:13.000
Hook dies in 1,703, which point Newton is able to publish on optics.

00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:21.000
So object 1704 comes out. And Newton at that point becomes president of the Royal Society, which is why.

00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:25.000
Hook's painting does not exist.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:31.000
Backing up and going in a different direction. He also has a massive feud going with a chap called Leibniz.

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:37.000
And, and, you know, these, these feuds, they overlap. And again, this is lasts over 30 years.

00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:44.000
It basically seems that he feuds with people until they die. That's the pattern. He does not let go of things.

00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:53.000
So Newton is working on calculus, which is how to measure the area underneath a curve on a graph.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:02.000
And he's been working on it from the 16 seventys. He doesn't publish it for about Over 20 years, about 20 years.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:11.000
So all that time he thinks he's Got it, but he wants it to be perfect. Is working on it at the same time, the same problem.

00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:22.000
And he nearly writes to Leibniz explaining his idea. And then at the last minute, he backs out and writes this.

00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:33.000
Obviously it's Latin, but it says, The foundation of these operations is evident enough. But because I cannot proceed with the explanation of it now, I have preferred to conceal it thus.

00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:43.000
This is a list of how many of each letter of the alphabet the answer would have in it. So there is a phrase which had 6 As, 2 C's, one D and so on.

00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:53.000
In it. This is obviously utterly useless as an anagram and yet he wasn't the only guy to do this in the Royal Society and others at that time.

00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:58.000
That idea that, cause then later he could go back and say, well, obviously I had thought of this all along.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:07.000
All you have to do is unscramble that sentence. See? It's my idea really, you can't get any credit for it, cause I wrote you that first.

00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:18.000
And this really backfires because the 2 of them end up fighting over who had what bit of what idea first and who could prove that they had what bit of what idea first.

00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:25.000
And there's a lot of angry letter writing and writings into relevant journals and so on.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:34.000
This society decides in the 17 tens that it is going to sort out this dispute. By means of an independent committee.

00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:44.000
Well, I say independent. Newton is the president of the Royal Society. He is able to pick exactly who goes on this committee.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:49.000
Which I don't think you will be surprised to hear.

00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:55.000
Found that all of those ideas were actually newtons. This does not make Leibniz happy.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:02.000
But he dies soon afterwards, so that's Newton off the hook again.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:11.000
A few other adventures in different directions start. It becomes an MP. In one. To 90 and in 1,701 he has another shot at it.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:25.000
Why he bothered going back a second time? I really don't know, given that it is very clear he had no interest in actually doing it at all.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:36.000
Hansard that records everything said in parliament. Tells us that As far as we know, he only said one thing in his whole parliamentary term.

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:46.000
And that was close the window I can feel a draft.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:54.000
Then he starts having a bit of a bad time of it. In 1693. He's parted company with Nicholas Fatio de Duer who was his closest slash only friend at that time.

00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:23.000
They'd shared lodgings together for a long time. It's the relationship that leads to speculation about his sexuality, although I, I'm certainly never acted on anything, whether you had feelings or not, you can read different things in, but masculine friendship between academics was a very different thing that we don't really understand now anyway so it's hard to know.

00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:30.000
And I think it's actually quite unlikely. But yes, he had parted company. His mother died.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:42.000
He may well have been suffering from some sort of chemical poisoning. We know that when he died, because his hair's been tested, His hair has 40 times the normal amount of mercury in it.

00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:51.000
So he may well have mercury poisoning at this time because he's doing even more alchemical experiments then than he does at the end of his life.

00:35:51.000 --> 00:36:12.000
For whatever reason, in 1693, he seems to have some sort of nervous breakdown. He becomes convinced that his friends Well, peeps if you could call peeps a friend but he certainly knows him well by this point peeps and Locke that's John Locke the philosopher are conspiring against him.

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.000
He writes to peeps. I'm extremely troubled at the embroilment I'm in.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:28.000
I've neither 8 nor slept well. I never designed to get anything by your interest, but I am now sensible that I must withdraw from your acquaintance and see neither you nor the rest of my friends any more.

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:40.000
He tries to retreat from society. To Locke he says you endeavored to embroil me with women and by other means and there was a design to sell me an office.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:48.000
And because of these things I have wished you dead and I probably shouldn't have. And I'm sorry that I did.

00:36:48.000 --> 00:37:03.000
Cause it only lasts a few days, this particular problem. He later apologizes and blames this state of mind on, sleeping in front of the fire and that being bad for his health and him not getting enough sleep and so on

00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:14.000
But yes, the idea that someone might try to embroil him with women. We have no idea what's meant by that or if it was all just in his head, but it's interesting.

00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:25.000
He's continuing to invent things. He's already come up with different reflecting telescopes, better reflecting telescopes that you can have a smaller telescope that does the job of a bigger one.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:34.000
He also comes up with something called the reflecting quadrant or the octant. Which is a navigational instrument.

00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:41.000
And looks like that. So in 1,699 he invents this.

00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:47.000
He describes it to Halle. Hallie doesn't say anything to anyone about it either.

00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:57.000
And nothing is known about this till after he's died So that's yet another 3 years.

00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:06.000
Other 28 years so we invented this thing and then sat on it for 28 years. By which point 2 other people have also invented it.

00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:12.000
And then he says, no, no, he doesn't because he's dead, but Hally saying, no, no, Newton came up with this first.

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:19.000
And this sort of thing is the story of his life, it would seem.

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:26.000
He's getting to be quite respectable by this point. He's made the warden of the mint.

00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:38.000
He has and actually oversees a whole change in the coinage comes up with a whole different set of coinage which is difficult to forge compared to previous one.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:48.000
This is an example of it. This is the the rarest example of it. This is the one that, you know, is a real collector's piece.

00:38:48.000 --> 00:39:09.000
Because it is tiny. It's a quarter guinea. And that would normally be obviously a larger silver coin because this would be real gold and the amount of gold that goes into a quarter guineas worth of gold for a coin, the coin itself is only a few millimeters across.

00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:22.000
And something that that valuable to be that easily lost. Was never going to be that popular I think. But he gets really stuck in to doing this, he's now what in his fifties?

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:32.000
Yeah, now in his fiftys and he really takes to coining and trying to stop. Clippers and coiners, counterfeiters out there.

00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:40.000
He has a sort of nemesis in the 16 nineties where there's a sort of cat and mouse game with a chap called William Challoner.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:47.000
Who used to be a forger but claims to have swapped sides but really hasn't but how do you prove that?

00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:59.000
And eventually Newton does get the better of him and he gets hungry on and quartered. In 1705 he is, Newton is also knighted.

00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:15.000
And this is his choice of Coach of arms. Now the crust bones is part of the Newton coat of arms going back in time to earlier gentry Newton's

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:21.000
So it was likely he was going to incorporate that into his design somewhere, but most people at this era would then have, you know, gone big with it.

00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:28.000
Instead, he just says, well, yeah, it's a, 2 cross bones, they'll be white, let's put it on a black background, the end.

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:41.000
And that is his, his. Coat of arms and this is at the height of the piracy problem in the in these so I don't know if he knew about that.

00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:47.000
Or if it's sheer coincidence, but there you go.

00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:52.000
It gets one final feud in in his sixties and seventies. It's time for just one more feud.

00:40:52.000 --> 00:41:06.000
This is with John Flamsteed who is the astronomer royal. And has got a very nice place to do that and a load of instruments and Newton wants his data.

00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:20.000
He's trying to write a second edition of Principia and he's trying to deal with what astronomers call the 3 body problem which is where the earth and the moon and the sun are all interacting with each other which is very complicated maths.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:32.000
And he needs the data. But, Flamsteed? Does not want to show anyone the data until he is absolutely perfect and complete.

00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.000
Which is, to be fair, the sort of thing that Newton would do, he wouldn't give out his data to it was perfect.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:42.000
In complete either but in this case Newton doesn't care about that just wants to know the things.

00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:49.000
And, FUNCTED is also fed up with being taken for granted. You know, he's doing all of this work and someone else always gets all the credit.

00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:55.000
And he, believes he's overworked and underpaid. He said, you know.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:04.000
I get the honour of all the pains to myself. But also if I make a mistake I shall have to answer for it but someone else will get the credit if I've done it right.

00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:13.000
So Flamsteed gives the absolute raw data to Neaton. Knowing that this will take Newton a lot of time to make any sense of.

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:21.000
They write snarky letters to each other. Newton tries to withhold Money spent on the project.

00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:32.000
When Newton's president of the Royal Society, he tries to get the Royal Ordnance to take away Flamstead's instruments saying they need repair work.

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:37.000
The Royal Ornament says, we haven't got any money to repair astronomical instruments, that's not our job.

00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:52.000
So that backfires. He talks the Queen into confiscating the entire observatory. Farm Steed at this point starts referring to Sir Isaac Newton as sin in all of his diaries.

00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.000
SIN

00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:03.000
Newton eventually grabs that star catalog, publishes a short book. Flamsteed complains bitterly.

00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:20.000
This has cost Newton not a single hour's labor or watching. Nor was he at one penny expense in the making of them, but besides my daily labour and watchings, when he was asleep in his warm bed it has cost me about 2,000 pounds out of my own pocket.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.000
He refuses to mention howie by name at all. Because FlavseED also has a problem with Halle because Halle is an atheist.

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:41.000
See, none of these people get on it's it's real hotbed of things So this book that this short book that Newton produces.

00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:48.000
400 copies. Flamsteed is furious. Flamsteed goes to the Lord Chamberlain.

00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:58.000
And the 2 of them together managed to buy The 300 copies that have not yet been sold and, a, a, farm steed then.

00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:07.000
Makes a huge fire, a huge big fire and burns a lot of them. 300 copies of the book that's using his own data.

00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:13.000
Newton goes to his own copy of Principia and takes out every reference to Flamsteed.

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:21.000
So there's even less proof that anyone else other than himself was involved in this. That's Flamsteed and that's that's the Royal Observatory there by the way.

00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:29.000
I'm flamboyant then flumsy dyes. His wife. Publishes his work after his death.

00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:37.000
The introduction to that work is a diatribe against Newton. So, you know, again.

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:47.000
The feud keeps on going until the other man dies. And that's possibly what kept Newton going for so long because it certainly wasn't his, you know, healthy eating and sleeping habits or the breathing in of the mercury.

00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:55.000
So it is quite impressive given those things that he lives to be, that's some of the data that was he was working on.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:03.000
That he lives to be 84. And this is the last picture that he's made of him.

00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:20.000
So yeah, that is going through his entire life. From a sort of slightly odd angle of him as a human, the feuds and the peculiarities and yeah you can decide for yourself whether you'd actually fancy meeting the man.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:26.000
Like I say, interesting, but I'm not sure I'd want to sit and have dinner with him.

00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:35.000
Thanks. For that, Joe. What a fascinating man, so much more to him than, you know, the character that we think, you know.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.000
That's why I called it the man buying the apple.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:45.000
Yeah. Okay, so. Oh, we've got some questions coming in now. So.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:46.000
Yeah, everybody's been very quiet. Obviously been listening to very carefully. And what Let me just start with one.

00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:51.000
Yes, I wasn't sure if there was nothing there. And Yes, because I'm, so quickly.

00:45:51.000 --> 00:46:03.000
If we're going right back to the start of the lecture when you were talking about some of the weird, slightly humidest things that Newton did as a teenager.

00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:08.000
Guy is saying a for runner to rule dial, question mark. Hmm.

00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:19.000
I would say not because Roald Dahl's things always have that air of whimsy, whereas I don't think Newton ever did anything that wasn't practical.

00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:25.000
I don't think he used a mouse because he thought it was interesting. I think he used a mouse because it was something he could get hold of.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:38.000
And use so I don't think there was any air of whimsy in that. It was I says, the mouse to him was no more or less important or interesting than any of them mechanical bits of his device at that point.

00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:43.000
I can't think of any evidence that he's particularly fond of animals for instance.

00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:45.000
There's there's rumors that he kept a cat. Largely because of a story which says that he invented the cat flap.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:47:11.000
This is, this is not true. But the it's actually a bad joke that some of his colleagues said about him was that oh yeah you know Newton needed a Needed his cats to get in now and he had a cat and a kitten so we built a big door and a small door

00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:16.000
And of course you wouldn't need the small one. Because the small cat could get through the big door.

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:25.000
So it's, it's somebody laughing at Newton for, you know, he could work out the positions of the stars but he wouldn't be bright enough to realise that the kitten could go through the big capital.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:35.000
People have read that story and taken from that that he might have had a cat. But I don't think there's any good evidence of that.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:36.000
Not a

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:43.000
Okay, I hope that answers your question guys. And another question here from Andrew. And did Newton publish his work based on alchemy?

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.000
No, no, hardly anybody did. You did not publish on your alchemy. It was secret. You kept it in your notebooks.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:48:00.000
You shared it with the occasional. Colleague in the business. As I say, some some of it probably involved getting hold of chemicals that were illegal anyway.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:08.000
Other bits of it were borderline heretical anyway. So no, you would not go publishing that.

00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:15.000
And as I said, there are notebooks. But we do not understand a lot of them.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:25.000
Yeah, they're full of symbols and and talk about the rising of the dragon blood and everything is coded.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:26.000
The.

00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:35.000
Okay. Another question from Madeleine. Good Newton have been, or could Newton have had autism.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.000
So.

00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:45.000
Having done the history medicine, I'm always a bit loath to, retrospectively diagnosed people.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:56.000
I think it is it is plain that he was not neurotypical. I think if I had to PIN my money on some diagnosis, I think autism is the one that stands out as most likely.

00:48:56.000 --> 00:49:05.000
He certainly from what we know of him, he would take a lot of the right boxes. So we can never be sure.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:16.000
But I think if we were trying to look for something which was a good fit. For his behaviour and looked at in our terms, I think autism would be the best bet, yes.

00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:23.000
Hmm. Okay, I hope that answers your question, Marilyn. Now, here's another question from Ismay.

00:49:23.000 --> 00:49:25.000
This is a good one. How on earth did you get acceptance by university when his school record was so poor?

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:35.000
Where places bought or given on the back of who won you.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:48.000
Oh, a bit of bit of both, bit of both. The schoolmaster at Grantham was a former Cambridge man himself and probably knew the right people to talk to.

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:59.000
I'm not aware of money exchange hands but generally yes you would be paying for for your time there, regardless there are no university.

00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:16.000
Grants given at this point unless you're very very exceptional and very very poor. So yes, partly I think they would take in anyone who had the money and the That's the way I'm looking for sort of came from the right sort of background.

00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:22.000
And had had at least some grammar school education and partly I suspect his schoolmaster. Who clearly believed in him having persuaded his mother to bring him back for more education.

00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:37.000
In spite of the fact that he'd rather be doing these other things than his lessons. I think he probably put a good word in because he was a Cambridge man himself.

00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:44.000
Why he suggested go and do maths and philosophy. I think possibly they didn't have a choice at that point.

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:49.000
The subjects that you studied, you had to do a bit of those and then maybe a bit of something else.

00:50:49.000 --> 00:51:02.000
Hmm. Okay, well there you go, And another question from Sue, I guess is more of a point of clarification.

00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:03.000
Yeah.

00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:07.000
You talked about, Newton being religious. So just clarifies Protestant nonconformists.

00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:08.000
Who was yeah?

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:19.000
Well, he wasn't, he wasn't part of Any of the nonconformist churches and indeed his the direction of his own sort of personal nonconformity was not in the same direction.

00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:32.000
He never left the Church of England which he had been raised in but if anyone had ever pinned him down and said, you know, do you absolutely swear to every single thing that the Church of England believes in.

00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:40.000
He would have struggled because he didn't. And that's why he wriggled out of actually having to be a churchman.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:45.000
Because he didn't want to have to or couldn't make that lie work. So he is.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:55.000
Broadly Church of England but very much on the fringe of Church of England in one particular direction which as I say makes him a non Trinitarian A.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:52:07.000
And he wasn't the only one at that point the intellectual circles were definitely more full of more radical thinkers and people who were coming up with their own interpretations.

00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:21.000
So at the Royal Society he would have been rubbing shoulders with agnostics and atheists and nonconformists and all sorts.

00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:26.000
People who put more faith in their mysticism and the cabala than they did in their church.

00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:42.000
You did at this point have to be a member of a proper church. And if you were not a member of certain things, then certain positions would not have been open to you, for instance, if he had been a Catholic, he would not have been able to hold the positions that he had.

00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:54.000
Because you had to swear roads that you weren't a Catholic to get things like a professorship but yes his own And he writes about it a lot, but it's all in private.

00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:02.000
Lots and lots of letters. He actually writes more on if you combine his works on alchemy and religion and mysticism.

00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:13.000
You write a lot more on that than he ever does on science. So he writes about his own perspective on God in great detail, but he never publishes that because that would just get him into trouble.

00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:24.000
Hmm. Okay. There we go, Sue and I hope that answers that for you. Question from Medi.

00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:28.000
Did not Newton actually steal some of Hooke's work?

00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:32.000
If you asked Newton, it'd say you didn't, if you asked her if you'd say you did.

00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:37.000
As I say, it's all down to this Newton would figure things out, then sit on them.

00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:42.000
Meanwhile, someone else would figure them out and then he would, you know, say, oh no, I came up with that first.

00:53:42.000 --> 00:53:53.000
Like the thing about the gravitational effect as I said the hook said oh no I already know I already have that proof But when Wren said, well prove it then.

00:53:53.000 --> 00:54:01.000
It was Halle going to Newton that brought the information back first. So, Hat Hook already done that work already?

00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:18.000
Depends who you ask. I suspect probably yes. I says I don't think Newton was Averse to taking bits of other people's ideas and just he said that oh you you might have inspired me a little but that's as far as it goes.

00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:27.000
But his idea of what constitutes inspiration there. Might have looked like plagiarism from the other end.

00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:30.000
If you see what I mean.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:37.000
Hmm, interesting. And then, a question from, David, you were just talking about good appetite there. Did I?

00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:44.000
Just like, and discover gravity.

00:54:44.000 --> 00:55:04.000
Other people had previously come up with something similar. Other people had previously realized that the, you know, Well, you drop something it falls and Yeah, there were other people who had worked on some of the broader aspects of it.

00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:15.000
Newton comes up with I think I could be wrong the idea that the Earth also moves towards the apple and that everything is affected by the gravity.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:36.000
I think. And he certainly codifies it into maths more successfully than anybody had previously. But it's not completely new, it's just Isaac Newton is very good at kind of taking ideas which almost exist in the intellectual scene around him and pinning them down properly and adding in the maths.

00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:42.000
So discover is a, is a tricky word, but. Sort of?

00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:51.000
Okay, thank you. And I've got another couple of questions here. I'm going to kind of put these 2 together actually.

00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:57.000
Firstly from Madeline what sort of people would have bought his publications And from Sue, how did these various people know each other's findings?

00:55:57.000 --> 00:56:06.000
Was it through publications? Was it through lectures? How did they actually, you know?

00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:15.000
Well, within England, more or less anyone who was anyone was either in the Royal Society or within scientific fields was either in the Royal Society or would know people who were.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:28.000
And Some people might have to travel down from Edinburgh now and then because that's the next biggest, intellectual center in that way or from Oxford or Cambridge.

00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:44.000
But yeah, they they would all be in the know. Now the Royal Society met very regularly. I can't remember if it's monthly or bi-monthly, but it is really quite regularly and on the back of that they publish a proceedings.

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:52.000
And the proceedings is sent out to members. The entire proceedings going right back to volume one by the way is all available online.

00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:59.000
And so you can go and read their earliest experiments and the earliest things that they are talking about and it's really quite fascinating.

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:07.000
Back to the back to 1,660. When it begins. So yes, they would also do lectures.

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:10.000
They're not often bothering with public lectures because they're generally of the opinion that the public won't really understand anyway.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:27.000
But they will invite selected other people in. So for instance the first woman to experience the Royal Society is Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle who has written several science books of her own.

00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:42.000
But they are all very patronising and snooty towards her. We have a description from peeps and another description from someone else but both of which are sort of oh she was wearing a lovely dress and she seemed to smile and nod a lot which is absolutely doing the woman a disservice.

00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:49.000
She's very clever. But yes, occasionally they would invite somebody in, but generally it is all amongst themselves.

00:57:49.000 --> 00:58:07.000
As the book sails, that would be, well, as I say, only 400 copies were made of one of the books anyway, so it's not a big upset they're going to each other they're going to the university colleges and of course they going to universities around Europe as well.

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:18.000
Leibniz isn't British. There are a lot of people working in physics in Europe and probably one or 2 in America, not sure, and probably one or 2 in America, not sure.

00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:29.000
Certainly not as many, but yeah, across. North West Europe. There are other centres in Holland and in Denmark and in Germany.

00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:45.000
With top notch physicists in them. And all of these things are also being distributed over there and of course they're all writing in Latin so It's all understandable by everybody Principia is in Latin.

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:51.000
Fabulous. Okay, well, I think that is probably us. It's just gone 6 0'clock.

00:58:51.000 --> 00:58:55.000
So thanks for all your questions and Jo, thanks very much for a really, really interesting journey through the life of Isaac Newton.

Lecture

Get to know the Summer sky

The Summer sky affords an opportunity to see the Milky Way and the Perseid meteors - and it's warm! In July, we might also be lucky enough to spot noctilucent clouds. In addition, we'll also consider the main constellations on view and learn some more simple 'star-hopping' techniques, as well as a little of the mythology behind these star patterns.

So join WEA tutor Ann Bonell to discover more about what’s in the skies above us!

Download useful links for further reading here

Video transcript

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:33.000
And good afternoon, everyone. I'm just going to share my screen with you.

00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:42.000
So hopefully everyone can see that rather a boring title slide, I'm afraid. Get to know the summer sky.

00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:49.000
Well, yes, summer and perhaps what's going on in this country at the moment don't really go sort of hand in hand.

00:00:49.000 --> 00:01:02.000
But you never know things should change and there has been a few sort of clear nights. Recently, so fingers crossed, and I'll be able to point out to you this afternoon, some of the things that you might be able to see in the summer sky.

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:09.000
So I'm going to look at the main constellations on view.

00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:23.000
And you can, you know, see various lie and perhaps a bit of mythology behind these. And we're also, again, this is weather permitting, get some tips on how to observe a good meteor shower.

00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:33.000
So that's what I proposed to do this afternoon. Now the good news is from the astronomy point of view is that the nights are getting longer.

00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:38.000
Because on the first of August, which was what yes, no, Tuesday wasn't hit. Okay.

00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.000
These are times from Leicester, but they're not going to vary too much over the, UK.

00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:51.000
Sunrise was at 5 23 sunset, 2057 giving us over 15 and a half hours of daylight.

00:01:51.000 --> 00:02:02.000
But by the end of the month sunrises after 60'clock sunset is just before 80'clock and the amount of daylight has been reduced to about 14 and 3 quarters hours.

00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.000
And then of course in September it'll be the solstice round about the third week in September.

00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:13.000
So, said from the astronomy point of view, things are looking up because the nights are getting longer.

00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.000
But if you're still after your nice long days of summer, maybe it's not such good news.

00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:28.000
Now let's just start off with the moon. And the moon is always a fascinating object to look at through binoculars or a small telescope.

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000
And even with the unaided I, you can start to identify some of the features on here. You can get lots of maps.

00:02:32.000 --> 00:03:02.000
This off the internet. Showing the disc of the moon with the dark areas the maria so-called seas which of course you know not seize their lava hate planes in filled impact craters on the moon, but you can start to learn the names of some of these and I suppose the one that people are most interested in is the C of Tranquility, the MAHRE,

00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:21.000
tranquillity artist, and it's that one there. Okay. Now at the moment we've just passed full moon so that's virtually the view you'll get of the moon if you look at it the moment and if you've got some binoculars you should be able to identify at least a couple of the brighter craters on the moon.

00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:33.000
One of them is this one, That's the pole, southern area. And that's a very bright take crater called Tyco.

00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:49.000
And Tyco has got these rays emanating off it that go for hundreds of kilometers across the lunar landscape and these white rays are streaks that were formed when bit of space rock, large piece of space rock impacted on the moon.

00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:57.000
And the material underneath was this much paler color than the outer layers. So that's Tyco.

00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:16.000
And there's also this crater here, Copernicus, which again you should be able to see and you know both of those at the moment but get yourself if you're interested in me get yourself a chat like this sent from the internet or book Only phone even when you go outside and start start to learn some of the C's.

00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:24.000
Now, there's been a lot in the press recently about The

00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:38.000
Because this month August The first of August was a full known. And the 30 first of August at the end of the month is another full move and these are well sort of special formats that what we call Perry G.

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.000
Falms because Perigee is the point in the moon's orbit where it's closest to Earth.

00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.000
I'm just going to advance the slide a bit. I'll come back to that slide again in a minute.

00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.000
But obviously there's a somewhat exaggerated view of the moon's orbit around the Earth. It's elliptical.

00:04:54.000 --> 00:05:00.000
So the distance varies. So this is sort of perjy when it's at the closest point.

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:15.000
And the other point is, when it said it's furthest point. And in August the 2 new moons occur when the moons are Not exactly at the perity point, but it's a you know, pretty close to the earth.

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:30.000
And there's a lot going on about this in the press at the moment. Because we're getting what we called a super moon because, because the means closer to us, it does appear to be somewhat bigger and brighter.

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:42.000
I must tell you that Super Moon has got no precise astronomical definition. It's the term that just seems to have gone into, everyday English.

00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:49.000
But I mean, if you are interested in these things, and what an astronomer would call this, is a perji, sizzy,y events or a perjury full moment.

00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:55.000
But, anyway, we'll stick with suprem in because everyone knows what we're talking about.

00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000
But the other term you're going to hear a lot about. Towards the end of the month is Blue Moon.

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:07.000
Now, in everyday English, we talk about, you know, something occurring in a blue, is something that doesn't occur very often.

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:18.000
And again, I don't think Blue Moon has got a precise astronomical definition. But nowadays it's taken as meaning the second full moon in a calendar month.

00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:29.000
So here, first of all, just. 30 first August. So the moon, full moon on the 30 first of August will be a blue moon.

00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:37.000
So there's the diagram again. Just to show you this difference in size, probably to the casual observer.

00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:48.000
It's probably not too sort of recognizable. This difference when we get a full moon at perj, this close point and apogee when it's furthest away.

00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:58.000
But if you, you know, take photographs under similar conditions, it turns out that the perj, full moon, so the one we're experiencing, this month.

00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:06.000
Is about 14% bigger than an apogee full moon. But remember the full moon is still pretty bright.

00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:12.000
You know, to say a casual observer, it's probably not going to appear too different.

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:19.000
Now let's just have a look at, this, oh, you know, full sky chart.

00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:30.000
And this is 11 pm at the start of August. And, you can see, well, it's a bit boring really from the planet's point of view.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:38.000
Because the only planets that will be on view And, you know, when it gets dark tonight is the planet, which is down there.

00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:50.000
And I mean, Saturn, which is down there. And I mean, Saturn's got a wonderful set of rings, as you know, it's not a particularly bright planet.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:55.000
You know, we've been spoiled over the last few months with Venus and Jupiter, but don't worry, they'll be back.

00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:01.000
The only thing I would say is that the area of the sky where Saturn is at the moment.

00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:11.000
It's against these rather faint this fake constellation of Aquarius. And Saturn will be brighter than any of those background stars.

00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:15.000
But I'll say a bit more about Sutton in a minute, okay? Yes, in fact, I'll say it now.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:26.000
Because Saturn reaches what we call opposition. On the 20 seventh of August. Now, what do we mean by opposition?

00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:38.000
Well, it's a term that, and ignore these other terms here. This is the one I'm interested in. Opposition.

00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:48.000
There's the sun. There's the Earth. And there is our planet at opposition. And only planets that are further from the sun than the Earth is, can reach opposition.

00:08:48.000 --> 00:09:02.000
So that means that Mercury and Venus can't. Because when a planet like Saturn is at opposition then the sun, the earth and the moon have got this sort of exact you know, 3 body lineup.

00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:09.000
And it means that the sun and the planet are opposite each other in the sky as seen from the earth.

00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:20.000
So what it means is that our planet rises as the sun sets. It's above the, horizon for all the hours of darkness.

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.000
And it means that our planet sets as the sun rises the following morning. So it really is the best time to observe.

00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:50.000
A planet that's further from the earth and the sun because the planet is above the horizon visible but all over all the hours of darkness now that doesn't mean that you're only going to get good views of Saturn on the 20 seventh August, you know, that's not true, but you know in the weeks leading up to opposition and the weeks afterwards, then it will be a good time to look for

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:57.000
Saturn. And just out of interest, Jupiter is going to be in the same position on the third of November.

00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:06.000
And we'll see in a minute if you wanted to see jupiter now where you could look for it okay So that's some Saturn.

00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:13.000
On the 20 seventh of August. Now, this was a picture. I got off a website called space weather.

00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:19.000
Dot com that was taken 2 or 3 days ago of Saturn. But obviously this is a telescopic view.

00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:29.000
And you do need a telescope to see the rings of Saturn. And, you know, so at the moment getting nice views of the planet itself and, the rings.

00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:37.000
And that's not really going to change month over over the next few months. Now, if you think, well, I want to see, Saturn's rings, but I don't have a telescope.

00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:50.000
Why not get in touch with your local astronomical society? Because I'm sure that they will have them observing sessions whereby and they'd be more than happy to show you, Saturn through their telescopes.

00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:01.000
There's nothing more an amateur astronomer likes. Then, you know, inviting someone to look through that telescope and being wild by the image.

00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:08.000
What about the other planets? Well, Mercury really forget it at the moment, but in late, mid to late September.

00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:14.000
Prepared to get up, and, you can get a good view in the morning before sunrise.

00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:29.000
Venus has been absolutely. In the evening sky, that very bright object that there, but it's effectively disappeared from the evening sky now.

00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:33.000
However, by September, again, in the evening sky now, but it's effectively disappeared from the evening sky now.

00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.000
However, by September, again, in the morning sky, look before sunrise and it'll be there bright and Mars has disappeared into the morning sky look before sunrise and it'll be they're bright and.

00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.000
However, by September, again, in the morning sky look before sunrise and it'll be there bright and Mars has disappeared into the twilight and you're not really going to get any decent views of miles until next year.

00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:50.000
So we won't say anything else about that. But, this business about September and Mercury and Venus.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:55.000
I'm just going to show you a chart. This is about the third week in September.

00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:06.000
About 5 am. Now this is looking over towards the east. So, you know, some. Will be rising fairly soon.

00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.000
But there, you will get Mercury and Venus. Venus again will be spectacularly bright.

00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:17.000
Mercury is also bright, but the problem with mercury is it's always sort of fairly low down.

00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.000
But I think in this time in September it's going to reach about the highest position in the sky.

00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:28.000
It can get. So again, I think if you know you're interested in looking for this.

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:35.000
Look on, various websites. Later on if you've got an app on your phone, it'll tell you exactly where to look for it, okay?

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:47.000
So, but anyway, you know, come, you know, say third week in September. Oh, we've now got the chance to see 3 planets, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter.

00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:55.000
Jupiter will be bright, very bright, Venus will be even brighter, but Mercury is, it is quite bright.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:02.000
But, you know, it's, it's always fairly low down. Use binoculars to find it.

00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.000
But of course, if the sun has risen, you must not use those binoculars.

00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:21.000
Now, what else is coming up? Well, the, meet your shower. Now, again, I think this going to be quite a bit about this in the press over the next week or so and they will almost certainly mention it on the weather forecast.

00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:29.000
So we're going to have a look at that. Again, to save, you know, watch what part of the sky and when and what time you can look for it.

00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:44.000
And this is a photograph that was taken. Well, I think this was taken from California. I got this off the space weather website, but it's a very bright meteor or shooting star if you like leaving a trail.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:14:00.000
So, no, so with the If you go out and look at the sky, you know, you're out there for any length of time, you're unlucky not to see a shooting star or meteor.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:07.000
And of course they're not stars. It's a minute speck of dust. A cosmic material called a meteoroid.

00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:13.000
Which well, say, burns up. That's the term that's often used. It really vaporizing.

00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:21.000
Doing its passage through the Earth's atmosphere and it produces a streak of light that we call a meteor.

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:31.000
And as I said, you go out on any night. Then you'd be unlocking not to see one if you're out there for some length of time.

00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:38.000
But at certain times of the year, we see more of these. And this is what we call a meteor shower, which is what I'm going to talk about.

00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:47.000
But let's just clarify something, first of all. These terms that astronomers use meteoroid, meteor, meteorite.

00:14:47.000 --> 00:15:00.000
Because often hear people they say to me oh I saw a bright meteorite through the sky last night sorry you didn't But hopefully, after a minute or so, you'll see why that statement is wrong.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000
It's the trouble these words, they, you know, look pretty similar but they are.

00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:16.000
They are different to phenomena, but if you like the origin is the same. Now, a meteoroid, it's a small rocky on the metallic body in space.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:23.000
You know, can be as small as a, you know, brain of dust up to, you know, they say about a meter wide, something like that.

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:33.000
But they are bodies that are actually in space, okay? And you can also get micro meteoroids which are really tiny.

00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:38.000
Pieces of space dust and often find that some spacecraft, you know, collide with these.

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:52.000
The James Webb telescope, and soon after it was, in operation a number of micro meteoroids crashed into the, the mirror.

00:15:52.000 --> 00:16:02.000
And produce tiny little dense so we're well aware of that okay so a meteoroid is one of these.

00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:21.000
Objects when it's still in space. Now, if our meteoroid gets close enough to the Earth, says it enters into the atmosphere, it begins to bake price or burn up, okay, and fall to the ground and the trail it produces, that's the meteor, the shooting style.

00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:29.000
Now, the meteorite. If the meteoroid rock doesn't completely burn up as it falls to Earth.

00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:39.000
Then the rock that's left behind is called a meteorite. So our meteorite would probably have to be you know fairly large.

00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:49.000
For you know the pieces to survive. And you know going to probably any you know museum in this country.

00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:59.000
Then you might find that it's got a collection of meeting rights. In the Leicestershire area that's famous for the bar well meteorite.

00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:06.000
But more recently, I think during lockdown, there was, a meteorite that fell on Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.

00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:10.000
And this is really exciting because it seems to be a very sort of primeval type of meteorite and there's lots of studies going on on that.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:20.000
But if you go to the Natural History Museum in London, again, they've got a good meteorite collection there.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:31.000
That's the wrong. Okay. The differences between those terms. So we're going to be talking about the person of meteor shower and this reaches the height of its activity in mid August.

00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:42.000
And this year, the Percy of Meteor shower, the peak of it, so when you're likely to see the greatest number of meteors.

00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:47.000
Because in the early hours of the morning of Sunday the thirteenth of August. That's not this coming Sunday.

00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:56.000
So Sunday after. So that means that the nights of the twelfth of the thirteenth, so Saturday 12 to Sunday the thirteenth.

00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:04.000
You know the following Sunday the thirteenth to and the night of that to the early hours of Monday the fourteenth.

00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.000
You know, get out there and have a look because, where we've already commented on the weather in this country.

00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:20.000
You know you just have to take your chance. And it also means that you don't get exclusively on those.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.000
A bit earlier on, you know, the tenth to the eleventh or later on the fifteenth, the sixteenth, get out there and look.

00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:34.000
But because you should be able to see something. Now, the other good news this year is that the moon won't interfere.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.000
Cause sometimes with the, it's a full moon and that drums out all but the brightest.

00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:49.000
So things are looking good this year. Moonlight won't interfere because there's a last quarter phase on the eighth of August.

00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:56.000
And a new moon on the sixteenth. So what do we mean by last quarter? Well, it's this shape moon.

00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:07.000
Okay, so this is the. Moon that will you know, rise, you know, after, you know, midnight.

00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:16.000
And you know it's only half the moon there so But that's not going to worry us.

00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:30.000
Now what causes a meteor shower? Well, a meet your shower, because when the earth passes through the dust that spread out, from the debris trail that's left by a comet as it orbits the sun.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.000
And the particular comet that gives rise to the Percy of meteors. Is that, well, 1 9 P.

00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:46.000
Swift Tuttle. P means it's a periodic comet so it's a comment that's been, you know, we've been observing it, being around the sun a number of times.

00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:55.000
And 109 is just 109 on the list. Swift and Tuttle are the 2 people who discovered it.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:05.000
And, time it just represents when we're in the densest part of the dust string and I'll have a slide for that in a minute, okay?

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:15.000
And the actual peak, you know, can vary the time that can vary a bit. But, you know, I think we're gonna be good for the early hours of Sunday thirteenth.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:30.000
Now, one of the term that's used is Radiant. Because if you were to sit outside with a style chart and every time you saw a meteor you drew something on your star chart.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:40.000
Then you see something like that, okay? You get these trails of the And if you sort of dotted all these lines back.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.000
You'd find they'd intersect at the same point. And this point is called the radiant.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:53.000
So the radiant is the point in space. From which all the, appeared to originate here to emanate.

00:20:53.000 --> 00:21:01.000
And the name of the shower. Takes its name from the constellation in which the radiant appears.

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:11.000
So we know that the, meteors, that radiant is in the constellation of. Yes, yes.

00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:22.000
And this is perhaps a better chart. So you need to look northeast and you can start looking. As soon as it gets dark, so look northeast.

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:30.000
And I'm sure most people are familiar with the W shape of the constellation of Cassia Pear.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:36.000
Well, look beneath that and then you've got Perseus there.

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:44.000
Like that, and you'll also see just sort of coming down like that. A very bright star called Capella.

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:54.000
It'll be low down early on as you start observing. But as the time goes on, capella and in fact all the other styles will rise higher in the sky.

00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:03.000
So that's how you can find it. And then just look down. And then I'll see it again.

00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:16.000
Well, I can't guarantee you're gonna see anything like that, but. Yes. Just going back to this idea about the comet, the parent comment is called Swift Tuttle.

00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:33.000
And the orbital period of this is 133 years and the comic was discovered independently by 2 American astronomers, you see 3 days apart, 1862, July sixteenth and July the nineteenth, Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle.

00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:46.000
And Lewis Swift, well he was a busy man. They discovered 13 comets and numerous and he discovered his last comic when he was aged 79.

00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:53.000
And he was one of the few people to see Halle's Comet. At 2 of its appearances, 76 years apart.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:59.000
So that means he would have seen it at the 1910 appearance. So that was 3 years before he died.

00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:05.000
And I'll let you work out when the other one was you can take 76 from 19.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:21.000
Let's see. Tuttle and he was a US astronomer and we've got quite a distinguished, and we've got quite a distinguished, military and a naval career and he fought in the American, military and naval career and he fought in the American Civil War.

00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:31.000
No, let's just, look at this. Okay, so. This here, well, there's the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:40.000
And this is the dust trail that's left by a comet. Comets have very elliptical orbits like that.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:48.000
And you know they pass around the sun numerous times they shed dust material and this spreads out over the orbit.

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:55.000
So you can see that. You know, well, at moment. Next week. This is where the Earth is.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:24:06.000
With respect to the. Trail left by Swift Tuttle. So it's starting to plough through back to dust trail.

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.000
Now you might think, well, does that mean we're gonna get some more, when the Earth crosses there?

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:18.000
I think occasionally that can happen, but not with Swift Tuttle. Because, the orbit of Swift Tuttle.

00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:27.000
Only crosses the orbit of the Earth once because Corby's and comets rather got quite different orbits from those of planets.

00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:38.000
They are highly elliptical. And also very inclined. To the plane of the orbits of the other planets in the solar system.

00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:46.000
So here's some Swift title crossing the Earth's all bit. But you can see it didn't cross it over.

00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.000
It's not even that's all bit there, is it, but it's not crossing it over there.

00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:55.000
And that's where Swift Tuttle was about 3 years ago. So, you know, it's just moved around a bit.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:04.000
So it's probably approaching, you know, the furthest point in it's all bit from the sun over the next few years.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:12.000
Okay, so just clarify that bit about the radiant again in Perseus.

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.000
No.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:23.000
Why did we get this radiant then? Why do all the meteors appear to come from the same point in the sky?

00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:34.000
Because actually these dust particles when we can regard them as traveling in essentially parallel paths when they hit the earth.

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:40.000
So why do we see them like this? Well, it's a perspective effect. Why we say this.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:50.000
Now if you think, because if you've got parallel lines and you're looking down those parallel lines, then in the distance they appear to converge.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:57.000
And this is a railway line. I don't recommend of course that you stand on a railway line but say you were to stand on a motorway bridge.

00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:02.000
Where you've got the, you know, 2 lanes. Oh, sorry, 2 sides of the, the sort of motorway stretching ahead of you.

00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:20.000
You know that they're parallel, but they will converge at a point. So that's why these, meteors, although they're traveling in parallel paths, then as an observer on the earth, because they're so far away.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.000
They appear to all emanate from this point called the radiant.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:35.000
Okay, so how do you see that? Well, I would wrap up well because, even in the summer, you know, even a nice warm summer night, it can get quite chilly.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:45.000
Take a, you know, flask out with you as well. Make sure you're sitting somewhere comfortable some sort of reclining chair Look northeast when it gets dark.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:53.000
And obviously find a dark location away from stray light. Best to go out of course with other people from you know the safety point of view but also the camaraderie.

00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:05.000
Point of view as well. Because you've sitting there for a while you haven't seen many meteors nice if you can sort of have a chat and encourage each other.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:14.000
And the thing is don't just stare at the radiant. So that point in Perseus, don't just look at that.

00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:24.000
Because, let me just, I'll go back here, okay? That's the radiance there.

00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:31.000
Your eyes are fixed on that point. You might miss any material that's there or there or there. Okay.

00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:39.000
So what you need to do is just scan the surrounding area. You know, Perseus and you know just keep on looking around like that.

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.000
So good luck. And to say we are very much so in the lap of the weather gods.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:51.000
But, hopefully, hopefully it's going to be a, you know, slightly better by the end of next week.

00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:59.000
Okay. So it's Saturday, sorry, Sunday, thirteenth of August. But go out on the Saturday nights and make yourself comfortable.

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:15.000
And, if you do take a style chart out with you. Then, make sure you've got a red torch to, illuminate that chart because otherwise you will ruin what we call your dark adaptation.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:22.000
And yeah, as soon as you go out, if you go from somewhere really bright and sit down, don't expect to see loads of stars in the sky.

00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:30.000
You've got to give your eyes time to condition themselves to the lower light levels.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.000
Right. Okay. So there's.

00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:53.000
That's what, yeah, that's where Perseus is at the, beginning of the month, 7 pm, but of course over, you know, to the next morning it's going to rise higher in the sky and that of course will make it a bit easier to see some of the meetings.

00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:03.000
And I'll say a bit more later on about the constellation of Perseus itself. But let's have a look at perhaps one of the well known features of the summer sky.

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:08.000
And that is something called the summer. Trying. There. Okay.

00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:15.000
It's a bright triangle of stars in the south. That's and it's not actually a constellation.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:24.000
It's what we call an asterism, just a pattern in the sky, a bit like the plow is a pattern, not an actual constellation.

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:33.000
And the 3 styles that make up the, the triangle. Of these Dennett, which is in the constellation of Cygnus.

00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:40.000
The swan? Vega, which is in the constellation of Lyra, the liar.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:47.000
And, which is on the in the constellation of aquila. The eagle.

00:29:47.000 --> 00:30:01.000
And, you know, if you go out, But, 110'clock, so you know, when you're out looking at the you know, just look, overhead.

00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:06.000
And you know, perhaps just turn around to the south and Denb and Vega pretty much overhead.

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:14.000
And Vega is really the brightest star in that particular region of the sky at that time. Okay, so you'll make up this triangle.

00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:19.000
Alta is the faintest of the 3, but it's still, you know, quite easy to find, okay?

00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:27.000
So, and, as it says here, the triangle points south. So look to the sort of south and.

00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:35.000
You should be able to see the summer triangle. And here's a photograph of, it's an actual photograph, if you can see that.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:40.000
Of the stalls. There's DENNED there.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:53.000
There's Vega. And there's Alter down the bottom. And you know, Denip is part of the Cygnus, the Swan, the Northern Cross.

00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:00.000
So you can see the sort of cross shape there. I'll say a bit more about Cygnus in a minute.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:08.000
And there's Vega there with the liar. Yeah. In a quid of the eagle, okay.

00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:17.000
So there's the triangle there. No, it's quite easy to do. Astrophotography, you know, some smartphones are certainly quite a few smartphones these days are certainly, you know, good enough to do that.

00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:33.000
Or you can do it with a, you know, digital, you know, and this was another photo with a longer exposure time Same area of the sky.

00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:39.000
Dennett, Vega, and Alta. But you can see it's bringing out far more of the background stars.

00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:48.000
And also you can see some sort of How do you miss, that's the Milky Way.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:54.000
You do need to be in a dark spot really to see that with certainly with the naked eye.

00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.000
And what you're looking at there is the sort of concentrated light from many, many millions of.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:04.000
You know, towards the most central regions of our galaxy.

00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:12.000
Oh, let's just say a bit about Cygnus, Swan. But let's have a bit of. Swan.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:17.000
But let's have a bit of mythology, first of all. Because sickness is, comes from the myth of Zeus.

00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:35.000
And the goddess Nemesis. Now, had been, chasing, nemesis, it got up to an awful lot of things like that, did Zeus, but in order to escape from him, Nemesis decided that she changed herself into different animals.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:45.000
And when she changed herself into a goose though. Zeus changed himself into a swamp. And obviously Nemesis didn't realize that the Swan was used.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:52.000
But anyway, Swan won the love of Nemesis. Okay. And then, ISIS then laid an egg and abandoned it.

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:59.000
Unfortunately, a shepherd found the egg. And gave it to leader who was the wife of the king of Sparta.

00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:06.000
And from that egg came Helen of Troy and Helen was so beautiful that Leda claimed her as her own child.

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:18.000
And in this, myth here, Cygnus the Swan, was formed to sort of celebrate, the Swan that, used to turn himself into.

00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:27.000
You know there's all sorts of different versions of this mythology so you may know something different.

00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:40.000
So now, so this a star map there. Showing the main stars in sickness the northern cross That's not an official name, but.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:45.000
It's a good thing for it. And I'm just going to talk about a couple of these.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:51.000
About Dennip itself, one of the summer triangle styles. And then this one down here.

00:33:51.000 --> 00:34:05.000
The beta star which is alberio because i think i've mentioned in previous talks that some styles have got if you like proper names but all of these bright stars here have a Greek letter as a designation.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:12.000
Now what about Dennett? Well, Dennip is one of the furthest stars that you can see with your naked eye.

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000
And we don't know exactly how far away it is for reasons that I won't go into.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:26.000
But it's very remote, maybe about 1,500 light years. But you know, other sources, between 1,200. 3,000.

00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:32.000
But I think round about the 1,500 mile is. The more accepted value these days.

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:42.000
And it's an enormous star and it's a very luminous star, you know, for us to see it when it's that distance away, it's got to be a real powerhouse.

00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:52.000
And estimates of the size of Denne again vary but if that represents the sun. Then that represents if you like an arc of the call of Den.

00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:59.000
It's enormous. Maybe 200 times the diameter of the sun. So, have a look at 10 of them.

00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:08.000
When you look at it, look, remember, you're looking at something that's very far away, but also something that's a very large star.

00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:13.000
Okay, so that's DENNI. And the other one I just want to say something about is this one here beta.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:21.000
Which is called, And there is down there. Now, Alberio is one of the loveliest sites in the sky.

00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:30.000
When you look at it with your naked eye. And it's the main styles in the cross.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:35.000
You just see a single style. But if you put high magnification binoculars on it or a telescope, you'll see it's too styles and those stars are actually different colors.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:42.000
One's a sort of goldy, yellow color and the other one is a sort of bluey green.

00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:50.000
People do describe these colors in different ways because of course, you know, color description is quite subjective. But have a look at that.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:36:01.000
And again, if you don't have the equipment yourself, go along to your local astronomical society and tell them, please, you would like to see.

00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:19.000
So there it is. There, okay. Lyra, the, lia, well, in mythology, this was the liar of, And you know, he made such fantastic music.

00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:30.000
But even inanimate objects. You know, we're charmed by it. And he married a nymph called Eurydice, but she was killed when she stepped on a snake.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:35.000
And said to try and claim her back, Orpheus entered the underworld, playing his, liar.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:42.000
And Hades again was enchanted by his liar playing So he relented and he let Orpheus bring Eurydice back.

00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:55.000
To the upper world. But there was one condition, you mustn't look back. And always going well until basically the last few steps.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:01.000
Unfortunately Orpheus did look back. And so you were to see remained in the underworld.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:09.000
And office was, you know, scrapped by grief. And despite the fact he had many marriage proposals, he never accepted them.

00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:13.000
So it's rather a sad story that isn't it? So, but anyway, there's the liar.

00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:18.000
And there's Vega there. I think I've got a better slide of this in it.

00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Yeah, here we are. Let's Vega there. And you know, it is one of the brightest stars in the sky.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:32.000
And this little quadrilateral that seems to be hanging off it there. They are much fainter stars.

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:37.000
But you know from a dark site you should be able to see them. And if you've got binoculars, get vagu in your binoculars and just sort of scan over that way.

00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:55.000
And you will see them and other objects. Now, Vake is full of, interest, sorry, not Vegas, Lyra, the constellation is full of interesting objects, but I'm just going to say something about Vega.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.000
It's the second brightest star that's visible in the northern hemisphere and it's pretty close to us.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:10.000
It's about 26 or 2526 light years away. So, you know, when you look at Vega tonight, the light left there.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:15.000
Just before the turn of the century to get to your eyes tonight. But it's a very hot star.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:25.000
It's a young blue star, but it's bigger than the sun. And you can see an estimate here of the different sizes of the 2 stars.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:35.000
So that's Vega. I'll leave that bit out. That the,

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:49.000
Well, sorry, A, the eagle. And you can make sure that it's out there because there are 2 site, 2 styles on either side of it's outer because there are 2 side, 2 styles on either side of it and an outer is in the middle.

00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:56.000
I look at one of the actual photographs in in a middle in the minute, but, this is based on a giant golden eagle.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:10.000
Which served as uses personal messenger and companion. but according to before he became an evil this was a mortal king named Perifas.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:20.000
Who was so virtuous that he came to be, it's you know honored by all of his subjects really as a god and Seuss got a bit upset about this.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:27.000
And he was about to sort of You know, striking. The intervened and transformed the king into the eagle which we see today.

00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:40.000
So, there we are. So, Aquila is based on a very good person.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:48.000
Yeah, so, there we are. There's Alta there in the middle there. And there's the 2 stars on either side.

00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:56.000
Again, if you find out here, just depending on where you're observing from, you might want to just use binoculars too.

00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:59.000
Find those, okay?

00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:06.000
Okay, and again, I'll take it very close to us. It's about 1617 light years away.

00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:16.000
Bye, very bright blue star. And it's spinning rapidly. Okay, they actually, to be quite flattened.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:25.000
So have a look for those 3 stars in the triangle. Just one other little constellation I want to tell you about before we look at Perseus.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.000
And this is a constellation called Delphinus. The, the dolphin.

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:35.000
Now, it's actually sort of quite faint stars, but they do make quite a distinctive pattern.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:43.000
And your eye is extremely good at sort of making patterns. Because if you look at this picture here, okay.

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:52.000
There's Alter. And so it's the same song as we had before. So, and you've got Deb and Vega off the top of the screen.

00:40:52.000 --> 00:41:00.000
Now, when you find If you're somewhere dark. You better see this with your naked eye.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:10.000
Did it? Just scan slightly over in that direction and up a bit. And there's Delphinus, the dolphin.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:17.000
And I always think it looks like a flag on a flagpole, to the flag bit is find the opposite way around, okay, but it's quite distinctive.

00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:22.000
There's no mistaking it if you get it in your binoculars or in your naked eye, okay?

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:31.000
So, that's, you know, Delphi and, Delphinus was based upon a dolphin.

00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:39.000
That Poseidon sent to find, a nymph. And ask her to marry, Poseidon.

00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:45.000
And because of these surfaces, services, he placed the dolphin in the sky, which is fair enough, isn't it?

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:52.000
Now, to the stars in, Delphinus, interesting how they got their names.

00:41:52.000 --> 00:42:10.000
Because you've got the, alpha star here, okay. And the beta star there okay and The alpha star is called Sue, okay.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:17.000
Fair enough. And the beta star. Okay, it's called They seem strange names for stars. It's not based on any Arabic name like a lot of stars.

00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:34.000
So where did this come from? Well, this is an astronomer playing a practical joke. Because this man, and he worked at the Palermo Observatory in Sicily.

00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:40.000
And the names of these styles first appear in a catalog in 1814, these names here.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:50.000
Where did they come from? Well, it turns out that, Okay. Kaka kind of the same, Kaki Kiura's name.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:53.000
And the English person of that is Nicholas Hunter. And then if you, Latinize it, it's Nicholas Veneto.

00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:04.000
And what Kaki Tori did was he reversed the letters of his Latinized name. To give you the 2 star names.

00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:13.000
Okay, so there's the rotten of. And there's the So, quite a clever thing there and the names of stock. Okay.

00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:21.000
But do look for Delphi. This is a lovely little constellation. Right, on to the constellation of Perseus itself.

00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:35.000
You're going to be looking for the person meet yours. Let's have a look. And this is the, uranium's mirror constellation part, representation of Perseus and the head of the Medusa.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:36.000
And I'm not sure I've mentioned these before, but Uranus Mirror, it was a set of constellation cards.

00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:53.000
First published in 1,824. And the whole is punched in the cards whereby you could hold the cards up to say a candle indoors and it would show you the shape of the constellation.

00:43:53.000 --> 00:44:04.000
So you'd be able to recognize it when you went out. You can buy sort of fax similes of these now.

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:26.000
Yes, we'll take care, right? He slayed the, he rescued the princess Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus and Andromeda was the daughter of Queen Cassipia and King Cepheus and it's quite nice but all of these were not the, but, Andromeda and Cetus and Cassiopeia and

00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:39.000
Cepheus are all in the sky together, like a little sort of family group almost. Anyway, there he is coming in trying to rescue Andromeda.

00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:46.000
And I'll just show you on this chart here. This is a bit later on in the autumn, but there's Perseus.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:45:00.000
Okay, There's Andromeda. And there's And the, I'll see Monster's not on that one, but he's in Sky, I promise you, okay.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:08.000
So, it's nice that they're all in there together. Okay. Anyway, so we've already seen that Perseus is going to be.

00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:16.000
You know, since it gets stuck, it's fairly low down in the northeast at the moment, but let as the night progresses and the weeks progress.

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:21.000
It'll ride.

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:31.000
There's Persis there. Okay. And I will think that Percyus looks like a chair. Sorry to me. He's not a superhero. He's a chair.

00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:35.000
Is this the seat of the chair? And there are the legs. I think it's only me that sees it like that.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:42.000
But I don't think that's any less fanciful than some of these other shapes that, some of the ancient astronomers got out of the stars.

00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:52.000
Now, we're going to look at the brightest star in Perseus, which is called And again, this is an actual photograph of Perseus coming down like that.

00:45:52.000 --> 00:46:02.000
There's the. Seat of the chair and there are the legs coming down and that's myth there.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:11.000
So you'd be able to see that. No problem, okay. It's about 600 like years away the best part of and again it's the giant style.

00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:17.000
Over 40 times the diameter of the sun. It's about 5,000 times as luminous.

00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:27.000
So real powerhouse. Okay. But what I'd like you to do when you're out there looking for the meet yours, locate Mayor FAC.

00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:37.000
And then if you got Binoculars with you, have a look at that particular region of the sky around because you should be able to see them something that's called the Alpha Percyi cluster.

00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:43.000
So there's Mia Fact and underneath it is this little sort of semicircle of stars.

00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:58.000
And that is the called the Alpha Percyi cluster. The young stars are say you need binoculars and it sort this several 100 stars in that cluster, but using binoculars, of course, you can only see the, the brighter ones.

00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:02.000
So have a look for that. And again, if you look on the photo, hopefully you can see this.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:08.000
There's mere fact there. You see that just little semicircle there. That makes up the alpha.

00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:14.000
Per CI cluster. So look for that.

00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:19.000
Now, the other style that we're going to look at. It's a very famous star.

00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:26.000
Called, and this is beta in the constellation, but it's also called the Demon Star.

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:36.000
Because the Arab astronomers thought this star was winking at them and they thought it was a bit unlucky.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:49.000
Because all Cool. So there it is there, okay? You purchase all the chairs like that, it's the top leg there.

00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:57.000
Now, a variable starts to start the changes brightness over time. And it might be something due to what's going on in the star.

00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:03.000
Or there might be there's something outside the star that's altering the amount of light that we see from Earth.

00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:14.000
And alcohol is of this latter type. What we called an extrinsic variable. And it's what we call an eclipsing binary.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:21.000
The 2 styles in the, the system. In fact, there's a third one, but we'll forget about that now.

00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:31.000
As now as seen from the earth. It turns out that as these 2 stars . And they pass that they're aligned as such that they pass.

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:42.000
Directly in front of one another So if we got this system here, okay. When we've got this position, when the red stars at position one, we're seeing the yellow star is staying fixed.

00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:56.000
Okay. Then you can see that we're getting the combined light of the 2 stars. But then when this star passes in front of back one, there's a dip in brightness.

00:48:56.000 --> 00:49:03.000
Okay. And. You can see it's covering up quite a bit of that style there.

00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:11.000
And then when it moves across to that position there, well, normal service is resumed. We've got the combined lines of both styles again.

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:19.000
But then, this star passes behind that one. And again, we get another dip in brightness, but a smaller one.

00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:29.000
This time because of the different brightnesses of the 2 components. And then back to position one again.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:43.000
So, brightness. And astronomers can plot what we call a light curve. And this is the light curve for Algol. So this is the light curve for, so this is magnitude.

00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:48.000
And again, when I've said in previous talks that with magnitude, it's the light curve for, so this is magnitude.

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:52.000
And again, when I've said in previous talks that with magnitude, it's a numerical scale and smaller the number, the brighter the object.

00:49:52.000 --> 00:50:00.000
So 2.2 one. It's brighter than 3.4, okay? So, we're getting a dip.

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:06.000
And then as the was getting the combined light again, then there's the second little dip there.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:18.000
And this is for alcohol itself. And then we've got the big dip again. And the time it takes, is 2 days, 20 h and 49 min.

00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:35.000
Okay, so it's quite some. You know consistent okay so that would be called the period of that that variable and you know just depending on the binary system involved the you'd see different size dips and different periods.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:43.000
Okay, but this is for Algol itself. And it's really interesting that a man who did a lot of the early work on this was this man, John Goodrey.

00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:55.000
Who live between 1764 and 1786 and you'll see that he was very young when he died he was you know see that he was very young when he died he was you know 2122 and good drink.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:51:07.000
Chile. And, when he was 7, he, well, I think they've moved back to this country by then but they'd it was a diplomat.

00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:20.000
And when he was 7 he well I think they moved back to this country by then but they he became he caught an illness and it left him you know profoundly deaf and you know rather than you know just his parents not taking any interest in his education there was someone called Thomas Braidwood in Edinburgh.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:33.000
Who'd set up an academy for deaf children and it's the first such school in the British Isles and in fact children came from all over the country and as far as the Americas to be educated there.

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:38.000
So Goodric's parents, I mean they were wealthy, but they were able to send him here.

00:51:38.000 --> 00:52:03.000
And he was able to develop his mathematical skills. Thank you. And it was him, you know, he was very interested in astronomy and it was his observations of Algol that really determined with any great accuracy the the period because he wrote in his journal that he'd looked at alcohol as much am I amazed to find its brightness altered.

00:52:03.000 --> 00:52:13.000
It now appears to be fourth magnitude and he observed it hardly believing that it changed its brightness because he'd never heard of any star bearing so quick.

00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:21.000
He thought it might perhaps be some optical illusion. But the SQL show that this change is true and that it was not mistaken.

00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:29.000
So he was clearly recognizing this variability here. And in fact, you say he was working in York when he did this.

00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:48.000
There is this, you know, commemorative pluck in in York and it's interesting and I work, But he also observed another extreme important variable star, Delta Sifi, CFI, which astronomers can use to measure distances to other styles.

00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:53.000
So, you know, if you're in your, try and find that. But, you know, do look up and read about, to John Goodric.

00:52:53.000 --> 00:53:01.000
And put himself on a stamping Nicaragua as well. Aquitations of the style.

00:53:01.000 --> 00:53:18.000
And that's someone Nicholas Copernicus. Actually, this, I know the the publicity of the talk, it mentioned about these not to loose and clouds, but they seem to have died so far this season but I'll just quickly very quickly say what they are.

00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:34.000
Astronomers don't normally like clouds, but they don't mind these because these are called electric blue clouds and they can be seen in the sort of earliest summer months you might still catch some now.

00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:40.000
And in fact, they're different from the ordinary weather clouds, which I can see as I'm looking out of the window here.

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:50.000
But these are formed in much higher in the atmosphere. And weather clouds are formed about this sort of up to about this sort of level.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:54:02.000
But these are formed in the sort of Mesasphere. And the very tenuous cloud was but they are beautiful if you manage to see them.

00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:23.000
And the reason why we can see them at night is that because of their high altitude because there's our observer there although the sun is now below the horizon okay and all the weather clouds are in shadow because these are so high they're still catching the rays of the sun and then our observer can see them.

00:54:23.000 --> 00:54:38.000
And, that's a picture that I got off a website called space weather. That was taken in Norway, about, you know, 3 days ago, but do look for that quite different weather clouds and you will know what they are when you've seen them.

00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:49.000
But some yeah they are a lovely site but i haven't seen too many this year and It's been, well, I don't think our normal weather has helped, but, that's it.

00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:56.000
I just missed that. And then, Will it be clear that's the question we always ask.

00:54:56.000 --> 00:55:04.000
Well, if you go onto this website. Fair outside. And you put your location, it will give you information, or predictions as to whether it's going to be clear.

00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:09.000
Or predictions as to whether it's going to be clear. You know, if you think put in for the, now, then you know, really can't do it.

00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:22.000
But, you know, generally a day, few hours beforehand, it's can be pretty accurate, tell you whether it's going to be, good for observing.

00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:33.000
So it is specifically for astronomy. So I will leave that. With you. So have a look for the summer triangle and the Percy of Meet Yours.

00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:42.000
You can investigate some of the mythology behind yourself. And perhaps remember some information about the bright styles that I've spoken to you about.

00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:50.000
So just get out there and have a look. Fingers crossed that it's clear and get in touch with your local astronomical society as well.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:55.000
The possible meteor watches that they're doing. So thank you very much.

00:55:55.000 --> 00:56:00.000
Thank you very much for that and let's go straight to some questions. We've got a few here.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:01.000
I can. Yes, sorry about that. Yes.

00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:06.000
We have run on a little bit. So let's see if we can get through these, get through these, a little bit quickly.

00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:15.000
So now, first of all, Jane was asking just for a bit of clarification about why the per se, is called per seat.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:22.000
Now I'm kind of thinking from what you've said, it's because that's the area of the sky where the constellation of Pesius is and that is where we're going to see them coming from.

00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:33.000
That's fine. Yeah, that's exactly, yes, the radiance, this point where they're here.

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:34.000
Yeah.

00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:38.000
Or repair to come from licensed in the consolation of purse. Yes. And you get other meet your showers throughout the year, they've got different names, the, aquiries.

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:54.000
The Orion, the Geminids, they appear to originate from different constellations because we see them at different times of the year and they are a result of different comic shower us passing 3 to different comments.

00:56:54.000 --> 00:56:59.000
Okay. And another quick question about, you mentioned, why is it called that? Do we know?

00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:12.000
Oh yes, yeah. Well again, it's not a strict astronomical term. And, I think it's, I mean, I think the expression once in a blue moon, that must have been around for a very long time.

00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:23.000
I don't really know actually. But it is if you actually, you know, look up some data of when, you know, full names occur roughly every sort of 29 days apart.

00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:31.000
So in fact the chances of getting 2 of 2 full moves within the same calendar month is actually quite rare.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:36.000
So it's happening this August. I'm not quite sure when the next one going to be.

00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:42.000
It's certainly not going to be in September. So it's probably not for another sort of year or so, something like that.

00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:43.000
Okay.

00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:46.000
I don't know exactly but I think that's it because it's quite a rare.

00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:53.000
You know, someone had the bright idea of calling it that or someone's put 2037 in the the chat is that when the next blue moon is?

00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:54.000
Wow.

00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:58.000
Wow. I didn't realize it was that long away. Right. So yeah, thank you.

00:57:58.000 --> 00:57:59.000
I'll remember that. Thanks.

00:57:59.000 --> 00:58:15.000
Okay. And Catalans asking, are there any, factors. I mean Clouds will be one of them that we know about but any factors like weather or geography where you are that might affect seeing the perceived meteors.

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:17.000
Next weekend.

00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:23.000
Yeah, well again, you know the weather but also sort of light pollution if you can get yourself away, you know, somewhere dark.

00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:37.000
But. You know, so if you can go to sort of more rural location. But I often find that You know, if you're in your back garden, you know, if that's fairly enclosed, that's all right.

00:58:37.000 --> 00:58:46.000
And if you're somewhere, you know, that looks reasonably dark, but perhaps there's a street lap there, put your elbow up because an elbow carefully positioned elbow against.

00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:54.000
You know, street lights can, help that. And then lots of people putting sort of locations like in there and someone said Northumberland yes it's very dark up there.

00:58:54.000 --> 00:59:04.000
And, oh, and you know, but the earliest recorded English uses of the term blue moon.

00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:10.000
And, oh, that's interesting. And, oh, and you know, about the earliest recorded English uses of the term blue moon in, oh, that's Okay, yes, please.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:11.000
Yes, thanks.

00:59:11.000 --> 00:59:15.000
Yeah, I'll make sure you get all these comments. Okay, so. And another question.

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:24.000
Now this is quite an interesting one actually from Madeline. More of a general question, but is what we see in the August sky.

00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:31.000
No. Gonna be different to what we might see in the August sky next year.

00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:33.000
Right. The stars. Yeah, it is. No, that is a good question.

00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:37.000
Like an interesting one.

00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:56.000
Yeah, the stars will be in the sort of same. Position. But you know, if you're observing on a particular date and time, the planets will be in different places and the moon, the faces of the moon will be different because, you know, the moon, a lunar, month is about 2829 days and we don't get an exact number of

00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:15.000
lunar months in our year. So, you know, the faces of the moon. I mean, I was looking at some website the other day about the Percy its last year the moon did interfere then so when it was a bright moon then but it's not this year so essentially the styles would be the same but would be different planets on view.

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:20.000
But so you'll still be looking in the northeast for those.

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:28.000
Yeah, okay, but hope that answers your question, and, now Media was asking about recommendations for apps and websites.

01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:31.000
I was asking about recommendations for apps and websites. Now I think we put together a list last time and didn't wait about various places we could go.

01:00:31.000 --> 01:00:32.000
Yes.

01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:39.000
So we'll make sure that information gets posted up again. Beside this particular lecture recording. So I hope that helps you in Maria.

01:00:39.000 --> 01:00:53.000
And And Jilly was asking, you talked about finding your local astronomical society, you know, if you want to be able to look at things more clearly and have access to equipment and telescopes and things.

01:00:53.000 --> 01:01:02.000
Is there some way where all the astronomical societies in the country, are listed or is it just a case of getting on Google and Same person.

01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:09.000
What we're getting on Google is a good way to do, but there is a body called the Federation of Astronomical Societies, but there is a body called the Federation of Astronomical Societies to which by a large number of astronomical societies in this sort of country.

01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:21.000
Belong. And you know you get in touch with them the FAS, the Federation of Astronomical Societies.

01:01:21.000 --> 01:01:30.000
But it said just Google where you are or your county. And, that would, that should point you in the right direction.

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:37.000
No, excellent. I hope that helps you, Julie. Now we've got one more question, and I think, and then we'll wrap up.

01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:50.000
This is from Stuart. This is an interesting question. How far back in human history is there evidence of civilizations being familiar with star patterns.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:52.000
And why were they interested? Awesome. Good question, isn't it?

01:01:52.000 --> 01:02:08.000
Well that is a very interesting question. I mean, every so often, you know, so often, you know, so often, you know, some of an archaeologist produces a bit of a bone on which they think, you know, someone, an archaeologist produces a bit of a bone on which they think a star map has been carved there's something called

01:02:08.000 --> 01:02:16.000
the neighbor style disc, which was found in Germany some years ago. And that dates back to the sort of Bronze Age and that's meant to sort of have representations of the moon.

01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:33.000
The sun and you know, little 7 sisters, the, but it was important for people to know about, you know, the stars and the, and the planets and the sun.

01:02:33.000 --> 01:02:40.000
The moon because of, you know, it's a way of measuring time, the passage of time, and, you know, planting crops.

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:55.000
For instance, I know in ancient Egypt when they saw the bright star serious rising in the morning sky just before the sun came up then they knew that that was time to sort of plant you know crops because of the flooding of the Nile.

01:02:55.000 --> 01:03:12.000
And you know lots of in ancient civilizations have got some you know, use various markers like the plaid, 7 sisters that was very important to the Maori in you know, people in Polynesia in general put them in in New Zealand.

01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:21.000
So, you know, it's a way of measuring the passage of time. But, you know, going back to.

01:03:21.000 --> 01:03:26.000
You know, the sort of more classical civilizations perhaps like, I mean, the Babylonians.

01:03:26.000 --> 01:03:43.000
You know, many thousands of years ago, they, you know, kept records of the, you know, the movements of the stars and the planets and it was the Babylonians that first, were able to make predictions about eclipses because they recognized it as a definite period of time.

01:03:43.000 --> 01:03:51.000
Between, you know, interval, if you like, between eclipses. That's all done really by observation.

01:03:51.000 --> 01:04:06.000
So, it's very difficult to say an exact date if you like, but, I think that, you know, every so often someone comes up with something else and you know, some of these, old cave paintings as well.

01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:12.000
Cave paintings at last, in France and some people have put in interpretation that that shows some of the styles.

01:04:12.000 --> 01:04:16.000
But some people haven't put that interpretation on it as well. I think it's fair to say.

01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:17.000
Hmm. So it's a difficult question, isn't it?

01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:26.000
And then. Yes, yes, very, yeah, there's no short answer to that one, I'm afraid, but I hope it has helped.

01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:30.000
Okay, well I think that's, I think we've wrapped up all the questions, I think.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.000
So thanks again for that and and here is hoping that the weather clears up a little bit.

01:04:34.000 --> 01:04:35.000
Okay.

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.000
And it's a little bit clear here and later on this evening it has to be said and so that everyone can try and have a look at what we've been looking at today on screen.

01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:49.000
And see it in real life

Lecture

Film: the quest for colour?

Nowadays we take it for granted, but the challenge of capturing colour on celluloid occupied some of the most inventive minds in Hollywood for decades, as each technological leap forward enabled moviemakers to show a brighter, richer world.

Join WEA tutor, writer and teacher Christopher Budd for a little bit of movie science and lots of clips of important milestones in the history of colour filmmaking.

Download a list of the film clips and images shown here

Video transcript

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Thank you very much. Thank you for that nice introduction. I am busy. It's nice to song recognizes that. Yeah.

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Lovely to see you all. Thanks for having me back again. What we're gonna what I'm gonna speak to you about this afternoon.

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Is it afternoon or evening? It feels like afternoon. What I'm going to speech about this afternoon is about color and film, specifically looking at the the quests to bring color to film to bring a sense of natural color to film.

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So we're not going to come very close to the present day. We're going to come sort of chronologically up to the point of a technicolor being affected.

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And we are going to leave the present day for another, for another time I guess. But the real story is about how do we get to that point?

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How do we get from from very early film. To the all singing or dancing kind of technicolor of the forties and fifties.

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So it's really, it's really a quest. There's there's there's a bit of science in it and there's a bit of and there's a bit of art and I like it when those 2 things where those 2 things sort of meshed together is kind of where where I am

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happiest and stuff I am most interested in. So I hope you will be too. Because we're only coming up to the sort of forties by the end of our story.

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We can start very early and it might it might surprise some of you. So have a look at something a film I'm gonna say a color film.

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It's a film that can contains color. For which we're gonna go back to 1894 so This idea of colour film of capturing colour on film or reproducing color on film somehow It really predates sound film.

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Sound film doesn't come along. Until the 19 twenties until 1,927.

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Really that's the sort of the threshold year. But experiments being made with colour film way, way before that and with capturing things, capturing color or somehow faking or reproducing color on screen.

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That's that's artificial. Cinema has always been spectacle. It's always been about spectacle.

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It's always been about capturing people's attention and capturing people's imaginations. So

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This early movie that we're gonna have a brief look at a little bit of is no different. It's 2, 2 movies spliced together.

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One's called Annabel's Butterfly Dance and one's called Annabel Serpentine Dance.

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These are both directed by William Kennedy Dixon. They come out of the States. They're both from 1,894 you would have viewed these in a kinetoscope you wouldn't have viewed these on a big screen.

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You would have, you would have paired into a wooden box to see these played and they would have at that point these would have been more like fairground amusements more like kind of travelling amusements than they were.

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Cinema as we as we know it. So I know what I mean when I say kinetoscope I can show you a picture of it.

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Of a kinetoscope if you were bear with me a second. I've got one here.

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It's not a very big picture but if I share this you should all see kinetoscope such as and you can see it's Can everyone see that?

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It's it's essentially a long long roles of film on sort of pulleys and you peer in through the top the door isn't always open the doors just opening that image to show you how it works.

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And this is how early loops of film and early and early films would have been would have been shown.

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We're going right back to 1,894 for this. How on earth is a bit of film from 1894 gonna be color?

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Well, I'll show you and I think When you see the clip, think you'll realise immediately.

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How this film can have colour in it. So, bear with me a second and I'll queue up an interesting bit of of Annabel's.

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It won't start in color but then you'll see what happens. Let me share this with you.

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I think this has if I have a call right and says no music on it so don't be dismayed you can't hear anything or perhaps it does have a horrible stop we'll see in a second

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This is not about possible planets.

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Oh The The The The The The

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The The

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The

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The The

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Believe her that now

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I think what you've probably figured out watching that is that Annabel didn't really have a magically color changing dress.

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She's filmed in black and white. And the prints have been have been hand painted they've been hand-coloured in.

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In order to make the film more attractive in order to make it more of a more of a look It's not real colour in that sense, but it is a way of viewing a colored, a kind of bit of film.

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It's it's it speaks to us it tells us how How important this idea was really early at the very birth of cinema before cinema was really cinema before it was even shown on a screen.

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Don't make us were already thinking. I like this but how can I make it a little bit more?

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Literally colourful how can I get some some color in this otherwise quite dull looking black and white black on my image so it's quite dull looking black and white black and white image.

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So it's something that's occupying even the very earliest cinema minds.

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It was so popular. Annabel's Butterfly Dance, Annabel, Serpentine Dance, the 2 films that they, first of all, the prints that were sent round to the various Kelescope owners to put in their kelescope owners to put in their

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kelescope. They wore out and had to be replaced. And then the original negative wore out and then poor Annabel had to refill it.

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Once the negative wears out, the only choice you've got is make the film again. So she had to, that's why we put the 2 films.

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She had to. Just go make the film again. The other thing that's interesting about it of course is there's no attempt to make the color look natural, in fact quite the opposite.

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The what the film maker is going for is an attempt to make the color look completely unnatural. This isn't color you can see in the world.

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This is color you can't see in the world. And that's really, that's really important.

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So it's done in quite a simple way. Black and white film exists. You know, it's a it's a long strip of 35 millimetre film it would have been made of cellulose nitrate film it would have been made of cellulose nitrate back then so dangerous dangerous chemical

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stuff. And someone literally takes a tiny brush and a pot of paint and I see each individual frame. We use, we paint, we We run film at 24 frames a second now but earlier film is 1820 it's not it's not quite standardized.

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But someone has to paint. Painting the color on 18 or 20 little pictures to represent 1 s in the film so it's quite painstaking work.

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That's take us right back to 1894. It's amazing how rapidly things change and it's amazing how amazing how rapidly cinema sort of matures.

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And and and develops in the states and in Britain to some degree, but especially in France. So I think it'd be quite nice to have a look at something that comes out of France in 1,902.

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And this is definitely worth looking at as a piece of color film. So I want to show you a little bit of a trip to the moon.

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From 900, and 2. This is, er, George Mayier film. Was a huge innovator, a huge inventor, was doing things at this time that filmmakers in in in what Hollywood didn't exist at the time filmmakers in New York and and filmmakers in Britain just simply weren't

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doing. He was putting together series of shots into long long narrative stories and he was using a variety of special effects, painted backgrounds, models, pyrotechnics.

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It's all done with a certain sort of a certain sort of whimsy and a certain sort of humor.

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They're all, they're all, you know, they're hugely charming at the Maya's films, but it's in amongst to appreciating for that charm I think we forget how technically groundbreaking they were.

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He knew. As early as 19 or 2, he knew. Of what his films needed were, color.

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The technology did not exist in any way to film anything that he did in color at that point. Film is simply light sensitive plastic.

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It's plastic with silver on it and the silver goes light or dark depending on when you expose light to it and that's it.

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It doesn't care what color lights it just cares that it's light. George Melier in answer to the question.

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We should have saved that one for the end, but someone put that in the chat.

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So there's no real way at this point to to capture. Color but he knows he wants colour for his films so he's gonna fake it And he's, and he's gonna, he's gonna fake it in exactly the same way.

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That. That's that's done in Annabel's response. He's gonna paint the film.

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But he takes it a step further. It's not just It's not just random bits of color to make things attractive.

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There's a there's a method to it. There's a method and a and a strategy to yes that's exactly the right spelling Stuart Miller.

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Thank you very much.

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I'll show you a clip and and you'll and you'll get the idea before we talk about it a little bit more.

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Now, a trip to the moon only existed in its black and white form until the until the late. The late 19 eighties only a black and white print existed and then some scraps of a color print turned up.

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And so the print that exists now that we see contains the scraps of the of the of the original hand colored bits and then a modern black-and-white print.

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That's been sort of digitally recolored to match the bits. There's enough exists in its original.

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Okay, so you'll see the transition between the 2. But it's, done in a, it's done in a really in a really neat way.

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Why don't we jump in? Why don't we jump in about here? So it's a you're gonna see you're gonna see a whole bunch of, sort of Victorian era.

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They're about to they're about to go off to the moon or go from about here because they're very colorful.

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Bye. They don't have any sort of, spacesuits or anything. They're gonna go.

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They're gonna have any sort of spacesuits or anything. They're gonna go. They're gonna go in in in what they came in.

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So, have a look at this.

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The The

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Oh

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It's really the only way to get to the moon, I think, being fired in a large projector.

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It's, yeah, it's a very colourful little moment that.

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Everything is hand colored. Every print has to be hand-colored. You can't hand color the negative because when you copy it you just get a black and white copy again there's no way to store the color so every print every real every print that goes out to every cinema gets painted.

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Why do we see the Spanish flag in the second half of that clip? George Melier was from France.

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They would paint in that sequence they'd paint the flag based on where that real was going where that copy of the film was going.

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So that copy of the film was destined to be shown in Spain. So everybody that watches the film goes, yay!

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Our country for the first for the first men in space. So it's a it's a brilliant way of localizing.

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They just wave a blank flag and someone has to paint on. Well I say someone we know who did the painting.

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It was done as a sort of factory operation. And if I show you a picture of the Got a couple of images here that I think are really worth seeing.

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This is the the second share images. This is the path a color machine printing room.

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So this is the one that pathway would have used. There's not it's not exactly the one that Melee would have used but it's essentially the same thing.

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This is a There's some more interesting image preparing the path a color films. So essentially a gigantic greenhouse.

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Filled with ladies and smocks What happens is the prints get passed along. Everybody gets given one part of color.

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And told to do one person. So. You do, you do that guy's purple coat. So you have a pot of purple paint and the copy of the film comes down to you, you go through it, you do all the purple coats.

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And he passed it on and the person next you might do all the yellow hats and they do all the yellow hats and they passed it on and so it becomes like a sort of piecework thing that gets passed around and you can get through, well with a team like that you can get through quite a lot in a day.

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This is the pathway lab. All the Media's films were colored in a lab that was owned and run by a mother and daughter.

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Team, the Tulias, Elizabeth Tullier and her daughter, they had their lab in Paris and they owned it.

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And they employed, 200 and it was ladies, 200 ladies and they would, and they would paint with dye on the films.

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But she's a, she's a really important figure in the early the early Maya's films and he would always, whenever he spoke about his films and whatever, there were sort of retrospectives and things he always pointed out.

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Power, her work and the work of the colorists was in making his films looked, looked how they looked.

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And it is crucial. When you see them in black and white, they look they don't look half as engaging.

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The colour is such an important part of how those films look. Now, it's still not real color, is it?

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:22.000
It's color, but it's not the color that was there on the day. You can color those, you can color that in, you can give anyone any color coat, any colored hat, you can color the background however you want.

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:32.000
And that's all well and good but it's not the color it was on the day we're still not We've we've realized the importance of coloring film, we realize the importance of it as a as a spectacular thing.

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We're still not quite at the point of actually capturing color. That won't be a while along for a while yet.

00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:55.000
But that's hand coloring. That's how hand-colouring worked. During the silent era or more properly as well as the black and white era you did have another option if you wanted to if you wanted to have your film.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:04.000
In a form of rudimentary color and you didn't want to hand color it. I mentioned earlier on that film is essentially a bit of clear plastic.

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With a bunch of silver embedded in it and the silver goes dark or lights and there's your image and plastic is clear.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:16.000
Well, what if the plastic didn't have to be clear? What if we what if we use tinted film?

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But then we could tent the film whatever color we wanted and we could change it for different scenes.

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And what if instead of silver We used a different color metal that might go a different color instead of going dark or light it might go it might go purple or red when it gets exposed to light.

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Those 2, those 2 technologies are called tinting and toning. So you could use a tinted film base which would essentially change the white in your image.

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And you could use a different metal instead of silver oxide. By it quite quite scientifically complicated to do it but you could essentially change the black in your image as well so instead of black and white.

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You might have red and yellow or you could have blue and purple. And it sounds a bit random when you say like that, but actually a whole industry, a whole industry within an industry grew up.

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About about how what particular types of color we might use to symbolize different things because there's no reason you need to stick with one throughout your whole film if your editor can chop it up and put certain scenes in and and you could so maybe a certain color a certain color combination might mean night or might mean war or might mean

00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:32.000
underwater. And this gets sort of codified in the sign area. It's a bit more expensive to do this film-wise, but it is possible.

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.000
So we've got some images from. Let me just, open this up and share them.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:48.000
These are all quite interesting. What's the best way to look at it? If I show you this image here this is from a, as a book.

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:55.000
This is a sample plate as it says the bottom of tinted film stock from Eastman's Sonicrome positive film text.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:06.000
So Son of Chrome was the was the the brand name of the of the tinted film base that you could buy that came out of Kodak and I don't know if you can see that in detail but they've got they've got names.

00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:23.000
So you could, you might decide that you want your film to be. Shot in in instead of a clear background you might have flurred a lead or Amaranth or Caprice or Inferno and they're all given wonderfully one of his sort of descriptive names and and the idea

00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:29.000
is that you will use them you will use them for different for different scenarios you'll use them for different for different things.

00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:35.000
Let me show you a page. Let me UN share that and show your age inside the book. Both more at once.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:46.000
That's probably the the best way to do it. 1 s. Let me share this for you and you see what I mean.

00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:58.000
So this is the very colorful Eastman son of Chrome. Book which which describes as we go through what what you might use each one for So, we might use Afterglow for low.

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:11.000
Low radiant we get warm and stimulating, counter flame. You know, there's all of these have different descriptions, aqual green, emotionally cool, soothing.

00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:18.000
And so on and so forth. So we might pick any one of it, a complete gamut of colors they claim.

00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:31.000
We might use any of these. There's, there's, Inferno intensely stirring so they yeah they have they have sort of creative creative applications and, and we can use them.

00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:40.000
To shoot them. This is just for the film basis. The replacing the self with difficulties a little bit more complicated But it does happen.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:52.000
So a few things come out. And not necessarily, early movies, but some, some later movies, still used this for quite a while.

00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:58.000
And let's look at a little bit of. Movie called, the second the Sea Hawk.

00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:07.000
The Sea Hawk is as late as 1,940. hair that's all takes place in Panama.

00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:17.000
So, So for the Panama sequences in the in the Seahawk they're all they're all tinted and it's quite subtle.

00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:26.000
But they're all, they're all tinted. So as to achieve, to make it feel slightly more exotic and slightly warmer.

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.000
Have a look at this. You'll see what I mean.

00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:45.000
It's hard news to carry back. They'll be wondered to see only the one boat coming.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:54.000
Some of them might get through yet. Might be the captain. That's miracle any of us here, Can't see the lookout I didn't expect her so soon.

00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:03.000
It's funny they haven't posted a lookout. Maybe there's one beyond the charters.

00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Feels warm doesn't it? It's a it's only one sort of gradation of color away from from black and white But some of the colours and some of the some of the tented film bases have a lovely sort of lustrous quality to them.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:24.000
We'll see one later on that's in that's not black and white. It's pearl and it's very similar to black and white but it just looks a little bit little bit more iridescent and shiny.

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:31.000
So it's a way of introducing. A subtle effect like that. Or maybe you want.

00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:47.000
Maybe you want something a little bit more. A little bit blunter how about this little clip here from the from the film mighty joe young which is as late as 1,949 in which a giant a giant ape is going to rescue someone from a burning house.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:23:07.000
How might we suggest the heat of a burning house using just sensing and toning. Well, have a look at this.

00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.000
Oh

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.000
The

00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:38.000
Go up! There's a baby up there, he'll go! Joe, you!

00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:46.000
I mean in filmmaking terms this is the kind of clip that leaves you with more questions and answers I think in some ways as to what's what's going on and how it's all put together.

00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:54.000
But certainly Yeah, the idea of this is a dark, red-brown and and the and the yellow tent is immediately suggestive of fire and heat, isn't it?

00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:58.000
It's a very, it's a very neat way to get that across, but not much more.

00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.000
Cost then than just laying out some black and white film. So that's quite neat. That's just a tinted film base.

00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:20.000
One of the most interesting tinted yeah of course of course joe saves the job of course joe saves everyone yeah it's that it's that sort of movie you don't need to worry about that

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.000
An interesting one from much earlier uses tinting and toning. I think you're, I think you'll probably like this.

00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:35.000
So like I say, timing is about. Removing the silver and replacing it with a metal that might go a different color for the scientists.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:47.000
Any scientist that might be might be out there you might use Hey, you might use iron pharaoh cyanide, Prussian blue for blue, copper pharaoh cyanide for red or brown.

00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:52.000
Silver silver sulphate to sepia or uranium pharaoh cyanide for reddish brown.

00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.000
I wouldn't want to mess around with uranium perezana but some of these guys were just you know they were just they were going for it.

00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:06.000
And so you sort of wash away the silver on the film and you replace it with that and you've got then you've got a different, then you've got a 2 color image already just with the base and the replaced metal.

00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:16.000
And a really nice moment where we see this is in the 1,927 Napoleon Able Dances Napoleon is like 5 and a half hours long this movie.

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:24.000
It's fantastic. It's a real, it's a real epic. There's a moment here that I think is really worth us.

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:44.000
Having a look at it's a very short one actually. Well, I'll show it to you and then I'll talk about it afterwards.

00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:56.000
You You I

00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:07.000
I

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:14.000
You

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:25.000
You you

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:43.000
You

00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:50.000
And it almost every scene is in one a new combination of colors. It's really ambitious.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.000
I mean it looks beautiful doesn't it? That's a that sort of purple and blue combination.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:27:12.000
It looks really lovely. It really adds something to that moment. It's lovely photography. The interesting thing about Napoleon, the movie, is that that's all had to be digitally digitally restored but but did digitally put back together again but hand died so when they when they came to restore

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:33.000
the film and the film gets scanned and put into the into the public into into the digital domain. For modern for modern presentation rather than rather than recolor those scenes digitally they did them they didn't buy hand before they before they went into the before they got scanned which is why it looks exactly like it would have

00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:39.000
looked back in 1,927. It's got a, if we had longer I'd show you the ending of Napoleon.

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:45.000
It has a absolutely fantastic ending that a real psychedelic use of color. It's worth seeking out.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:52.000
We'll get carried away and we'll run out of time if we look at it now but if you can get through the the 5 and a half hour version of Able Dances Napoleon.

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:57.000
It reads that incredibly color offending and it's all you know you have to splice those colour bits in.

00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:04.000
And, and sort of construct the print which is why they were they were quite fragile.

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:12.000
So we've looked at tinting, tinting and toning. We've looked at, sort of faking the color by painting it on.

00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:21.000
There was work going on at the same time. To actually capture the real colour. Around us. How are we going to do that on one role of black and white film?

00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:31.000
Amazingly it was 2 guys both from the UK that that first hit on the idea. It was the fledgling British filmmakers.

00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:39.000
There are a couple of technologies. One called, kinema color, which was developed by George Albert Smith down in Brighton.

00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:49.000
And another method are called biocolor which is developed by William Free-screen. And essentially what they are is, we, we call them mimetic color systems.

00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:59.000
What he realized is and it must have come to quite some realisation. The way The way it works is a black and white film passes through a camera.

00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:07.000
At a wheel spins round in front of the camera with alternately red and green lenses. So every alternate frame.

00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:18.000
Is taken through either red the red lens or the green lens. So if you're filming a red object and you film it through the red lens and those frames it looks black.

00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:28.000
And then through the green through the green lens it doesn't look black. The light adds to the light and the thing so you end up with a negative.

00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:37.000
That that sort of the shades sort of color that sort of go alternately one frame to another if the wheel is sort of go alternately one frame to another if the wheel has synchronized that properly.

00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:44.000
What you then do is you project your negative back. Through a projector that has the same wheel spinning in front of it.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:53.000
So those images then projected back through the red and green wheel. And they and that would but you but you but you then set the red and green the other way around instead of red and green.

00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:04.000
It's green and red. And then so now things that are that were filmed as red and dark are being projected back through the green wheel and things that were light are coming back through the red wheel so they come out as red.

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:12.000
Do you see what it's the science is complicated but it's based on the on the principle of If you look through red and green glasses.

00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:22.000
Things that are red looked dark through one and light through the other. And if we play that film back fast enough with alternate red and green frames.

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:35.000
We get a sort of approximation of the colour. Again, scientists among you will know that with that color it's basically can be most colors can be made for red, green and blue lights shining together.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:40.000
Why don't we have 3? Why don't we have a blue filter as well? Too complicated.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:51.000
So to keep it simple they use an orangey red. And a bluey green and between those 2 you can saw the fudge colors you can't get true blue and you can't get true yellow.

00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:55.000
But by blurring those 2 together you can get a sort of approximation of real-life color.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:00.000
The only problem is because you're not taking the frames at the same time. That's the red and green registers are slightly out of sync with each other.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:11.000
So you get sort of a red and green fringing on moving objects. But it's definitely a step in the right direction.

00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:17.000
It's a it's a it's scientific progress in terms of in terms of capturing the real color around us.

00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:25.000
And William Free Screen goes around Britain and he makes a little film called The Open Road in 1,926 using this technology.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:32.000
So have a look at a little brief bit from the end here. It's It's amazing to look at this now.

00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:41.000
And to realize and to think well this is it looks fake but it is the, but it is the real, the real, the real color that was, that was there.

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:48.000
Even if the way it's captured makes it look a little bit artificial So here's a bit of the open road.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:32:18.000
The The

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:35.000
The

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:43.000
The

00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:52.000
The

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:59.000
The idea. It's very poetic. The whole film is very poetic. It's a real sort of love letter to to Edwardian Britain.

00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:05.000
And that's the real color as the camera saw it. It's not faked. It's just we're only capturing the red and the green.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:21.000
And it's so it does slow with an object it's enough I don't know if you notice when there's when the bus moves there a boy runs across the road and his legs sort of fringe red and green as he moves because the the frame rate can't keep up with him so he's read in some frames

00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:28.000
of green in other. In others but it's for sort of slower moving things whether the difference in frame rate.

00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:36.000
That isn't, perceptible. It's a it's the it's the first sort of form of natural color caught on film.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:45.000
Now, it's a bit cumbersome as you can imagine this spinning wheel of red and green glass and the projector with spinning word of bread and green glasses.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:55.000
It's and it's the version we see now is a bit cleaned up and it it has it's a bit it's a bit How do you inducing to watch it in its raw form?

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:05.000
So some clever boffins from MIT. In 1,941. They come up with.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:11.000
Not 84, 1, 90, 14, and everything that I probably around. They come up with a system that they call Technicolor.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:16.000
How about Calmary, Daniel Frost Comstock and W. Burton Westcott.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:34.000
From the first 2 of those studied and later taught at MIT. And they build on this idea that maybe we can just capture the red and the green but their idea is that they'll build a special prism that can split light into red and green.

00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:48.000
And capture both frames at once on the film. And then so then there's no time delay between the 2 frames that and that's that's really important and then to play it back you just play it back through that through the special prism again so it's a prism instead of a spinning wheel.

00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:56.000
And that's the prism is an important a technicolor development all technical relies on prisms to split light So the spinning wheel is out.

00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:13.000
The static prism is in. Much the same as as free screens methodology though you still need the film to be whizzing through the camera because you need to be capturing 2 frames where previously you would only catch one because you're capturing the red and the green now at the same time.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:27.000
So you get through a lot of film and the and the camera is is being used incredibly fast this version, system technical system one that uses the prism is not very long lived and not a lot survives.

00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:42.000
From that's actually shot definitively in in system one Very first film shot in it is a film called The Gulf Between from 1,914, which exists only as pictures actually.

00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:49.000
The film is lost, but there's a frame of, so you can see a frame here of technicolor system one.

00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:53.000
You can see it's the same color palette that's in a turquoise and rust.

00:35:53.000 --> 00:36:09.000
Calla Palla and you can see how it's the images that have broken up and bled into the area where where the sprocket holes are but it's it's a similar effect to to free screens thing you won't you won't get the the fringing this is only their first

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:14.000
try. At, at, at, at, at, and they very quickly come up with technical assistance too.

00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:21.000
Now, Tender Comey system too is a bit more. It expands on that technology a bit.

00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:28.000
So we still use the prism and we still capture both at once. But what if we then took that film?

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:36.000
And did a process called step printing. So we print all the odd all the odd frames on one roll of film and then all the even frames on the other roll of film.

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:46.000
And then we dye that one red and we dye that one green. And then we stick them together and it should have the same effect as playing back through the prison because the odd ones have gone through the old ones to the reds.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:52.000
And they and they even ones to the green or vice versa. I can never be sure which way around it is.

00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:01.000
So you make the subtractive color print by step, step printing. They make it on special half thickness film by way for thin film.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:09.000
And then the idea is that those 2 films get glued together. The red and the green and then that gets put through the through the projector.

00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:12.000
You can imagine everything that can go wrong with that. The glue comes undone, the half thickness, on breaks and splits and the red and green get out of sync.

00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:39.000
So it's it's not a perfect solution. But it's a better one. And some movies get made in this period so there's a film that comes out that's that's a good technical assistant to is Movical the toll of the sea this is from 1922 I can

00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:45.000
share. I'll have a look at this from the from the top the toll of the sea.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:51.000
It starts out like.

00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:55.000
Okay.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.000
The

00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:06.000
The

00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:10.000
The

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:16.000
The

00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:19.000
The

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:23.000
There were so many titles on top of the film. Sorry, hey we got.

00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:30.000
The

00:38:30.000 --> 00:39:00.000
The

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:05.000
Oh

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:15.000
So you can see the color palette is still very much this 2 strip color palette which still only really got turquoise blue and rusty red and the colors that you can make by mixing those together which aren't very much.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:24.000
We're really missing that third real. But there's no color fringing. The red and the green are quite neat.

00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:29.000
Technologically in terms of captain that feel it feels better it feels less wobbly in the free screen stuff.

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:38.000
And a few of these, a few of things that shot like this survive. A whole bunch turned up in the BFI a few years ago.

00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:54.000
You can see them on YouTube. Briony Dixon talks about them and they're They they've been chopped up and used as leader film for other for other films and so it's it's a it's about 20 films but only about 2 s of each film and they're amazing but

00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:04.000
they're couldn't change you now there's so many of them but they've been chopped and the reason she recognized him is because she could she spotted that they were too strict because 1 one image comes upside down and anyway.

00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:12.000
So they all turned up at the BFI but in terms of in terms of whole films the title of the C is definitely the first.

00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:19.000
So you've got these problems though. You're shooting your with their being that the image is on This way for thin film that has to be glued together.

00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:36.000
So. We need a new system. So we get technical assistance 3. So then they think well instead of Once we've got the red instead of making the red and green on these thin films sticking them together What if we used a method called Diamond Bibing, which is basically like potato printing?

00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:42.000
So imagine your role of film is like a potato. Okay, if you can. The silver, the or the metal sticks out.

00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:49.000
So once you've got all the reds on one role and all the queens on another You can cover that in green ink.

00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:57.000
And then stamp it onto a clean bit of film. And then you get the reds and cover those in Reading and stamp that onto the same bit of clean film.

00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:02.000
And it's like, so like you like kids at primary school, chop up a potato and use it to make prints.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:10.000
It's exactly the same method. And so that way you don't need to have the 2 2 strips of thin film that can card and break and crack.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:16.000
And that's Technicolor system 3. And off the off the 2 strip We call it 2 step of the 2 color technic other methods.

00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:22.000
It's the most advanced because the the prints it makes are really nice and really and really stable.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:31.000
So, a movie. That uses that that I think we work a look at is a film called King of Jazz.

00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:37.000
King of Jazz is fantastic. It's from 1,930. It's a it's a musical.

00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:41.000
It's like a it's just it's just wall to war musical numbers really it's like a review.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:54.000
It's the Paul Whiteman band. And they really make a big fuss over having this, almost natural looking kind of red and green and now and the technologies love them to make a much sharper much cleaner image.

00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:58.000
So we just have a little bit of a King of John so you've seen it.

00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:04.000
Everything of course still has to be green. This this song is called Rapseody in Blue. Of course they can't do blue.

00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:07.000
So it's Ramsi and green really.

00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:10.000
You

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:16.000
The

00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:24.000
You

00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:54.000
You You

00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:00.000
The

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:05.000
Oh you

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:13.000
Some kind of practical effects going on as well. It's really it's really very neat. It's a it's a lovely movie it's just like going and watching a really silly stage show it's just wall to wall numbers.

00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:27.000
Bing Crosby makes his first appearance in this film with the rhythm Boys his first appearance in this film with the rhythm boys they do it they to a number it's it's great fun and the sisters G who were a German dance act pair of sisters who are a German dance act pair of sisters who dance in a lot of musicals one of

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:30.000
their sisters who dance in a lot of musicals one of their one of their rare surviving films is one of their one of their rare surviving films is lovely King of Jazz.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:40.000
But it looks nice, doesn't it? It looks. The color the color capture is is it's very clean We're still only 2 colours, we're still missing the blue.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:47.000
But it's it's it feels refined. It feels like this is the sort of culmination of the 2 strip technique color.

00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:53.000
So we've got to bring our story up to the before we before we stop for questions. We've got to bring our story up.

00:43:53.000 --> 00:44:07.000
I promise we'd end up with with the with the full as we know it What they do is as nice as this looks in in in 1,930 that it's it's still too stylized to really capture the world as it is.

00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:17.000
So they go away and they develop. Technical assistance for and they finally bite the bullet and go do you know what We're going to need we're going to need blue.

00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:24.000
We're going to need 3 reels. So the way a technicolor system for works is we keep the prism.

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:31.000
So the light comes in the camera lens. And the prism splits the light into its red, green and blue.

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:38.000
Separations and then 3 rolls of black and white film. Capture the Reds, the Greens and the Blues.

00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:56.000
And then you get the site that you develop that black and white film and you die. You die each role in the corresponding color and then when you squish them together and project them together the full colour is restored but it's a certain type of color it's a certain type of very colorful technicolor color.

00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:09.000
And technically I had a consultant. Who would come on your film if you made a film and you wanted to have the technicolor logo at the beginning the consultant was for a long time it was Natalie Kalmu the ex-wife of the guy who invented it and he basically sent her around

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:18.000
the world to film sets and she would come on your set and she'd go that guy's hat needs to be more red or that wall needs to be green or that piano needs to be blue.

00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:33.000
To show off the glories of the glories of Technicolor as as as on as as as as on as as as as on as as as on as as as on as as as as on as as as as on as as So a technical film in storage exists as 3 roles of black and white film.

00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:37.000
So if you want to restore it to any kind of film, all you need is it doesn't fade because it's not colour.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:41.000
It's 3 rolls of black and white film. If you know what color to die those 3.

00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:46.000
The red, green and blue. You can always bring the color back. It doesn't fade like beta color film.

00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:55.000
So one of what I think the very first or one of the right first, not the very first, and to shame I've got a better quality of this.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.000
Things shot in 3 strip is Becky Sharp in 1,935.

00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:02.000
What's notable it's it's Becky's top it's it's the vanity fair story.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:17.000
What's notable about it is although this print of it it really needs restoration this principle doesn't really show It's everybody's suddenly got blonde hair and blue dresses and it's like the film is going to great lengths to show.

00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:20.000
We can show it all now we can do all these colours. So have a quick look at Becky Sharp and then we'll finish with something.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:22.000
It's something else.

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:36.000
Elizabeth. Okay. Lines to Amelia upon leaving Miss Pinkerton's academy.

00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:43.000
Okay. Farewell, farewell. Sweet friend of childhood years.

00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:54.000
So although this print is a bit faded and a bit wonky, you can suddenly, that's colors we haven't been able to see up to now isn't it the blue the yellow of their hair it's all it's all suddenly available that that palette with with the three-strip technicolor

00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:06.000
it's the most important so we've arrived. I want to end with something that that shows this three-strip technical area in all its glory.

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:13.000
And it's probably the most famous. The most famous technicolor movie and plays a little trick on us.

00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:22.000
And that's the Wizard of Oz. So, 1,900, and 39, the was a, so the technology had a few years to, bed in.

00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:32.000
Famously of course the ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz are silver slippers in the book but Noel Langley the screenwriter said no for filming this in Technicolor.

00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:36.000
The steppers are going to be a colour. Silver's not a colour so we'll have ruby steppers.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:41.000
It's the most colourful film ever. You've got, and color plays a big role in it.

00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:49.000
Ruby slippers, Yellow Brick Road. It's it's an amazingly sort of You look at it now and it almost it almost gives you a toothache.

00:47:49.000 --> 00:48:00.000
It's so it's so kind of it's so bright but it's really like a gauntlet thrown down it's like we've done it we're here we can reproduce pretty much any color now and technical has sort of fully arrived.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:06.000
But it has this very neat little, it plays a gag on us in the first sort of almost 20 min.

00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:11.000
Oh, I filmed in CPI. I said I'd show you something that was filmed in Pearl.

00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:22.000
I think I think that the the farm scenes are formed in Pearl and then we have this transition to full technical art as a duty-armed exits that the house.

00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:43.000
So have a look at this and enjoy a little colourful bit of the wizard of Oz to finish up.

00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:50.000
You

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:55.000
The

00:48:55.000 --> 00:49:09.000
You

00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:34.000
The

00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:37.000
Oh.

00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:43.000
I

00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:54.000
You

00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:55.000
Total?

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:02.000
Oh. It's almost like a cinematic in joke really. The opening of the door onto a tactic, the opening of the door onto a technic other world.

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:04.000
It is the opening of the door onto a technical world. It is very much saying we have arrived and we can do this now.

00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:09.000
And technical, you know, it sticks around for many, many years until it gets replaced by cheaper, less good.

00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:19.000
Sort of film that can Does it comp it all in one film role? That's not to the sixtys or seventies.

00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:26.000
That's maybe a story for another day. I promised I'd wrap up in time for questions so what a lovely place to end this journey to technical run.

00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:32.000
And, yeah, I'm, for some questions. So let me come out of that.

00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:33.000
And thank you all very much.

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:37.000
Thanks very much, Christopher. I didn't know we were gonna end on that. That's one of my favorite films I have to say.

00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:38.000
Nice for you.

00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:49.000
So yeah, so okay, we've got a couple of questions here. If anyone's got any other questions, put them in the chat and we'll have a look at them.

00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:54.000
We're going to go right back to the start when we were looking at, I think it was Annabel's butterfly dance was it?

00:50:54.000 --> 00:51:03.000
And Brian's asking and Annabel almost seems to even. We could be more likely that sections of the film predict and die rather than painted.

00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:09.000
I think there are some bits where I ended it at the bit where it's where the whole frame goes purple.

00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:15.000
And bits are that is where where the whole frame has died. But 35 film is quite big.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:22.000
It's big enough for it to be very little palette for you to paint on if you've got a little magnifying glass.

00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:27.000
So II believe it's all hand done. It would be very hard to get those transitions from one color to another.

00:51:27.000 --> 00:51:36.000
They would be very hard to get those transitions from one color to another. They just sort of. Do it frame by frame and just sort of change colors in it and it fades through so I think that that shows that it's done by hand.

00:51:36.000 --> 00:51:40.000
Okay, there you go, Brian. And also we had a question for Sue.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:49.000
Now I think Sue asked this when we were looking at the George and Flip and and she's asking what kind of paint dye did they use?

00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:53.000
Is it anything like the recent coloring of World War One films.

00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:59.000
That's a really interesting question. Because I mean, I think all the recent stuff is done digitally.

00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:08.000
I don't think very much is done by hand anymore. They must be painting using. It must be a transparent medium.

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:14.000
So they can't make the film opaque by painting on it because then because then that bit of the image would turn black.

00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:26.000
Light has to pass through film to make it work. So I don't know for sure. I've always imagined they're painting with some kind of watery acrylic or something on the and the film is plastic so something that sits comfortably on the plastic and can curl.

00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:41.000
So it's a really good question. I one I don't know the answer to completely but it would have to like I say it has to be paint that's transparent and it can curl because the film film through a projector takes a very How early, so if it was a film like an enamel that was

00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:49.000
that wants to be flat it would just crap an all flake off so it's more of a sort of stain than a paint it's more of a kind of a paint. It's more of a kind of dye.

00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:56.000
So I guess they're using maybe like analogies or something to do it. That's an interesting question though and I wish I knew the answer to that but I wonder if I can find that out now.

00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:04.000
But the moment stuff like the facial not-ro-old, all that kind of stuff is done, is done digitally I think now.

00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:09.000
I can't imagine anyone really gets there. Although, you know, the trip to the moon we looked at.

00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:13.000
That was done to the park. That's partially digital and

00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:17.000
Okay. Right. Actually question here from David.

00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:29.000
This is quite an interesting one actually. Can black and white films actually be better than color.

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:30.000
Yeah.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:38.000
I mean, any answer I give you is gonna be, it's gonna be subject and and your mileage may vary as they say but I do think there's definitely scope for either being better.

00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:47.000
I can see why early filmmakers wanted colour. And because It I mean it's it's hard to overstate how much very early film is about spectacle.

00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:58.000
Yeah, come and see this and they. That the Melbourne's in particular grow out of magic lantern slides which would have all been color so to see those in black and white would have felt like a downgrade.

00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:09.000
But if you look at For example, Warner Brothers films of the fortys, that great run of Warner Brothers films, things like Morties Fork and Casablanca.

00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:20.000
All those movies they did all shot black and white and they just they look gorgeous on screen those would be those would wouldn't look at all right if they were in color.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:28.000
There's something about those films that the black and white is so evocative and Cinematographers that worked in black and white.

00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:31.000
Got incredibly good at lighting for black and white. And light in black and white is very different to lighting for colour.

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:45.000
So if you've got a good cinematographer and a good cameraman that's trained in in how to really light for black and white and you use black and white as an artistic choice.

00:54:45.000 --> 00:55:00.000
I think it can absolutely be. Be better. It's horses for courses. And then you know you look at things that are done kind of cheaply in color when the cheaper color films come along in the sixtys and seventys you get lots of stuff filmed in color that just looks a bit garish and a bit horrible.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:11.000
And you think well yeah there's no that's not as valuable as a really well-lit and well-made black and white film so yeah it's it's program dependent.

00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:15.000
It depends on what you're filming and depends on the skill of who's doing it. But absolutely the

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:20.000
The films that David was thinking about were Manhattan and Raging Bill.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:33.000
Yeah. Of course. I mean, Raging Bullets is, it's a, in some ways it's visually a sort of homage to, early cinema and it's interesting that you know both those films come from that era of the instead of so-called New Hollywood.

00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:41.000
In the seventies you get all those filmmakers coming through who have been to film school. And they've started film and they're the first generation that's been able to do that.

00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:51.000
If you were a filmmaker in the thirties and fortys. You would have learned on the job, you would have gone in as a as a teaboy and then someone would have let you play with the camera and then 10 years time you're making films.

00:55:51.000 --> 00:56:02.000
But this generation that made the generation you have your Buddy Alan's in your mom's class says they went to film school they were able to study film so they were able to think, there may be a creative reason for using black and white.

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:06.000
It wasn't just, it wasn't just a mandated thing that we have to use the best available technology.

00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:12.000
So that's a real hallmark I think of films from that era that you may choose to use technology that you don't have to use.

00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:20.000
For creative reasons and certainly some of the photography and raging Bolt is glorious in black and white and would not work in color at all.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:25.000
Some of it would be too bloody in that in color. The fight at the end, gets knocked down.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.000
It'd be it'd be horrible. It'd be really gruesome. In black and white it looks So yeah, I agree on those on both those fronts.

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:32.000
Okay.

00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:33.000
I agree.

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:46.000
Yeah, and Amanda's saying, and she's another comment more than that question. I suppose Amanda's saying the film Ivan the Terrible is in black and white but with a burst of colour to great effect.

00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:47.000
Hmm.

00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:54.000
Yes. And I mean, this's a bit of a lovely thing to talk about another time because once you've got access to color there are loads there are loads of movies that use that use splashes of colour to really interesting.

00:56:54.000 --> 00:57:00.000
Creative effect and they are it's amazingly You still jump out of your seat sometimes. There's a fantastic.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:10.000
In the 19 forties picture of Dorian Gray does that the herd atfield Dorian Gray which is all black and white about from the painting of Dorian Gray which is in color.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:19.000
And so the film has these little colour ins and it's a it's a really clever creative thing to do it makes you feel like the painting is that is the true reality and the black and white is the film's reality in it.

00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:31.000
It off-kilters you a little bit. There are loads and loads of examples. It's a great film from 1,969 70 butney swope about an advertising detectives in New York.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:37.000
And the film is black and white, but the adverts they make are in colour. Do you see the adverts in color and then you see real life in black and white.

00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:40.000
Loads of things like that. Schindler's List. I mean, is the ultimate example of that.

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:46.000
It's all black and white with those flashes of red on the little girl's dress and later a candle.

00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:57.000
Close in color. I want to anymore in case I come back and talk about the one day but yeah absolutely there's a whole tranche of films that that once the color is established they do that and run with it.

00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:05.000
Yeah, okay. Well, that was great. Really interesting and great to learn a little bit of that science actually, you know, behind the movies and I certainly didn't know it all started quite so early.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:13.000
I have to say. Quite amazing.

00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:20.000
Yeah, and in Britain, you know, these 2, the 2 very early guys were part of the, you know, the sort of emergent British film industry.

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:21.000
They were really going for it.

00:58:21.000 --> 00:58:23.000
Okay, well thanks very much for that Chris.

Lecture

How spices changed the world

Today the use of ‘spices’ probably conjures up a tasty meal or an image of a cold winter’s day huddled round the fire with warm drinks and Christmas desserts. However, its history is actually far from the cosy image that we have now.

In this lecture, we’ll explore why spices were so valued, what they were first used for, and how fabulously expensive they were. We’ll consider how the spice trade acted as a spur to successive waves of world exploration and early colonialization, and how the wealth which could be earned from the trade also naturally led to war and conflict over several centuries. Taking in the East India Company, a model for later modern joint stock companies we’ll discover how the trade led to the trappings of the modern world we know today with banks, insurance companies and the stock exchange.

Download useful links for further reading here

Video transcript

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And it's over to Kate.

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Thank you, Fiona. Thank you for that. That introduction, and welcome everybody.

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I'm really impressed that everybody's joined with this wonderful weather, and it's lovely to see so many familiar faces and I've been sitting in the garden, so I probably look like a beetroot.

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So apologies for that, but it says something about my sartorial elegance that my husband also says said to me, Well, are you wearing beats?

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Are you going out somewhere? So I said, I'm doing a zoom, but you know enough of this for reality. Let's get down to the matter in hand.

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And I'm going to share my screen in a second.

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And, as you see what we're what we're looking at is this whole business of how spices change the world.

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And I think there are various types of historians, and I'm one of those historians that is really fascinated by connections.

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Otherwise. I think history quite often is a bit like Henry Ford described it as one dance thing after another, so I like to see how maybe foods have affected history, and this particular course is is one part of a course that I did on 10 foods.

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That changed the world and spices is a big contributor to world change.

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Sometimes you can kind of over emphasize these things, but I don't think that's the case with spices.

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So by the time we get back to the end of the course, I hope to have shown you how spices acted as a an impetus to.

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World Exploration. How they were at the root of colonialization from the European powers, that they supercharged our embracing capitalism in the West, and the influence of the spice trade is still with us today.

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And that's what I want to show as we go through this afternoon.

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So little bit about the spice trade. Of course, spices have been known since antiquity for 4 millennia, but people didn't know certainly in Europe where they came from.

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Originally, and they were traded largely through the spice route.

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The silk road is quite often called, and it took the spices from where they were grown.

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It might have been India. Other parts of Asia, Indonesia, overland through Central Asia.

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They were ideal in terms of trading commodity.

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There were other things traded called silk was traded as well as well.

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Hence the derivation of the silk road. But the great thing about spices was that you could sell them for a huge amount of money, and they were light.

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So they were an ideal good, and, as I mentioned, they went all the way from China, India.

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Whenever or Central Asia, whenever they were grown across Asia.

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And arrived at a port for most of the time. It is Constantinople or Alexandria, and certainly Constantinople predominated.

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After the fifth century. But there were some other routes, so you know, I talked about Alexandra quite often.

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There was a combination of of routes, partly across the across land, using the spice route.

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The silk road rather, and partly by C. And Alexandria, was another port that was used, and, as I mentioned, people didn't know in Europe where they came from.

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They began to work out where this was over. The centuries.

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But, it needless to say, because the trade was controlled by Arab traders, they weren't particularly keen on sharing the secrets of where they had picked up these spices.

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In the first place, and from the eighth century one of the big things about the well really the truth for Venice becoming as wealthy and as influential as it was certainly by 1,200, the engine for that was really the spice.

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Trade. It was ideally placed for bringing the spices in to Northern Europe, and onward transmission from then, and it had good business contacts with both. Alex.

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Andria and Constantinople by the time you get to 1,200 they've got virtually a monopoly, and anybody that's been to Venice will know how fabulous the buildings are, and course it was the collapse of this trade that started. The long-term decline of

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Venice, and even when they were employed, such huge amounts, they didn't really have a complete idea of when the where the spices were sourced from.

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So this was kept still, kept slightly controlled secret from the European traders.

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Why do people want it? When I was at school?

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Certainly, we were told. I remember, that people wanted it, because in medieval Europe meet quite often, wasn't particularly fresh.

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So you needed a all these spices to actually make it.

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Which is actually right. It wasn't because meat was on the turn.

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In fact, they were very harsh penalties for butchers, fishmongers who took, who sold unfit meat.

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So there is one example of a poor chap who in the 13 fifties have been convicted of selling rotten pigeons, and his punishment was to sit in the stocks and have the pigeons burnt under his feet, and people could tell any vegetables.

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I'm not sure spices were much, much more expensive than me, so you wouldn't waste them on me.

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That wasn't fit to be eaten. The real reason that people so prized it was obviously it tasted nice, but for the majority of the year, certainly through the winter and early spring there was very little meat.

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Fresh meat. It had to be preserved. You had to be very rich to be able to keep your the whole of your flocks of sheep all through the winter.

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What would happen was that the majority of the flocks or heard, would be slaughtered roundabout in November, and would be sorted down and they didn't taste very nice, so spices made them taste much better.

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The other factor which comes in here was that a medieval England and Europe?

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There were a large number of fast days, which meant that you couldn't.

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Eat me. Anyway, you had to go to saltfish, which, by all accounts, was even worse than sort of me.

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And there are about 200 days a year we're, strictly speaking, you weren't supposed to eat me so huge part of the year.

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This. You know anything tasty had to be. If you wanted to make anything tasty, rather, you had to spice it up literally.

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So there are recipes from the 13 forties and the recipe for fish, for example, which uses ginger garlic, cinnamon, raisins, wine with salt fish. You can imagine.

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Well, you'd have the sauce, even if you didn't have the salt fish, wouldn't you?

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I mean, it sounds sounds sounds very nice, and of course you had to be very wealthy to be able to buy these spices.

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In the first place, so in the middle of the fourteenth century, if you were buying, not make, for example, that was equivalent, the price of about pound of not make.

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Excuse me, would be equivalent to about the price of 3 sheep, so it's a huge amount of money.

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So it's a very upmarket dish.

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Not something which would be available to somebody who isn't very, very wealthy now, there were couple of other reasons why people wanted spices.

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One of the reasons was that they thought there was a medicinal they thought there was a medicinal use, so I mean, particularly in the fourteenth century, when that bubonic plague arrived.

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People believed that a mixture of spices might ward off the plague.

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Not make, was particularly valued for this, and the illustration there, of course, is later.

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This is the second big outbreak, is afraid.

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In the seventeenth century, but then you can see this doctor in this illustration, has a a beak which would be filled with spices.

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It was felt that if you used a nose, Guy, you would stop the noxious fumes getting the my asthma getting into your and getting into your body and infecting you with the plague, I mean the irony.

00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:41.000
Of course, is that it's probably the spice trade which very much contributes to the spread of the bombic plague in 30, 48, because you can map the journey of the plague against the silk road route, and they map pretty well.

00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:54.000
And there was yet another reason why they really valued spices, and this is because they thought it was an aphrodisiac.

00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.000
And this belief goes back to the days when the New Testament was written.

00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:05.000
So I've got a quote here from Proverbs.

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.000
I've perfume my bed with mers, aloes, and cinnamon.

00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:16.000
Come, let us take our feel of love until the morning. Let's just solve ourselves with love.

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So this was believed to be an aphrodisiac.

00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:25.000
I mean even now, when we talk about spicing things up at home, you probably don't think somebody's going to go home and make a curry.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:32.000
You probably use it that sort of term in another way, and this is what they believe at the time.

00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:43.000
Chaucer refers to buying hot spices to kindle his love.

00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:48.000
So this one is a very widespread belief.

00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:54.000
I mean, maybe it was a good marketing ploy. You'd be amazed how many of these foods?

00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:00.000
Are considered when they're first introduced as a aphrodisiacs.

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.000
Even potatoes, and who knew but there you go!

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:32.000
So back to the spice trade again. Needless to say, because spices were so expensive, the European powers certainly in the fifteenth century were determined that they really wanted to get to the source of these spices, cut out the middleman, if you like cut out the

00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:41.000
Arab traders and trade direct, and of course, the best known example of this is Christopher Columbus.

00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:52.000
He was desperate to get to the Indies, because this was where goods, like spices particularly, were available, and this was coupled with difficulties in using the silk road.

00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:22.000
The local empire had begun to fragment, and it became much more difficult and dangerous and expensive to use that route, and Spain and Portugal particularly, were very keen to, as I say, cut the middleman out and go there themselves, and find these fabulous spices that they could they could

00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.000
sell, and Columbus, of course, is the most famous.

00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:42.000
As I mentioned, looking for route to the Indies, and what would happen at this point would be that a monarch would sponsor an expedition.

00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:55.000
They were massively expensive. You needed to equip a fleet of ships.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.000
They'd be away for years, and of course it would all be lost if they didn't come back with something valuable.

00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:16.000
So it's a very risky, very risky enterprise, and some of the byproducts from this are really interesting.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:23.000
So this is where we see the start of colonialization.

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:30.000
So, Vesco de Gama in 1497, is navigated around the Cape of Good Hope.

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:40.000
He's Portuguese, and he arrives in India, I mean fortuitously.

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:53.000
He arrives in Gower and realize, is there that this is where he can, you know, pick up things like pepper, and so on, which could be sold back in Portugal for a huge amount.

00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:18.000
Of money, and in doing that not only establishes trade links, but actually plants the Portuguese flag in in India, and just a few years later Brazil is colonized by Portugal as well.

00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:26.000
I mean, this is quite interesting. Actually, because one of the issues of going with it with going round the Cape of Good Hope.

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:35.000
Was that once you get to the equator the winds are blowing the other way.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:46.000
So the mariners decided that if they swung out into the Atlantic they could take advantage of the wins.

00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:54.000
Providing wins, and then go round the Cape and the particular explorer who discovered Brazil was blown off.

00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:10.000
Course, and while he was at it he claimed for sale for Portugal, as well.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:23.000
So this is the first time that European powers have been exploring the world, and planting their flag in very various territories.

00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:35.000
And it's really to the spice trade. And of course, the huge amounts of money that they can in doing that.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:50.000
So interestingly. Vascco de Gama. He lost half his men and 2 ships on his expedition, so you'd think that that would be a complete write off.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:18:01.000
But when he got back the cargo that he bought back things like pepper and so on, which was 60 times the cost of the expedition.

00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:17.000
So if it was successful, you could make an absolute kings ransom, and it simulated thanks expeditions in the other direction as well.

00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:26.000
So there was several explorations which, as Columbus had done.

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:34.000
We're going in the same direction later explorers realized that there was a landmass.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:44.000
There wasn't the, but they didn't know how big the American continent was.

00:18:44.000 --> 00:19:02.000
So the northern Hunson River, for example, were explored, thinking that perhaps they would flow all the way across the continent, and you would therefore get to the Endnd's quicker and the other alternative.

00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:10.000
Of course, Cabot took, and he was sponsored by Henry the Seventh was to look for a way around the north of the American continent.

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:23.000
Was there a passage that took you to the north of America that would enable you to get to?

00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:39.000
Asia quicker. So there are a number of cabbage, and Frobisher were looking for a way to get to Asia, for America.

00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:44.000
And the illustration is Frobisher and Humphrey Gilbert.

00:19:44.000 --> 00:20:03.000
It has the same idea. He's actually stepbrother, and he explores the area, claims Newfoundland for the English crown.

00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:15.000
And again. It's the first over. If you discount Ireland, it's the first British Overseas Colony, and it's really because he's looking for.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:24.000
A way to get to Asia, and of course I forgot to mention Mcgann.

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:33.000
He leads an ex-, a Spanish expedition to find the way to the Spice Islands.

00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:43.000
These are near Indonesia. They are the only place at the time that nutmeg and mace are grown.

00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:54.000
Unfortunately he dies on on the route, but the voyage and the crew return and that's the first circumnavigation.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:08.000
So a real spur to exploring the world because of the money that can be made, and I do not expect there is conflict over spice.

00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:25.000
So Portugal and Spain, as I mentioned, are the earliest into this particular race to try and find this source of spice.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:44.000
But in England and the Netherlands wake up to the fact that oh, hang on a second there's a lot of money which can be made in muscleling into this trade, and English naval ships capture in 1592 capture a

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:57.000
portuguese trading ship, which is coming back from the Indies, and it's got 900 tons of cargo and this again, when they look at the value of it.

00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:09.000
It's worth, you know. Present, if you converted it to present day values will be worth millions of pounds.

00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:15.000
One of the things that results from that. Not directly. But of course this is all in the air.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:25.000
Is, the East India Company is set up. As I mentioned, the.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000
Expeditions are sponsored by the monarch in various European countries, and it's a very risky business, because the voyage might not be successful.

00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:42.000
They might all be lost at sea. So they come up with this great idea.

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:47.000
Let's spread the risk, and the East India Company and the Dutch setup.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:53.000
Their own version of this, the Duchy India Company Voc.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:58.000
It's sometimes called, come up with this great idea.

00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.000
Let's set a company up. We'll have shareholders.

00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:11.000
Will sell the shares, we'll have a pretty professional management of this company.

00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:35.000
The risk. Well, people buy shares. They won't be exposed to losing all their money if if just one of these voyages files, and of course it was a great idea, and single handedly if you like, they invent the modern forms of capitalism a modern joint stock

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:49.000
company. Both companies had massive powers. The Government granted both companies, charters, allowing them to take and defend colonies.

00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:54.000
They could raise armies, and they could build fortresses.

00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:03.000
So it was almost, if you like, imperialism on the cheap, because the company did did it for you.

00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:11.000
And in the seventeenth century the Dutch are much better and more successful.

00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:26.000
In the English. In breaking this monopoly, particularly of the Portuguese in in Asia, and I'll say a little bit more about why, that was later.

00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:32.000
Just a word or 2 about.

00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:41.000
You know the one of the things that occurred to me when I was writing this was, how much did ordinary people know about this?

00:24:41.000 --> 00:25:04.000
What were their feelings, and of course, the very point that these companies are being phones coincides with Shakespeare writing The Tempest, and there he's kind of looking at this relationship between Prospero and Caliban.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:10.000
And of course the audience came to see that would know what the references were.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:19.000
So people would know what was going on, and you get references through the seventeenth century.

00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:45.000
So, in Samuel Pepys's diary, for example, he talks about how the British have captured a Dutch East India man, so he goes upon down onto this ship, and he talks about how there was Pepper clothes and nutmeg all over the ship and he

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000
says I walked above the knees, whole room full of it.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000
He says, and he he talks about it, being one of the noblest.

00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:07.000
So I sees ever seen, he goes on later to talk about how to sailors have sold him some.

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:09.000
Pepper and nutmeg. And they've only charged him.

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:16.000
I think about a pound, and he's he say.

00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:25.000
Well, they sold it much too cheaply. They'd obviously stolen it, but I mean it doesn't stop you buying it.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.000
But you know it's interesting how much this was.

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:41.000
This was valued, and this conflict comes to a head a little bit later, and one of the areas which was the spark for this particular conflict was the spice silence.

00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:49.000
Abanda Islands, they called, and they just off from Indonesia.

00:26:49.000 --> 00:27:01.000
Portuguese, discovered the first, and the Dutch had taken possession of them through their Dutch East India Company.

00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:13.000
They would. They don't see. India Company had established a colony in the area, and they capture the bander.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:22.000
The East India Company managed to have control of one, and these particular islands are the source of quite a lot of conflict.

00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:29.000
They grow nutmeg, and they're the only place in the world that grows nutmeg.

00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:40.000
And of course, at this point, if you think that nutmeg is going to protect you against the plague, you're going to pay almost anything to get your hands on it.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:51.000
So the east, the Duchy Cindy Company were ruthless in establishing their colony. There.

00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:03.000
They? Original population was very, very wiped out, and there'd been an in 1623.

00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:23.000
The Dutch had taken over one of the islands that we still possessed and there was a massacre, so there was a huge amount of angst and conflict about these particular islands.

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:28.000
Adam, and this carries on through the period.

00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:40.000
So by the time you get to Cromwell in England in 1653, they've been a short battle with the Dutch.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:47.000
This is all over trade. It's trade that's really at the root of the conflict.

00:28:47.000 --> 00:29:00.000
But chromo because he was, he needed the Duchess Dutch support in Europe, for other reasons, was quite keen to make peace.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.000
Soviet, he made peace, and also in terms of their religious beliefs.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:17.000
He was much more in line, I suppose, with the Dutch than he was, with lots of other parts from Europe, so there's a period of peace, and the Dutch use this period of peace productively.

00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:32.000
So they began to build up their commercial fleet, and also the the warships that protected it as well.

00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:58.000
And when Charles the Second comes back to the throne in 1660, he's very keen to build up trade because he sees that as a way to secure prosperity for England, and really he starts a process of really provoking the Dutch at this point the Netherlands is

00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:07.000
newly independent. The popular is much smaller, and really the the English really overplayed.

00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:30.000
We played our hand some of the things that were play at the time were that the Duke of York and Charles had been involved in setting up the Royal African Company, which, is, you might imagine tragically mostly deals in slaves, and they are firmly believe that the

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:37.000
Dutch are in the way of them, opening up all sorts of other opportunities for trade.

00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:47.000
The Dutch, muscle in on some of the opportunities which they felt should be theirs.

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:52.000
So they one of the things they did was Capture.

00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:57.000
Some trading ships, we weren't at war at this stage.

00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:21.000
They routinely required Dutch ships to lower their flag when they came across an English ship, which lots of the judge captions, you might imagine, found that humiliating, and we also captured an island that they had called New Amsterdam in 16

00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:44.000
64, the Dutch managed to capture we also rather manage to capture an island in the Banda Islands, which had been hours before the 16 twenties island of Rome.

00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:57.000
So things were. Things were hotting up, and in the end the Dutch got fed up with being bullied, and really acts of war.

00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:05.000
When war wasn't to, declared, and we'll break out in 1660.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:18.000
5. The English, when the first battle, but the subsequent battles are won by the Dutch, and I'll tell you a little bit more about that data.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:25.000
Why, that was the culmination of these conflicts.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:32.000
Was in 1667, which was a national humiliation for England.

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:45.000
We'd that the whole of the fleet had been was in Chatham.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:33:05.000
We put defensive chains on the Midway to try and stop any attack but the Dutch had little trouble in cutting through those so set light to many of our naval ships, and towed away the flag. The flagship.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:11.000
The royal trolls, and they put it on display.

00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:24.000
When they got home so absolutely humiliating, and, of course, back in London people were terrified that you know this was going to be followed by some sort of invasion.

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:49.000
Was it going to be an invasion by Holland, where they're going to to partner with another another state, and invite so terrible panic ensued, and of course England was very keen to make peaks at that point, because we we really had run out of

00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:54.000
things, to negotiate over. We had no hand, if you like.

00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:04.000
So we signed a treaty. We agreed to return this Bender Island that we've recaptured to the Netherlands.

00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:19.000
This is what they want. Wanted. 3 quarters of the trade of the Dutch East India Company was in spices, and a amazingly they returned to dividend for about 70 years of over 17% on each of their shares.

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:31.000
Now, wouldn't that be lovely? But you know she mentioned she profitable.

00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:56.000
But we did get a consolation prize. They said that we could keep this island, that we had catches of New Amsterdam, and we'd rather have the bandwidth, but we got New Amsterdam, and we promptly named it New York.

00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:13.000
so one of the things that you might so to say is that this nutmeg makes New York, because this was a constellation prize for losing this particular conflict.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:20.000
So I mentioned earlier. Why, why did the what does the Dutch do better?

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:26.000
Smaller population, as I say, they, they newly independent.

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:45.000
What did they have that we didn't? Well, we picked up on some of the things that the Dutch were doing, and I've got an illustration here which are, talk about as we go through.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:36:01.000
So on the right hand side the Bank of England on the left hand side there is the Bill of Rights which doesn't come into legislation until 1689, so why would they so important?

00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:15.000
Then? Well, the difficulty, of course, with making war a little bit like trading for spices is that it's incredibly expensive.

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:29.000
What has happened in conflict with the Dutch in 1667, is we had to put the flute, Chatham, because we had literally run out of money.

00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:34.000
We have no money to pay for repairs to the flee.

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:42.000
We couldn't pay the. So they the fleet, was mothballed.

00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:50.000
The Dutch had already set up a national bank, and the thing about the National Bank was that people would invest in it.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:37:00.000
You would buy a bond, a government bond, and they would they could borrow.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:08.000
So they they Dutch for the people that invented this idea of the national debt.

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:16.000
And it wasn't until we had a Dutch king with William the Third that we picked up on this idea and said this would be a great idea, we're going to wage war.

00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:26.000
We will need probably to raise money quickly. How can we do that?

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:45.000
We can have a National bank, they will issue bonds, and we will then have a debt, a national debt to the people of invested, and the other document there the Bill of Rights enshrines certain rights of individuals.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:38:08.000
So insurance, for example, parliamentary sovereignty, so that people felt this was important in terms of encouraging confidence in investment, so I'm just going to take so just to sum up the bunk of England, we we followed this duchess example.

00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:13.000
And actually we did it better because we were bigger. So because the you know, British economy eventually was bigger.

00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:27.000
Population was bigger, we became increasingly successful, and the Bill of Rights helped.

00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:36.000
People feel confident, particularly these traders, who began to have money to invest.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:44.000
You know they they were confident that they could invest safely.

00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:54.000
They had a stake in the country, if you like, and of course, at the same time, and I'm talking about the time of the battles that Marlborough was involved with.

00:38:54.000 --> 00:39:14.000
There was some military success which meant that people could were encouraged with a sense of If you like, national identity and national pride.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:22.000
So you know the Bank of England meant that the debt is to the State.

00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:37.000
It isn't the monarch. Previously, when Charles the Second had been king, he would, you know, invite people to lend money to him.

00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:43.000
He defaulted regularly, so it's not much of an encouragement.

00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:51.000
If you have spare money to invest. Oh, to lend money to the monarch!

00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:57.000
And once you've got this system of a national debt, you can borrow cheaply.

00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:14.000
So you can embark on large scale enterprises and the middle class have this stake in the country.

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:23.000
So the you know, several of the things I've touched on so far in terms of the influences of spices.

00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:53.000
You know things like the way that it acts as a an engine to encourage world exploration, and in doing that we are getting into this shady world of colonization and exploitation and cause.

00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:58.000
Later on, when we when we realized that the best way to exploit resources is setting up a joint stop company like the East India Company the Dutch do the same.

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:11.000
What goes along with that is the whole machinery of the modern world that we know now.

00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:16.000
So you need. You need banks. You need a Stock Exchange.

00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:22.000
You need insurance companies, so it's the start of the if you like.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:33.000
Modern western world that we know today. So just a word or 2 about the later years.

00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:46.000
And I talked about the East India Company, and really the high day this price heyday, if you like, is in the seventeenth century.

00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:56.000
They begin to switch later on their main trading good in the eighteenth century is T.

00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:11.000
But of course they are instrumental, particularly after 1759 in actually running 1763, a bigger bond in actually administering India.

00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:24.000
So right up until 1858, they are holding responsible for the administration of India, as well as being a huge trading body.

00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:29.000
They make inroads into the Malay peninsula.

00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:46.000
They're involved in Singapore, and, of course, as a slight diversion, they crop up in stories of other foods that change the world like tea.

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:56.000
So by 1,900 the there isn't the scarcity of spices, spices are grown around the world in numerous locations.

00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:05.000
So we we we don't ever again have this situation where one particular good is fabulously expensive.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:31.000
However, what remains is this legacy that the spice trade setup, and all of the commercial and financial networks to that to deal with them that are really still part of our module will today so I'm going to leave it there.

00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:45.000
Everybody. I hope I've stimulated a few questions, thoughts, comments, so I'll hand over to Fiona to take us through the rest of the session.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.000
Okay. Thank you very much. And for that, Kate, let's just go straight into some questions.

00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:52.000
We've got. I got a few here. I'll start from the top.

00:43:52.000 --> 00:44:00.000
It's a question from Elizabeth. She was asking.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:03.000
Are there any medieval recipes for how to use the spices?

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:08.000
And how did the poor manage without them all that salt that you talked about in the meeting?

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:09.000
The fish sounds very bad for you, which I'm assuming.

00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:12.000
It was.

00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:24.000
Yeah, I there are some recipes there is risky, but I think from 1340 I'm just rushing through my yes, there are also recipes.

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:31.000
I've got one here from 1348.

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:42.000
So there are some recipe, and I think there's a recipe book from Richard the Thirds I think it's one of the royal cooks from his day.

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:48.000
Yeah, I mean, the pool wouldn't be able to afford any of this.

00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:54.000
Of course the poll wouldn't be able to, generally speaking, afford meat, anyway.

00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:58.000
Maybe very, very occasionally a bit bacon, or something like that.

00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:04.000
So it would be sort of a very basic diet for Paul.

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:10.000
4 people, and you would have to be mega rich to afford spices.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.000
Hmm, yeah. Okay. Hope that answers your question.

00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:18.000
Elizabeth, no, I've got 2 questions that are kind of similar.

00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:23.000
So I'm gonna put them both to you. So kind of similar one from Pat and one from another.

00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:24.000
Elizabeth, so perhaps asking, Was it not possible? Obviously you just said there, that things have changed by the 19 hundreds?

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:42.000
But was it not possible to grow spices needed to home in Europe, for example, Southern Spain and Elizabeth's asking similar kind of question, did Britain have any homegrown spaces which might have been traded?

00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:45.000
Or was it all from the East?

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:51.000
Yeah, I mean, they did. They did discover that they were.

00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:55.000
They did grow spices in other parts of the world.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.000
But it's surprisingly late, quite often. So not Megan may.

00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:09.000
I mean they're both the same from the same, of course I think it was in the Napoleonic wars that they, experimenting with growing them elsewhere.

00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:17.000
So it's very, very light in terms of what we grew in Britain.

00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:18.000
I'm trying to think. But no, it's largely it's from the East, I mean.

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:27.000
It's certainly my, you know my use of this term spice.

00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:44.000
And me talking about nutmeg, mace, clothes, pepper, and so on, and these were very sort of highly prized cinnamon, of course. Yeah.

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:48.000
So they're all from the East.

00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:59.000
Okay, thank you. Okay, question from Jane. Obviously, lots of different countries got themselves involved in this what about the Vikings?

00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:03.000
Did they ever get themselves involved in the trade? Do me know?

00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:04.000
That's a very good question. I don't know.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:08.000
I!

00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:12.000
Research for you. Then.

00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:16.000
Yeah, I'm you know, sort of thinking about here.

00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:36.000
At that point. So I mean the difficulty with the Vikings is they don't leave the same number written records so it's you know. It's very easy to find, you know, if you're looking at the classical world in terms of Rome.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:39.000
And and Greece, you know there are.

00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:48.000
You can pick up records, but I see they were known at that point. So I'm assuming it might be better research for me.

00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:55.000
Here we go. Okay? A question from another. Jane.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.000
You talked about Venice and the decline of Venice.

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:06.000
What actually cost the decline available venison trade cause you kind of touched on it briefly.

00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:15.000
They were other. Venice was important. If you were coming in to Constantinople overland.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:27.000
But over the years other routes were developed. That meant that you could go much further by sea, so you didn't have to come into Venice.

00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:46.000
So, for example, you know, certainly when you get into the late, what the the late, the only seventeenth century, you can come all the way round to the Netherlands, for example, by sea, which is much cheaper, you don't really want to have.

00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:53.000
It's safer and cheaper to ship as far as you can possibly go.

00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:57.000
You don't really want to go over land.

00:48:57.000 --> 00:49:05.000
Okay, there, we go. Right? Okay. What we got next? A question from Kate.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:06.000
You talked about in 1952 that we captured to Portuguese ship.

00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:17.000
Where we actually at war with Portugal. At that point.

00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:21.000
D. 22.

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:22.000
That's a good question. I'd have to.

00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:29.000
I mean it did.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:46.000
I'm trying to think what the we had a kind of system at that point of privateering which was piracy or a government sponsored piracy, if you like.

00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:56.000
Although this particular ship, I think, was captured by a navy ship, so which would suggest that we are.

00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:05.000
We were at war at that point, but the the private hearing was strictly you were supposed to.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:17.000
It's government sponsored. So you've got, if you like, a license from the government and they would indemnify you against an in charge of piracy.

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:24.000
You would go and pray on any ships that were hostile to the government and the Government would take a a chunk of your profits.

00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:30.000
But I think we must have been at war, and I need to.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:36.000
You know, in terms of the dates. What wall that was I don't know.

00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:38.000
I'd have to look that up. Must have been.

00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:46.000
Hmm, okay, right? Okay, the question from Madeline.

00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:51.000
Did Parliament have any control over the East India Company?

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:52.000
Well, they set it up, of course, and they did from time to time.

00:50:52.000 --> 00:51:08.000
So it was a bit like I mean one of the things that I was thinking of the East India Company in connection with.

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:14.000
They were too big to fail. So the Government were interested.

00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:27.000
If if they were in trouble, and occasionally they would not exactly bail them out, but they would come up with an arrangement so that their certainly with T.

00:51:27.000 --> 00:51:43.000
Later on they were very worried about the fact that the East India Company got themselves in a bit of a mess and had too much tea I've had a cash flow problem, but they didn't report to the Government.

00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:49.000
They? No, they, their charter, allowed them autonomy.

00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:52.000
Hmm!

00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:58.000
So they had the right to raise an army. They had to write to equip ships, take colonists.

00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:04.000
So it's a huge amounts of rights that were in dealt with.

00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:09.000
Okay.

00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:24.000
And another question from Anne talked about the Bank of England setting up at the Bank of England and the National debt. Why is the borrowing from the middle classes, and not the upper classes?

00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:25.000
Hmm!

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:35.000
Well, I think it was both actually, although traditionally they aristocrats had for long time had this faith in land.

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:37.000
So you know it. The idea that you would.

00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:51.000
I mean they did. They would still invest in the royal family were investing, but some of them quite slow to pick up the idea that you you could make a lot of money.

00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:56.000
People in business were very quick to, because the whole way of life was concerned with trading.

00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:04.000
Very quick to realize. Oh, hang on, you know I can invest in this.

00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:14.000
I can get a return of that, and if you were, you know, a landed aristocrat. You are a bit slower, perhaps.

00:53:14.000 --> 00:53:15.000
Yeah.

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:17.000
I did. I did invest as well.

00:53:17.000 --> 00:53:22.000
Alright. So you go on a question from David.

00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:28.000
Where do our spices come from today?

00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:29.000
All over the place.

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:33.000
Oh, well, all over the place, I mean I mean, they're growing in multiple locations.

00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:38.000
So you know we're not a Pre.

00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:41.000
In the same way to fluctuations in price.

00:53:41.000 --> 00:53:49.000
Well in theory, I'm sure they only go one way.

00:53:49.000 --> 00:53:54.000
But yes, around the world I mean the same way as most goods are.

00:53:54.000 --> 00:54:02.000
Obviously the climate, the conditions are gotta be right. But there's a pressure of sites now.

00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:09.000
Okay, excellent. Okay? And question from?

00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:10.000
Let me ask this one. That's the means of production.

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:23.000
Change to meet increased demands, ie. Local use, and East Indies to major export crop.

00:54:23.000 --> 00:54:24.000
So. Can you repeat that again?

00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:31.000
Yeah, get the means of production change, you know. Obviously, you know, there's the explosion in the spice trade.

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:36.000
Increased demand did the means of production change in these places.

00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:42.000
Oh, yeah, I mean, this increased, I think. Go into this in too much detail.

00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:51.000
I mean, I just touched on it. I mean, it's increased use of slaves, of course.

00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:59.000
Virtually round the world, I mean not in the same.

00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:05.000
Huge numbers that you get associated with things like sugar and cotton.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:10.000
But you know the slavery. It does encourage use of slaves.

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:31.000
Partly because labor intensive, of course, quite often. So you and it's not the sort of work that people would willingly do, and particularly in terms of the band, runs the Spice Islands.

00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:38.000
What say we? The Dutch East India Company virtually.

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:43.000
Wiped out most of the way. Populations.

00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:55.000
So you know they what they don't. You send your company in the British East India Company do is tend to use slides.

00:55:55.000 --> 00:56:01.000
Okay, no, we've got a question from Stewart.

00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:05.000
This is an interesting one. I don't know if you know the answer to this one, but the'll ask it.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.000
Is it true that the nursery rhyme the King of Spain's daughter, originated from the spice trade, ie.

00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:17.000
The reference to silver, nutmeg.

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:18.000
Oh, I don't know who I'm trying to think how it goes.

00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:26.000
The King of Spain's daughter, is it came to marry me, or something?

00:56:26.000 --> 00:56:32.000
I can't remember the word. Oh, for the sake of my little nut tree!

00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:37.000
Hmm! I don't know not sure. Hi, Jeff!

00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:38.000
Hey? Yeah.

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:44.000
Okay, that's one of maybe one for Google. Okay, there you go, Stuart.

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:58.000
Now actually an interesting question from Elizabeth. Obviously the traders going to Spice Islands to pick up their goods and their commodities get to fill the ships with stuff when they were going there.

00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:07.000
Or did they, you know, bring in goods over there, or were they going for empty ships? Which seems like a little bit of waste? Isn't it?

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:18.000
Yeah, no. I mean, typically they, generally speaking, they and that this isn't only the spice on.

00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:23.000
It's just despised trade generally. Once we were trading direct.

00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:31.000
We would trade with occasionally goods, more often those silver and silver was worth more in the East than it was at home.

00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:38.000
They wanted it more. So you could. You know you could get more with your money if you like.

00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:41.000
Occasionally there were goods that they would trade, but more often it was.

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:49.000
It was silver.

00:57:49.000 --> 00:58:04.000
What they would take into the I mean. Obviously, by the time the Spice Islands was being exploited, it's all under the under the control of the Dutch East India Company.

00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:05.000
So in a sense, I mean they. Obviously they would bring things out.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:18.000
That that was needed in the islands, but there's not a true trading relationship I don't know what they they may.

00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:24.000
Well, they there wasn't a sort of a separate.

00:58:24.000 --> 00:58:25.000
It was a closed colony, if you like.

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:35.000
It was only about nutmeg, and so they would have been bringing things out, but not trading them on. Presumably.

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:41.000
Hmm. Okay. Right? I'm gonna finish off with 1 million dollar question again.

00:58:41.000 --> 00:58:42.000
I don't know if you'll know the answer to this one.

00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:47.000
Maybe there isn't one I don't know from Madeline.

00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:51.000
When is a spice spice in the hair?

00:58:51.000 --> 00:58:52.000
If you have any thoughts on that.

00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:56.000
Oh dear! I don't know.

00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:03.000
You've got me there. That's a very interesting one.

00:59:03.000 --> 00:59:07.000
I'm not sure be interested if anybody knows actually.

00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:13.000
Uhhuh. Okay. Well, if anyone knows the answer to that, pop it into the chat and I will pass it on.

00:59:13.000 --> 00:59:14.000
Yes, yes.

00:59:14.000 --> 00:59:18.000
Okay, I think that's us. Actually, everybody.

00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:19.000
I think we've got through everything. Thanks again, Kate.

00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:39.000
That was fantastic. And it's just really interesting to hear of the links between the spice trade and the various developments in history and how it's led to the trappings of the modern world that we know today. All too well. So thank you very much for that hope everybody enjoyed.
 

Lecture

The art of the Paris Metro

After the 2nd World War, the Paris Metro network saw the incorporation of art across the walls of the underground realm. In the main these works celebrate the character, events and peoples of the area served by each station. In addition, stations in the central area also provide some dramatic guides to the history and culture of Paris and of France as a whole.

Join WEA tutor Mike Grundy for a journey through the Paris Metro to explore the works of artists from Picasso onwards on view in its stations, platforms and passages.

Video transcript

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Fiona Wright: And, Mike, it's so good to you.

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Mike Grundy: Okay, thank you, Fiona, and welcome back to everybody. It's great to be back on

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Mike Grundy: on the screen with you and to now, in our series of looking at the capitals of Europe.

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Mike Grundy: go to what many people believe to be the most fabulous city of all which is Paris.

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Mike Grundy: And I've just recently learned that France is the most visited country

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Mike Grundy: in the world with 90 million visitors a year.

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Mike Grundy: Well, I'm gonna attempt to take you straight back into Paris without having to go through the problems of travel.

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Mike Grundy: and to, in fact, go back over a hundred years to start at the inception of the metro system of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: So let us see if the technology works. And

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Mike Grundy: and I will share my screen.

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Mike Grundy: and I'll bring up the first image, as so you may recall those of you who see me before I make these very visual lectures, rather than lots of words. so this is one of the last worthy slides

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Mike Grundy: you will see. essentially, we're looking at the art of the Paris Metro.

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Mike Grundy: we're looking at the all over the walls of the Metro which the Parisian authorities have deemed to see fit for our days. But we can also appreciate the design

14
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Mike Grundy: of the metro itself, the actual system, the stations, the entrances so. And we will start that with the story right at the beginning. In the 19 hundreds, 1,900.

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Mike Grundy: And here we are in Paris some 123 years ago, 1,900. And you see all the familiar landmarks in particular, the Eiffel Tower.

16
00:02:05.020 --> 00:02:10.189
Mike Grundy: which was only 11 years old at the time the Eiffel Tower is actually

17
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Mike Grundy: an object as a monument to a celebration of the 100 years ago revolution

18
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Mike Grundy: in France.

19
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Mike Grundy: and so many things are based on the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower marks the dates of the Centenary of the Revolution.

20
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Mike Grundy: Looking here at Paris, there seems to be an awful lot of buildings which you wouldn't normally see like stretching back from the Eiffel Tower. These are all the pavilions of the International Exposition of 1,900

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Mike Grundy: The French like to hold in the nineteenth nineteenth century about every 12 years one of these massive international expos. and this was the last of the major ones.

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Mike Grundy: And here you see the pavilions all over the field, the military fields below the Eiffel Tower, on the bottom left of the picture we see Les and Valid, normally a huge open grass space in front of the in front of the hospital, but here occupied by temporary buildings

23
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Mike Grundy: and then along the banks of the same, between the 2. You see, all of the country pavilions country from all over the world onto that, wanting to advertise their great architecture and style and skills and art.

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Mike Grundy: So huge event.

25
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Mike Grundy: they expected 25 million people in the 6 months, the Expo went on.

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Mike Grundy: They didn't get 25 million. They got 50 million.

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Mike Grundy: And the big question, even with 25 was, how do we move people around Paris to get to the various sites here and elsewhere all the way to?

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Mike Grundy: Well, they've been talking about a metro for 30 years.

29
00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:09.480
Mike Grundy: This meant them. They had to make decisions, get those skates on, and they designed and built the Metro in fast time.

30
00:04:10.350 --> 00:04:16.370
Mike Grundy: The only slight difficulty was the the Exposition to open in April.

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Mike Grundy: The Metro wasn't actually operating until July.

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Mike Grundy: so that would have been pretty tough on the initial attendees.

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Mike Grundy: You may see at the bottom right of the picture 2 large buildings which are still there today. Fully functioning

34
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Mike Grundy: at the very bottom is the pretty Palais or the small palace. and just above it, across the road, is a grand. a huge exhibition building

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Mike Grundy: which starred in the a recent mission. Impossible film with Tom Cruise as he ran along the glass roof.

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Mike Grundy: These 2 buildings with great galleries and exhibition halls, and they still do that today.

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Mike Grundy: This move from the expert itself to the style of the times.

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Mike Grundy: and I'll show you one of the staircases in the that building bottom right

39
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Mike Grundy: This is one of the most beautiful and exotic staircases. Spiral staircases I've seen is right on the end of one wing, and you see it's now a sumptuous art gallery with permanent exhibition, like you see on the walls behind, and temporary exhibitions as they go through Europe.

40
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Mike Grundy: But you see in the railing there some of the trend towards the art nouveau style of very organic designs for anything, from buildings to railings to light fittings.

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Mike Grundy: and our nouveau was the style of the 1890 s. And the 19 hundreds

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Mike Grundy: principally a design style for interiors furnishings last way of fine art

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Mike Grundy: the principle of the but the basic design was all about having natural organic designs rather than ugly. Industrialize Re to linear designs. Let's make everything natural and beautiful.

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Mike Grundy: So design things in the in the style of the way plants are structured, the stalks of flowers, even in insects, everything natural.

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Mike Grundy:  who are the stars of the art nouveau movement? Well, you can look throughout the world. These are the principal practitioners initially in Belgium, with a guy called Victor Halter.

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Mike Grundy: and then in France with Hecta Grima, who will be the star of this show, is the creator of the Paris Metro

47
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Mike Grundy: in Austria. We have also Wagner, great architect, Scotland. You will remember Charles Running Mac and Josh

48
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Mike Grundy: Spain. who goes to Barcelona these days without visiting the works of Gaudi and in the U.S.A. Louis Sullivan.

49
00:07:01.340 --> 00:07:09.470
Mike Grundy: so very famous architects and designers Even today, looking at their contribution. At that time

50
00:07:16.670 --> 00:07:31.650
Mike Grundy: a new. Those started in in Belgium, in Brussels, and Victor also was very much the the the man who made it possible. He designed a number of apartment houses, and you see here an example. The very first one.

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Mike Grundy: 4 of these apartments. Apartment houses are now unesco world heritage sites. That's how much they're valued. But you look at the spiral design on the stairway, the railing, the balustrade going up with those beautiful tendrils.

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Mike Grundy: the metal pillar which at the top of it it's like a a plant branching out into into a display display, and on the right hand side, more railings with exotic designs

53
00:08:03.140 --> 00:08:04.969
Mike Grundy: and on the floor.

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00:08:05.430 --> 00:08:10.490
Mike Grundy: So this was going into a nouveau in a big way in Belgium.

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Mike Grundy: and then eventually very quickly

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Mike Grundy: moved to Paris, adopted by Paris.

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00:08:17.370 --> 00:08:27.250
Mike Grundy: there was a a mes on a nouveau which actually promulgated the style by a a famous entrepreneur called secret Bing.

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Mike Grundy: And he basically was a focal point in Paris for this design.

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Mike Grundy: But here, no doubt, many of you have been to Maxim's and dined in fine style in this art nouveau interior.

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Mike Grundy: You look at the mirror.

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Mike Grundy: Well, what a shape that is! You look at the lights on the on the top of the cabinet on the right hand side. It's as if they have plants the little spikes on them, and drooping over the flower heads, which are the lamps.

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Mike Grundy: so to this day still in this design.

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00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:04.600
Mike Grundy: and then a treasure.

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Mike Grundy: And Hector was one of the key architects, a very young architect of the time, and he's most famous outside of the Metro for this apartment building castle.

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Mike Grundy: and just one example of the style of that building and the decor. These are the front gates.

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Mike Grundy: Have you ever seen gates like this?

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Mike Grundy: you will see similar designs in Lille in Antwerp, right across the Divide of France and Belgium.

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Mike Grundy: and you will see lots of the badges, symbols of art nouveau like whiplash designs in some of the fine metal.

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Mike Grundy: and we even have these designs creep into the stonework. If you look at the top of that image

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Mike Grundy: so very much at the forefront of our nouveau, but not not really in terms of the established art of design community.

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Mike Grundy: So it's a bit of a surprise when the chairman of the committee to decide the architecture for the Metro decided on this young architect

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Mike Grundy: and on his style of

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Mike Grundy: one of the reasons why the French and that chairman of the committee went for a nouveau was Paris, had just been restyled

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Mike Grundy: by Louis Napoleon, Napoleon the Third, the President, the Emperor, and then under him Houseman

75
00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:44.899
Mike Grundy: House one's Paris, creating the new boulevards of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: And here you see, even in the rain, people in their best dress flaunting themselves, parading themselves around this very stock, but very elegant architecture

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Mike Grundy: you see, on the building on the top left, you see the standard, which is, you'll have a balcony railing all along the second floor, and then all along the top floor of these buildings it's very, very standardized.

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Mike Grundy: This picture, one of my favorite of Paris, by Chi Bot, one of the lesser known of the impressionist group.

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Mike Grundy: This is a picture today of a building almost next to the opera, the Garni Opera House, and you see the same thing, not quite so many stories.

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Mike Grundy: But how do you put the station building as we have in London into that scene without messing up the clarity of this view of the Parisian boulevard.

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Mike Grundy: Well, you minimize the station entrances and you put all the functions below.

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Mike Grundy: This is the minimal standard entrance to the Metro within Paris, designed by H. To Green.

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Mike Grundy: These are just steps leading down off the street. We have the Guardian all behind. So many of you, I'm sure, will have actually used the entrance to this to this station below the ground.

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Mike Grundy: And what can you say about that entrance? It's very much like the London underground entrance or 2 of them at Piccadilly Circus. But here we have these elegant organic designs.

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Mike Grundy: Do you think those stalks going up into the sky, holding those gleaming red eyes.

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Mike Grundy: Are they triffids?

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Mike Grundy: Are they going to leap down and kill anybody daring to go down these steps?

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Mike Grundy: No, they're not. They just the standard design such. That night you have enough light to be able to go down safely into the booking office and the platforms below

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Mike Grundy: and the railing.

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Mike Grundy: Okay, it's just functional to stop people falling down the whole. But it is with an exotic design which we'll look at in a moment.

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Mike Grundy: Variations on the theme. Sometimes you get a glass canopy

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Mike Grundy: here at Chatterley, the largest of all the metro stations below ground. We have this beautiful glass and iron roof.

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Mike Grundy: and this quote. these kind of designs are called liberal yules by the French or dragon flies.

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Mike Grundy: and it's almost as if if the winds get something they will jump up, it will float off from where they are anchored, and they end up somewhere else in Paris.

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Mike Grundy: Absolutely delightful.

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Mike Grundy: I only have a passing moment of regret. It's about the fact that you can see the graffiti that the bounds in Paris much more so than in London.

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Mike Grundy: And here's another version. Everything is covered in in this version.

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Mike Grundy: This is in Avenue Fosh. This is a national monument. Most of these entrances are preserved as national pieces of Architecture

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Mike Grundy: Avenue, for she is the smartest place you can live in Paris. It's between the the tree on from the Vladimir.

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Mike Grundy: Lots of people going there recently for the French open tennis tournament. So they have one of the smarter entrances, giving them cover from the weather.

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Mike Grundy: And if you examine these buildings

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Mike Grundy: carefully, you find this amazing detail on the right hand side. This would in London be just a round pole as one end of this structure here. It's like the leg of an animal or an insect with the skin tightly drawn on the skeleton. All this the structure, internal structure of whatever animal, is

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Mike Grundy: on the left hand side you see, one of these plates which are decorating the bottom half of the rules.

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Mike Grundy: One of the things about our new, though, is that it should never be symmetrical. I I was disappointed in this standard design.

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Mike Grundy: but, in fact, if you look at it very carefully, they follow the rules. It isn't quite symmetrical.

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Mike Grundy: One or 2 of these stations were substantial.

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Mike Grundy: and here they were called to go. This, as in Japanese, for those or pavilions.

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Mike Grundy: there were only 3 of them, one of Bastille, 2 at the.

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Mike Grundy: and they were removed in the sixties for road widening.

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Mike Grundy: However, if you go to the where they were located today. There's nothing there. The road hasn't been widened. Further.

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Mike Grundy: I think the French are so ashamed of having not these amazing build buildings down

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Mike Grundy: that they destroyed all of the photographs as well. that's just my observation. Obviously not true.

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Mike Grundy: But look at that. It's almost as you go into the station through those central color doors that you're going into the mouth of some massive insects.

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Mike Grundy: Not a pretty thought.

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Mike Grundy: It's all important on the metro, as far as Paris is concerned.

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Mike Grundy: outside of the Eiffel Tower. This is the symbol that travel companies use to say you are absolutely in Paris.

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Mike Grundy: So these 2 elements of entrances and roofs.

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Mike Grundy: In these major guides to Paris everybody recognizes Paris by the art of the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: and the Metro isn't just. In Paris you will find Paris match of entrances in

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Mike Grundy: well, Moscow, Lisbon, Mexico City, Chicago.

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Mike Grundy: New York. Washington. and Montreal.

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Mike Grundy: Sadly, these entrances are just entrances, and you can't get a ticket from Chicago to Paris on the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: But maybe one day, who knows?

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Mike Grundy: So that's about the Metro itself. But what about the art that's on the walls effectively. All of the art is showing off is celebrating the great qualities of France, and it's people

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Mike Grundy: everything from culture to science. It's military, industrial capability

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Mike Grundy: and the principles of its constitutions.

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Mike Grundy: Democracy, obviously liberty, the quality and fraternity.

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Mike Grundy: Let's see if we can take off one or 2 of those as we go.

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Mike Grundy: This is a Metro station.

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Mike Grundy: You can see the platform at the bottom of the screen, and below that the rails the same structure as Baker Street Station in London.

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Mike Grundy: But what on earth is this decor? I usually ask you a live audience for suggestions.

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Mike Grundy: but this let me put you out of any misery. This is a full scale replica of Jules Burns submarine, the Nautilus

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Mike Grundy: from 40 sorry. 20,000 leads under the sea.

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Mike Grundy: This is a submarine that can go twice around the world submerged

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Mike Grundy: in the imagination of Jules.

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Mike Grundy: And this is set. This station is set below the they are famous college and institution of arts and crafts and technology

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Mike Grundy: going forward.

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Mike Grundy: So you have the portholes on the side of the submarine. The whole casing of the submarine is in copper. and the drive shaft and the cogs and gear wheels are in the vault.

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Mike Grundy: so I've never seen anywhere else in the world such a an amazing and total work of art in the station itself.

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Mike Grundy: I'll just have a look here. Yeah. By the way. in every country a league is something different. A league is a Roman measurement.

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Mike Grundy: but in France it me. It's 3 miles

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Mike Grundy: in good old English models.

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Mike Grundy: So how do I tell you all about the art. What we're gonna do is go down the original line built for the Expo Universal.

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Mike Grundy: and it's line one. and we're going to go through each station with our. and just see this as a taste of what's to come. This is one of my very simple maps of

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Mike Grundy: front of Paris, but I'm sure you can see the same in blue. and the major items, the major

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Mike Grundy: on the on the Tory fell.

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Mike Grundy: and the

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Mike Grundy: so starting up by steel in the East End of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: We will look sorry.

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Mike Grundy: I'm just gonna look at my map.

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Mike Grundy: Yes, in the East End of Paris. okay, the ambassador, you wouldn't expect anything else as murals right along the platform walls, which, above above ground at this stage of the events of the Revolution.

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Mike Grundy: which were triggered by many things, but including the storming of the Bastille prison for so called

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Mike Grundy: political prisoners.

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Mike Grundy: This is one of the examples, and this gives you the timeline of the Revolution.

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Mike Grundy: famous year 1,789

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Mike Grundy: top left of the screen, the opening of the Estate General, where the King had to go to the people at the aristocracy and the common people and the church to agree fast. You taxes to make and maintain his lifestyle.

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Mike Grundy: And they didn't agree, and on the twentieth of June of the tab at the bottom of the slide they got the just the people the representatives of people got together in the show. The poem or squash court, basically a huge French version. Swash Court

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Mike Grundy: agreed that they would not rest until aid. got representation of the people.

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Mike Grundy: and then the fourteenth of July, one month later, the Bastille was stormed.

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Mike Grundy: Then the going along the platform. This just a a vast series of mosaics, of scenes from the Revolution.

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Mike Grundy: So if you want to understand the revolution and the scenes around Paris. then wander along the platform of by steel

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Mike Grundy: moving on as we have to do. We come to the City Hall or the Hotel de Veal on the City Hall.

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Mike Grundy:  But down some 30 years previously. On one of them many other revolutions.

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Mike Grundy:  basically has the coat of arms of Paris displayed on the Metro station below it.

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Mike Grundy: also of notes on the top left of your screen. these are the supports for the roadway above. as all of the metro stations on line one are just skin deep below the road, a lot of the Shawns, and the Ruda rivering along the Louvre.

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Mike Grundy: red and blue, or the colors of Paris. So let's set the scene. But let's look at that code of arms setting that kind of tile mosaic

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Mike Grundy: and see what it means. We have the red and the blue obviously, of Paris. We have the the symbol of the monarchy and of France.

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Mike Grundy: behind the red. We have a boat. You wouldn't think that so sailing would be part of the core function of Paris. But in the early 11 hundreds, 12 hundreds

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Mike Grundy: the fishing industry was a big big industry in Paris with fish bought up the same from

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Mike Grundy: from the Channel clearly, and the people who ran that industry with the marshmallow, and they got their badge on the city.

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Mike Grundy: Then we have the motto. Fluctuate to that, and that's where it's

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Mike Grundy: we float. but we don't sink.

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Mike Grundy: And then at the bottom we have a point about that in a moment.

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Mike Grundy: and then the bottom. We have the 3 great medals achieved by Paris, awarded to Paris by the French Government.

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Mike Grundy: and these are in turn the legend on that.

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Mike Grundy:  then on the fully on the right, we have the  the the flag of the occupation surviving the occupation.

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Mike Grundy: And I'll come back to the one in the middle if I forget before we get to the end.

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Mike Grundy: Oh, the quad again! Of course the awarded in 19 20 after the First World War.

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Mike Grundy: The next start we come to is on Chatterley Station, the largest station of all. It has about 11 lines going through it a bit like kings cross and pancreas. and here, or in a maze of tunnels and passageways, you you suddenly find yourself walking towards this

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Mike Grundy: extremely red and white piece of art piece of abstract dance by bash alone, and he was given a remit which he carried forward to about 6 stations on the Metro

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Mike Grundy: to create these kind of murals.

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Mike Grundy: just to decorate the structure, the building.

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Mike Grundy: And then we come to the Louvre. Whenever a metro system comes to the great museums of the world. Then it typically has replica exhibits on the platform to give you an early taster of what you will see ahead.

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Mike Grundy: and here we see what many statues on the left hand side, but in particular the bust of Marie Antoinette.

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Mike Grundy: one of the leading victims of the Revolution.

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Mike Grundy: We' it in 1,793,

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Mike Grundy: and, like many of the queens of France, the daughter of like the King and a an Austrian princess.

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Mike Grundy: somebody who had sufficient statutes of marriage becoming Queen of France.

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Mike Grundy: Much of the money exhibits from ancient Greece and ancient Rome. The classical world.

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Mike Grundy: we have the Greek sculptor practically his work on the left hand side here

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Mike Grundy: in the fourth century, Bce.

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Mike Grundy: And we'll always have Venus sculptors always go for Venus. And here Alexandra Gross of Antioch, is creating this beautiful statue of Venus.

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Mike Grundy: I'd like to hear it for Frank S. Italy's on the left hand. Side amazing detail. This is very early, full century. Bce.

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Mike Grundy: Frank Italy's was the man who first of all carved on naked Venus. which was completely unacceptable to most people in ancient Greece at the time

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Mike Grundy: women work were sculpted with flowing robes, and men were scolded typically naked.

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Mike Grundy: Well, frankly, it's change. All of that with is one statue of Venus.

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Mike Grundy: Then we come to another station which is still serving. The Louvre is so large it has 2 stations on this line, and others.

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Mike Grundy: But this is at the Palais Royal, one of those royal palaces.

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Mike Grundy: and the Mexicans have decided we'd like a Metro entrance. Can we have one, please.

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Mike Grundy: And Paris said, Yes, please do. But can we have your idea of an even better major entrance? And so this is a work of art by a famous Mexican designer

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Mike Grundy: in the end, crafted by technicians from the island near Venice, famous for glassware.

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Mike Grundy: And we have so this, what exotic entrance, which you can only really appreciate how exhausting it is at night, when all of these gloves are lit up.

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Mike Grundy: and then weary the gardens in front of the Louvre. Between the Louvre and the plaster of the Concorde, we have a celebration of a hundred years of the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: and here, in a series of panels all around the platforms.

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Mike Grundy: we can see the major events of the time. and in 1,900, the decade from 1,900. We have the suffragist. the Suffragettes of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: They weren't quite as violence and as in Pre as a insistent as English suffragettes.

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Mike Grundy: So the French leaders got the vote in 1,945, a little bit late on.

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Mike Grundy: But we also see at the top of this image we see Blerio, crossing the Channel in 1,909,

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Mike Grundy: and

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Mike Grundy: of notes on the top less corner we see me. which they concede in the writing was actually invented by Mr. Hornby in England in the 1890 S.

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Mike Grundy: But it we call such a the swathe through the toy shops of France, so is sufficiently important to be included here.

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Mike Grundy: We won't look at every year, but here is the 19 twenties.

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Mike Grundy: and we have the spirit of St. Louis flying single-handed

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Mike Grundy: by Charles Lindbergh all the way from America to Paris, and landing at the Paris airport.

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Mike Grundy: and I was always pretty missed about that. That. He flew over Ireland and over England.

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Mike Grundy: I thought he was just showing off, and he liked to be friendly to the French. It's actually he did that to achieve a prize

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Mike Grundy: which was the prize offered to try and encourage people to do the be the first to do this transatlantic crossing. So we had to go to

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Mike Grundy: Paris. Don't blame him.

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Mike Grundy: Come to the 19 fifties, and it's the popular world of.

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Mike Grundy: And we see 2 examples of cinema icons on the left, obviously adopting, and Brigitte Bardo is just hiding behind that electric cabinet, which is a rather an unfortunate addition you often find to this the Metro, the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: 19 nineties. Clearly Nelson Mandela freed from prison, a major event across the world, and especially

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Mike Grundy: Parisians and the French, took him to their heart.

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Mike Grundy: it's also celebrating

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Mike Grundy: the the artwork on Concorde, which is the next station we're coming to, which seems to be an amazing game of scrabble

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Mike Grundy: a wonderful.

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Mike Grundy: all right before I go on to that. Obviously I have to extend my comments about the French adopting foreign celebrities as their own, and certainly a lot of people in France would think Charlie Chaplin was a Frenchman, all certainly inspired by French mime artists.

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Mike Grundy: and Josephine Baker, the American exotic dancer in the bottom of the screen. Well, the French took her to their hearts.

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Mike Grundy: so did the Berliners. but much more so than the Americans.

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Mike Grundy: so we're halfway down line one

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Mike Grundy: that symbol you are here. We just about to go to the plaster icon called the very center of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: and here we have any just a small part of that scrabble board on the walls of the of the Concorde station.

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Mike Grundy: and as you might be able to see in French. Of course it gives the the rights, the human rights, the rights of man that were publicized, that developed and publicized as a result of the French Revolution.

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Mike Grundy: and trying to put in words the rights of every individual person in the country.

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Mike Grundy:  Why

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Mike Grundy: is it so difficult to read? Well, they clearly didn't have any blank tiles to separate the words.

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Mike Grundy: Well, clearly, it's a deliberate work of art, and they thought as well and just making it easy. They make it a puzzle for you to work out

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Mike Grundy: what these all of these words say.

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Mike Grundy: She was on it on for a zoom. Innocent in English. Every man is presumed innocent, and so forth.

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Mike Grundy: So they're very proud of their record on human rights and the institution of human rights from 1,789

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Mike Grundy: as such they've got to include obviously, quite a lot

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Mike Grundy: of this provision of this document that was published. Well, the even this doesn't cut it. Really.

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Mike Grundy: these times cover the whole domain of the station below ground.

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Mike Grundy: just astonishing. and obviously it

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Mike Grundy: an extremely dangerous work of art. Because if you stand there reading the tiles on the wall and gradually read up.

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Mike Grundy: So the rest of them you will definitely stagger backwards and onto the railway lines.

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Mike Grundy: Now all of these stations have platform age walls, barriers, as we do on the Elizabeth line.

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Mike Grundy: And they are putting those barriers in every station on the Metro. Quite a challenge, and we are going that far.

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Mike Grundy: The first station on the

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Mike Grundy: is also named after the Prime Minister of France. Towards the end of the war there, Lloyd George.

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Mike Grundy: and here we get the Portuguese saying, We like to decorate this station.

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Mike Grundy: Paris Metro is famous for its beveled white tiles, or they do some Portuguese Portuguese variations on these tiles in their own style.

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Mike Grundy: Some are all these massive cities

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Mike Grundy: high rise cities in these kind of pictures. There's a number of these, but generally they're all geometric shapes in bright colors, which really do brighten up and vary the normal metro scene.

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Mike Grundy: The next one, the station named after after Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Mike Grundy: After clearly his role in freeing France from the occupation. Unfortunately, the original designs of this station have been subsumed by a pure advertising domain

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Mike Grundy: in this case for timberland. But there is companies. Take it over.

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Mike Grundy: Why am I even bothering to show it? Well? Because this was the art station of the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: Let me go on to show you why.

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Mike Grundy: Originally they decided in the fifties

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Mike Grundy: to incorporate arts right throughout the the platforms and the step on the station booking a whole

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Mike Grundy: Us. And to do it basically do replicas of famous works of art.

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Mike Grundy: from the impressionist onwards. and including a lot of live artists contributing like. I like Picasso.

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Mike Grundy: So they had to go to the representatives of all of these artists, and they got them to agree to Gmo being made, ie. Transferring the images to stained glass, and then having them eliminated from behind

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Mike Grundy: on the platforms of the station. So we had all of these wonderful works of our shining out.

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Mike Grundy: many Renoir to fee, but more so find golf.

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Mike Grundy: It was a dazzling display

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Mike Grundy: Picasso was included.

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Mike Grundy: and in fact, he said, when asked, Can we put one of your works of ours on the platform? He said, well, you can, but I'd rather decorate the whole station.

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Mike Grundy: every part of the station.

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Mike Grundy: And

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Mike Grundy: okay, he wasn't that famous so famous at the time, I mean, he was. His reputation was a wide enough to be equivalent to these, but they said, No, thank you, Pablo, I will carry on. Just give us the one.

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Mike Grundy: Well, all of that's been swept away tragically, and just 3 of the artworks have been preserved in the ticket office above the platforms.

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Mike Grundy: And you see my photograph of the work of art, the stained glass on the right. and the real work of all the the the reputter of on the left.

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Mike Grundy: So here's says an with his flowers.

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Mike Grundy: Yeah, there you go with this young one of the.

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Mike Grundy: And here at last we have Picasso with one of his typical images of guitars and mirrors and still other objects of still live.

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Mike Grundy: This isn't the only part role of Picasso on the metro. Hopefully. We'll have time to go and see the other key elements of.

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Mike Grundy: and the last station we'll look at on. the line, one on the beyond the Shawn's at least it towards a lot of phones is Argentine.

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Mike Grundy: The French have a very close relationship with Argentina partly because the French and the Argentines believe

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Mike Grundy: that the the French forces in times past prevented Argentina becoming an English colony.

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Mike Grundy: I he kept us away.

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Mike Grundy: They also. Argentina was very helpful to France after the Second World War, in supplying food stuff and equipment to help them in the recovery

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Mike Grundy: from the occupation.

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Mike Grundy: So in Argentine on the platform we have a whole series of celebrations of the one just wonders of Argentina. and here we have the Falls. One of the most spectacular falls in the world.

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Mike Grundy: The widest falls in the world.

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Mike Grundy: and at peak flow the the falls with the largest peak flow in the world. So it's spectacular. I've enjoyed that very much on a visit there.

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Mike Grundy: and I've also enjoyed going to the nightclub called Godel.

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Mike Grundy: God always celebrates the greatest exponent ever of the tango

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Mike Grundy: Carlos. You can see his face on top right.

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Mike Grundy: and you can see the the instrument that's peculiar to Argentine tango. On the left the band onion.

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Mike Grundy: which is a huge, huge, wide instrument.

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Mike Grundy: Why do I go on about this? Well, there's a station called Guardel.

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Mike Grundy: and there and then other places in Buenos Aires you will see elements of the tango, and

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Mike Grundy: and I bring you 2 images from the urgency, and Metro, the Buenos Aires Metro

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Mike Grundy: taken by myself on the top left. We have Godel playing his violin, and all of the dancers dancing the tango around him.

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Mike Grundy: and

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Mike Grundy: the pre eminent player of the band onion. It's very wide accordion with a.

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Mike Grundy: I'm sure you knew that, anyway. And here's this brilliant William on a take off of him, trying to take out to the maximum with this very

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Mike Grundy: plaintive, mournful instrument.

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Mike Grundy: So

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Mike Grundy: we've done line one. We've wandered around a bit to places our guys and Tina. But let's have a look at one or 2 of the best of the rest artworks on the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: I will try and find out where they are above ground. I would show you the Metro, but it is like a spider's web.

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Mike Grundy: So what about the Latin Quarter? Just south of the

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Mike Grundy: well again, they are using the whole vault of the station below ground

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Mike Grundy: over the 2 platforms and the rail lines to make the points.

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Mike Grundy: And here we have. We're celebrating 54 heroes of the Latin Quarter.

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Mike Grundy: and it. We're celebrating it in these wonderful mosaics in this case, from a bird flying across the the the Latin district.

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Mike Grundy: and on the rest of the wall. We have the

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Mike Grundy: the signatures of these great heroes of the cultural side of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: and uniquely for underground art. They have a little board explaining what it's all about.

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Mike Grundy: And essentially you can see at the top some of the people celebrated here

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Mike Grundy: Moly air Voltaire, Michel A. At the bottom, Victor Hugo, the staff, Corby

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Mike Grundy: and below it just says what what they are. This, this station celebrates the signatures of poets, writers, philosophers, artists, men of science, kings

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Mike Grundy: and the government

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Mike Grundy: who have enriched culturally Paris and France over this period.

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Mike Grundy: The one I want to take your I to significantly is all the 2 top left. You see Eloise on the top right. You see.

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Mike Grundy: these guys are from the 11, some 11 hundreds to the earliest heroes of cultural France. Why?

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Mike Grundy: Well, they were both very precocious as young people. They both eventually went into the church.

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Mike Grundy: They both were into education and creating great new advances in the way. People were educated in particular in religion, with a more rational rather than

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Mike Grundy: dictatorial approach.

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Mike Grundy: but they're mainly famous because

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Mike Grundy: Abelard was meant to be teaching Eloise

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Mike Grundy: a little bit younger than he was all about religion and all about culture.

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Mike Grundy: and he got a bit distracted by her beauty.

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Mike Grundy: and she ended up pregnant. and

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Mike Grundy: the master Full Bear. He was meant to be looking after. The 2 of them

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Mike Grundy: stumble upon them in a embrace, and they were basically.

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Mike Grundy: but in disgrace he was thrown out, and, in fact, as a punishment, he was castrated. Some days later

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Mike Grundy: they both went on to separately, become great icons of cultural learning.

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Mike Grundy: and so they they all their names known to it. Nearly every cultured Frenchman

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Mike Grundy: moving along towards the Eiffel Tower

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Mike Grundy: is the station, and Rhoda is the person we're celebrating here the great sculptor.

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Mike Grundy: and on the platform we have replicas of to his of his most famous. the thinker on the right hand side.

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Mike Grundy: It's actually a sculpture. Sculpture of

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Mike Grundy: it was the first and then one of the most important writers in

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Mike Grundy: pre Renaissance

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Mike Grundy: Italy in Florence.

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Mike Grundy: And then further along the platform you can just see a black blob top left. We have.

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Mike Grundy: honor, A, the Balzac, one of the leading French writers of the 18 hundreds, 19 hundreds. So the Rhoda Museum is just above here, as you might expect.

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Mike Grundy: the outer suburbs. the Bangladesh typically people kind of shrink when you say that because the outer sub of the Paris. a typically very concrete.

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Mike Grundy: typically pretty wild places.

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Mike Grundy: you gotta be careful when you're out there

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Mike Grundy: They all are mainly built in volume after the war.

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Mike Grundy: quickly.

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Mike Grundy: And here, in what was the old meat or cattle market? Not in the middle of the cattle market

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Mike Grundy: which was out at the gates of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: Now the cattle market is gone, and now it is a great park.

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Mike Grundy: but it's the theme of the park with the new buildings in it is music.

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Mike Grundy: We have the great Conservato of music. Here we have the main new Philharmonic Hall, and we have various other areas for study of music. And so, as you'd expect to see, we have music notes on the walls of the Metro.

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Mike Grundy: I've tried to play that tune on my piano. It isn't the tune they seem to be random notes. but anyway, perhaps it's the way I play the piano.

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Mike Grundy: and if if you want to see some interesting French architects by the dominant architecture architect of France these days, John Nouvelle, this is the new

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Mike Grundy: concert hall for Paris. The

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Mike Grundy: not only does it look horrific. This is a vast building

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Mike Grundy: It looks like Darth Vader's helmet to me. If Darth Vader was a massive giant.

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Mike Grundy: and you just imagine the people pouring out of this concert hall back to the Metro station coming down these steps.

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Mike Grundy: If the steps are full at the top and then being concentrated as you come down.

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Mike Grundy: Basically, this could be another disaster waiting to happen. But anyway, that's just my observation.

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Mike Grundy: Oh, we're back to Pablo Picasso.

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Mike Grundy: one of the most god forsaken concrete suburbs of Paris, is Bobbingy.

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Mike Grundy: and it's the end of the line.

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Mike Grundy: as you can see from the from the platforms down below coming to an end to the buffers. But above, we celebrate the fact that we've given Pablo Picasso's name to the station with this great well lit, mural in glass, in strands of glass, and on the left hand side of the mural

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Mike Grundy: we have a dove, the Dove of Peace.

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Mike Grundy: the dove designed by Pablo Picasso.

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Mike Grundy: and they came, the emblem of the World Peace Council. which was a movement financed almost entirely by Russia after the war

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Mike Grundy: which was trying to drive a program of peace, or should we say Russian propaganda across the world?

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Mike Grundy: This is one of the conferences in East Berlin, with people from all over the world, including Indian representatives. You can see here

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Mike Grundy: and above you see, the badge of the movement, which is because it is Dove

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Mike Grundy: he he was alive at that time. He contributed this with with gusto to the movement. The movement died as soon as the Russians pulled the plug out of the financing for the movement.

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Mike Grundy: but also because Cnd was starting up.

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Mike Grundy: and with gathering far the more adherence to to it than this particular movement.

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Mike Grundy: but I'd never make fun clearly of a peace movement.

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Mike Grundy: And then, as we move on, we're going to come to the heart of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: the Grand Boulevard.

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Mike Grundy: the growing boulevard where they had the 4 houseman, the initial boulevards of Paris?

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Mike Grundy: And he just added a lot more.

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Mike Grundy: But what what does the art world say about the out of the Grand Boulevard?

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Mike Grundy: Well, I'm giving you a just a taste here to start with in Gallery Lafayette, one of the huge department stalls of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: it's gonna be a name we come across a lot. But I you, when I'm doing any kind of talk on Paris. I have to use that image on my left hand side of the central atrium at Christmas time.

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Mike Grundy: with that beautiful glass dome at the top. But what about the Underground? I want to get back on the agenda. and

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Mike Grundy: here we have a station dedicated to the Marquis de Lafayette.

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Mike Grundy: Unfortunately.

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Mike Grundy: most of the I work again is on the roof, the vault of the station over the over the line, so it's quite difficult to focus. But on the left or get the right angle, but on the left we have the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington.

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Mike Grundy: and over on the right we have the Marquis de Lafayette, who is celebrating with other other troops of his, the great factories.

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Mike Grundy: This is the time of the American War of Independence.

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Mike Grundy: Both France and the Americans are fighting in the old foe, the English, the British.

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Mike Grundy: and Marquis de Lafayette, against, without any permission from the French army.

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Mike Grundy: took ship to America, and offered Washington his services, and he ended up as a general

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Mike Grundy: in in battles like Bunker Hill.

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Mike Grundy:  very much the right hand man in the final phases of the war of George Washington

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Mike Grundy: when he eventually died. Many years later, the Marquis de Lafayette was buried in one of the major cemeteries of Paris.

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Mike Grundy: but under the soil of Bunker Hill.

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Mike Grundy: specially imported by the Americans as one of his famous victories.

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Mike Grundy: the Marquis de Lafayette, during the reign of Napoleon, which he did not agree with. He did not. He was a very much a constitutional character.

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Mike Grundy: he said to Napoleon. I will.

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Mike Grundy: I will not make make any revolution. I will not oppose you, but I so disapprove of your taking the role of Emperor that I cannot be engaged and support any of your activities, any retired from the Napoleonic period.

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Mike Grundy: Yeah, there's a picture of the 2 of them, Washington and Lafayette, riding

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Mike Grundy: together towards one of the battles

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Mike Grundy: of the American War of Independence.

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Mike Grundy: they. They want to keep making the points in more than one station. So very nearby cadets. Okay, they station.

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Mike Grundy: We have another celebration, mainly based on the colors of the American flag.

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Mike Grundy: So this is where the tunnel disappears, where the rails disappear into the tunnel, and they often decorate the same played in the ball of

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Mike Grundy: the station.

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Mike Grundy: And here this is the main fault of the same station. So the Stars and Stripes.

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Mike Grundy: But you'll see rather interestingly to me, anyway, that those the stars at the bottom of the screen are in a circle.

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Mike Grundy: and I was not aware of a flag American flag with the stars in a circle. This is called it. They actually were in a circle in the original find. It was called the Betsy Ross Flag. After the lady who actually

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Mike Grundy: built not built who made the first flag of this kind?

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Mike Grundy: And this is from one of the inaugurations of Barack Obama, and you see here, on the left and the right, we celebrate those very early days, revolutionary days of America

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Mike Grundy: in the War of Independence, with the original Betsy Ross flag of the styles in a circle.

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Mike Grundy: This is on the front of the capital building. really rather calmer than in some other

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Mike Grundy: times on, on those steps

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Mike Grundy: on Nouvelle.

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Mike Grundy: Well, right on the heart of the Grand Boulevard.

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Mike Grundy: and the station name just looks rather strange. It's in this wavy pattern.

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Mike Grundy: Not a no, no other station has a wavy pattern sign like this.

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Mike Grundy: What's it all about? I'm sure some of you can guess

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Mike Grundy: it's basically trying to replicate the feeling of the Hollywood sign

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Mike Grundy: the Hollywood sign itself is actually straight.

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Mike Grundy: but it's set on different parts of the hill. So when you look at it from down below. It has this wavy appearance. and this was just one item, one part of a celebration

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Mike Grundy: of the 100 years of the Metro and the achievements of the French in the world of cinema.

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Mike Grundy: Clearly the Lumiere brothers are one of the innovators who created the world of cinema, so they're quite entitled, I think, to be given the credit as one of the founders.

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Mike Grundy: If you come up from Bo Nuvell station, you find opposite you this amazing cinema.

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Mike Grundy: This is the art deco of the cinema world of the thirties

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Mike Grundy: to its extreme

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Mike Grundy: right, at the top of this central of this pillar, on the corner, you see the kind of architecture you see on the twentieth century fox.

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Mike Grundy: 9 points that you see in front of their films.

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Mike Grundy: and then all of those designs as art deco designs as you come down to the ground level.

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Mike Grundy: This is an amazing cinema. It was one of the largest cinemas in Europe.

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Mike Grundy: It now is the largest cinema in Europe. and inside it

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Mike Grundy: you see the spectacular auditorium.

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Mike Grundy: It also holds stage shows as well as cinemas

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Mike Grundy: as well as movies.

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Mike Grundy: And this is very much of a this building is at the heart of the what the French feel about the the occupation of the Second World War, because in the occupation

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Mike Grundy: only Germans were allowed to come to this cinema.

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Mike Grundy: No French people were allowed in

435
00:55:35.920 --> 00:55:40.880
Mike Grundy: Originally we had cinemas like. For instance, I have a Smith audience

436
00:55:40.960 --> 00:55:46.520
Mike Grundy: and the Chocolate Era, the Elephant Council, which work much bigger than this.

437
00:55:46.670 --> 00:55:56.170
Mike Grundy: But sadly, we've lost those in London, and, thank goodness, the French have seen fit to celebrate this as a national monument, and a reminder

438
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Mike Grundy: of what they lost in the occupation.

439
00:56:04.600 --> 00:56:12.410
Mike Grundy: If we come a little bit towards the Madeleine church and go down the steps to the platforms.

440
00:56:12.550 --> 00:56:19.780
Mike Grundy: Then we find a contribution from Russia. and this is this is the hen that lays the golden eggs.

441
00:56:20.390 --> 00:56:25.839
Mike Grundy: and the hen is a flat mosaic on the end of a tunnel, but

442
00:56:26.180 --> 00:56:40.920
Mike Grundy: that you can see the golden egg to the right, and that sticks out as a huge. very weighty, impossible to quickly pick up and run away with. I'm sure it's not solid gold, anyway, and you've got all of this Russian symbology

443
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Mike Grundy: on the wall behind it. So in better times for Franco, Russian

444
00:56:47.080 --> 00:56:57.350
Mike Grundy: connections, diplomacy! This was a well appreciated gift. but it's rather ironic that so the the French

445
00:56:57.460 --> 00:57:04.050
Mike Grundy: Metro system decided to offer them a Metro entrance in Moscow.

446
00:57:04.420 --> 00:57:08.359
Mike Grundy: and the station they chose was Kiev Sky.

447
00:57:09.300 --> 00:57:12.500
Mike Grundy: the main station from Moscow to the Ukraine.

448
00:57:16.190 --> 00:57:20.460
Mike Grundy: and here you can just about see in the gloom you can see

449
00:57:20.530 --> 00:57:28.449
Mike Grundy: the Russian station of Here sky and the Metro entrance to it.

450
00:57:31.550 --> 00:57:32.570
Mike Grundy: Harmony.

451
00:57:34.050 --> 00:57:45.759
Mike Grundy: the Canadian gift. It's from a lyrical poem which I won't bother to try and explain the the words key words are up there in French. And this is the translation.

452
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Mike Grundy: So it's a dream, a work of

453
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Mike Grundy: the guard, a list. one of the main line stations right next to the guard. You know.

454
00:58:00.410 --> 00:58:04.540
Mike Grundy: as above this major entrance, this picture.

455
00:58:04.770 --> 00:58:06.620
Mike Grundy: this huge picture

456
00:58:06.790 --> 00:58:09.909
Mike Grundy: of the departure of the infantry man

457
00:58:10.220 --> 00:58:18.410
Mike Grundy: of the First World War. This is the station that most Parisians use to join up and go to the front at they are done.

458
00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:36.879
Mike Grundy: and this is this is a picture of the parents, the mother on the left, the father on the right of the young man is waving in arms in the air, going off to war confidently. In June, 1,918, as the Storm Cloud. Sorry in

459
00:58:37.240 --> 00:58:39.310
Mike Grundy: in 1,914.

460
00:58:39.330 --> 00:58:54.100
Mike Grundy: But this is a true story. He was killed after being of the surviving 4 years of the war. So a tragedy amongst over a million, 1.5 million tragedies for French people.

461
00:58:55.690 --> 00:59:03.660
Mike Grundy: But we will conclude this presentation with possibly the most important man of all. If you value your French

462
00:59:03.700 --> 00:59:13.170
Mike Grundy: fries. This is a station in honor of Par Montier. it gives his name to Palmontier potatoes, and here.

463
00:59:13.180 --> 00:59:20.719
Mike Grundy: just like on the coast of arms of Paris, we have equally important a potato plants.

464
00:59:21.370 --> 00:59:26.380
Mike Grundy: and Palmontier lived in the time of Marie Antoinette. and

465
00:59:26.570 --> 00:59:36.949
Mike Grundy: persuaded the King and Marianne for that the potato was the solution to the hunger. The family in France in particular in Paris.

466
00:59:37.020 --> 00:59:44.570
Mike Grundy: and we should not. The French should not just see it as food for pigs, but they should see it as food for the people.

467
00:59:47.170 --> 00:59:51.970
Mike Grundy: and of course my aunts, when it also like to off the Kate to the people.

468
00:59:53.820 --> 01:00:00.249
Mike Grundy: And here in a nation and alcove on the platform, this is a technique used in quite a few metro stations.

469
01:00:00.280 --> 01:00:04.410
Mike Grundy: We have on the right. giving the potato

470
01:00:04.620 --> 01:00:08.480
Mike Grundy: to seed and to grow further potato fields.

471
01:00:08.660 --> 01:00:10.639
Mike Grundy: the grateful French farmer.

472
01:00:16.050 --> 01:00:20.590
Mike Grundy: so I have to withdraw now from my underground vigil.

473
01:00:20.600 --> 01:00:29.419
Mike Grundy: I come up to to the surface the iphone tower and say farewell to parents. Farewell to the art of the Metro.

474
01:00:29.520 --> 01:00:36.479
Mike Grundy: We have probably seen about a third of the major artworks of the Metro.

475
01:00:36.620 --> 01:00:40.800
Mike Grundy: and there's been some pieces everywhere. I hope you enjoyed it.

476
01:00:40.900 --> 01:00:49.420
Mike Grundy: I hope, like me, you'll spend some time just pausing occasionally on the metro and admiring some of these great works of arts.

477
01:00:49.790 --> 01:00:50.679
Mike Grundy: Thank you.

478
01:00:51.470 --> 01:00:57.690
Fiona Wright: Thanks very much. Mike, we've got a couple of questions. I don't know if you want to sort of take your presentation down

479
01:00:57.840 --> 01:01:23.579
Fiona Wright: and there's just a couple of questions. I know we've run on a little bit, but I think it was great to see all of those other parts of the the metro system. And now quick question. And from Jan, actually, it's quite an interesting question. Where the metro stations changed or enhanced at all for any of the Paris Olympics, and will be the they'd be doing anything like that for next year's Olympics.

480
01:01:24.880 --> 01:01:25.830
Fiona Wright: Do we know

481
01:01:26.680 --> 01:01:37.069
Mike Grundy: I'm sorry I'm just filling around with my screen in my memory. Going a bit. Bonkers. I will now stop the share. Sorry. Okay, fine.

482
01:01:37.230 --> 01:01:39.570
Mike Grundy: Could you repeat the question? Sorry, of course.

483
01:01:39.620 --> 01:01:41.199
and this is from Jen.

484
01:01:41.340 --> 01:01:55.469
Fiona Wright: She's asking whether any of the metro stations were changed or enhanced for any of the past Paris Olympics, and whether they would do something like that for, or the planning to do anything like that for next year's Olympics in 2,024.

485
01:01:55.710 --> 01:01:57.709
Mike Grundy: Yes, they

486
01:01:58.110 --> 01:02:03.400
Mike Grundy: I don't know of any of the plans. I would be astonished if they don't.

487
01:02:03.580 --> 01:02:08.419
Mike Grundy: change some of some of these I've I've been I last went to Paris

488
01:02:08.540 --> 01:02:11.320
Mike Grundy: 2 years ago.

489
01:02:11.860 --> 01:02:13.999
Mike Grundy: and I did a quick audit

490
01:02:14.140 --> 01:02:25.819
Mike Grundy: and they hadn't changed a lot in that period. Obviously, we're talking about the lead up to Covid, and so forth. But so I will be keeping a very close eye on what's happening.

491
01:02:26.150 --> 01:02:31.679
Fiona Wright: but yes, I I don't know of any specific

492
01:02:31.690 --> 01:02:43.819
Fiona Wright: And another question. If that's a question from me, if nobody minds me asking questions. Franklin, do you? R about station? you talked about the glass panels.

493
01:02:44.440 --> 01:02:49.859
Fiona Wright: and only some of them remain in situ. What happened to the others do we know?

494
01:02:50.280 --> 01:02:55.370
Mike Grundy: No, I don't. Whether they were taken away and and sold off.

495
01:02:55.890 --> 01:03:08.219
Mike Grundy: or whatever happens, there is no trace of them on the Internet for sure. and you get blank looks. Well, I get like that when I ask station managers what happened to the rest of them?

496
01:03:08.290 --> 01:03:10.200
Mike Grundy: so

497
01:03:10.470 --> 01:03:40.010
Mike Grundy: I think it's a bit like Les Al. You know their common garden. They they trashed most of those beautiful old come of those holes market halls. There's only 2 remaining out in the band here. So yeah, where they? I don't know the key thing, the the technique they use. They didn't use late to join the different pieces of glass. They manage to create a, a a, a, a, a way of doing that without having led to support the image.

498
01:03:40.040 --> 01:03:43.420
Fiona Wright: And one final question, and then we'll wrap up folks.

499
01:03:44.500 --> 01:03:47.700
Fiona Wright: What's your favorite station on the on the Metro. And why

500
01:03:49.630 --> 01:03:53.920
Mike Grundy: you must have known you were. Gonna get asked that when Mike

501
01:03:55.140 --> 01:04:03.280
Mike Grundy: I'm just as quickly coming back. I have, I have to say it is. I also met here really, with the jubil firm submarine.

502
01:04:03.350 --> 01:04:06.290
Mike Grundy: it is just such an outstanding

503
01:04:06.420 --> 01:04:11.200
Mike Grundy: piece of decor design.

504
01:04:11.370 --> 01:04:15.999
Mike Grundy: So yeah, my vote every time.

505
01:04:16.300 --> 01:04:38.929
Fiona Wright: Okay, well, I think we'll have to leave it there. Folks, we have run on a little bit. I hope everybody enjoyed that. I think you did. Given some of the comments that we've seen coming in, and just very quickly. If you're still there. I'm going to launch my poll. So if you wouldn't mind spending a few seconds just filling that in for me that would be fantastic, and I'll quickly tell you what we're going to have next week. So

506
01:04:39.100 --> 01:04:43.820
Fiona Wright: next week we are going to explore how spices change the world.

507
01:04:43.900 --> 01:04:51.969
Fiona Wright: So we're going to explore why they were so valued. What they were first used for. how fabulously expensive they were.

508
01:04:51.990 --> 01:05:20.739
Fiona Wright: and we'll consider how the spice trade acted as a Sp. To successive waves, and of world exploration and early colonization. and how the wealth that could be earned from the trade also naturally led to war and conflict as well. And taking in the East India Company, which I'm sure we've all heard of, and we'll discover how the trade led to the trappings of the modern world. that we know today with banks and shoes, companies and the Stock Exchange, so that all sounds fascinating for next week.

509
01:05:20.740 --> 01:05:33.909
Fiona Wright: and I hope you can join us for that. So I think all it remains for me to say is, thank you very much, Mike. Thanks to everybody else for joining us, and I hope you enjoyed it, and I shall see you next week. Thank you.
 

Lecture

The Somerset Wetlands

In the heart of Somerset lies the large wetland complex known as the Somerset Wetlands and is one of the largest areas of watery habitats surviving in the UK. In the winter-time, the wet fields and extensive reedbeds are home to nearly 100,000 water birds that travel from the arctic regions to overwinter in the mild conditions. Come Spring, the Bittern can heard booming in the reedbeds while Sipe and Lapwing display overhead.

Join WEA tutor Stephen Parker to discover the history and natural history of this important wetland area. We’ll also explore some of the challenges of managing such a large area, not only for its internationally significant wildlife but also the lives the local community. A fitting way to mark World Environment Day (5th June)

Video transcript

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Fiona Wright: Okay, Steven, it's over to you.

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Stephen Parker: Okay, thank you for that. Let me just start to share my screen

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hopefully. You can see that.

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Stephen Parker: Yeah, that's a lovely view of Glastonbury tour in the background there, looking across

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Stephen Parker: one of the many nature reserves that we find on the Somerset Wetlands.

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Stephen Parker: Now during the talk, I'll probably talk about the sunset levels and moors, because that is the name that

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Stephen Parker: they've been known for 2030 years or so before that they were known as Sedge More.

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Stephen Parker: and the name Somerset Wetlands is really

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Stephen Parker: to celebrate the fact that we've now got a super national nature reserve

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Stephen Parker: on on this area

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Stephen Parker: as soon as my.

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Stephen Parker: the area covers. a large part of of Somerset. it's about 170

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Stephen Parker: 1,000 acres. That's about 70,000 hectares

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Stephen Parker: It goes right up to the sea at Burnham and Bridgewater.

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Stephen Parker: and the file down to as Glastonbury, and almost reaches Yov. So a very large area.

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Stephen Parker: There are 5 or 6 main rivers that that that cover this area across this area. One thing to point out is is incredibly flat, flat, flat.

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Stephen Parker: And so water travels very slowly

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Stephen Parker: across this landscape. It is also an area of international importance. particularly for overwintering mortality. and I'll talk a little bit about that in a moment.

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Stephen Parker: If you drive down the M. 5 and look east.

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Stephen Parker: you can just about see Glastonbury tour. But in between you and Glasgow retur. There's this large extent to extensive wetland.

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Stephen Parker: There are some hills. There's a a set of hills known as the Poldon Hills, or the Poldon reach. and that divides the area. So this talk will look at both

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Stephen Parker: the area of the river brew and the area of the river parrot.

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Stephen Parker: Close to the coast is an area known as the Somerset levels or the coastal levels.

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Stephen Parker: This is a much older landscape, and you can see in the slide. Here

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Stephen Parker: the the ditches are

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Stephen Parker: bent, the bends and meanders in them, and this reflects the

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Stephen Parker: Restoration or the reclaiming from a coastal salt marsh habitat.

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Stephen Parker: This band is a a few miles wide.

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Stephen Parker: and it's rough, roughly bounded by the M. 5 motorway.

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Stephen Parker: Further inland. The rivers and the ditches are much straight, and it's a very

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Stephen Parker: man my landscape in many ways.

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Stephen Parker: This is the king sedge more drain. dug in about 1,800

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Stephen Parker: extended a few times wide and deepened, and whatever

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Stephen Parker: it's quite deep, it's a meter or so deep in, or 2 or 3 meters deep in some parts, whereas many of the ditches are actually much shallower than that.

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Stephen Parker: As I say, this is man-made

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Stephen Parker: and the water levels are managed and controlled.

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Stephen Parker: in this case by a very large structure known as the Grey Lakes. Loose.

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Stephen Parker: What you see here is a structure across the

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Stephen Parker: drying

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Stephen Parker: with 2 large fly wells, and these can be wound up or down, and that change

41
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Stephen Parker: changes the water level. The highest one of many hundreds are structures across the levels. Most of them are much smaller. So this is a a smaller tilting. We are

42
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Stephen Parker: again the same principle as you wine. The handle

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Stephen Parker: and the blade will come up, and the water behind that will will be raised to measure the depth and the extent of the water. There are depth gages quite frequently across the area.

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Stephen Parker: and nowadays there are a series of structures, a series of telemetry points that actually measure the water height, and that is recorded by

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Stephen Parker: either the Internal Drainage Board

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Stephen Parker: or the Environment Agency. Both of those organizations

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Stephen Parker: have duties to manage the area to manage this wetland. I'm mainly going to talk about the wildlife

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Stephen Parker: But management, particularly, the farming management, is critical to the wildlife as well.

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Stephen Parker: It is the ditches that are all one of the most striking features of the area. They support a a wide range of aquatic plants.

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Stephen Parker: and they also support large numbers of a swans, geese, and ducks.

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Stephen Parker: for example, this

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Stephen Parker: ditch here would support this for Spotted chaser.

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Stephen Parker: This one's early in the morning, so it's still covered in the due. But it's just one of many dragonflies or damsel flies that are across the area.

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Stephen Parker: The wetland is is very favorable to these creatures that spend

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Stephen Parker: much of their life actually in the water, and then come out. This time of year they merge from the

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Stephen Parker: ditches and Why, the board courses

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Stephen Parker: to a fly around the air. I was out today, and the many of them flying around

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Stephen Parker: of great importance. One of the the the main importance of the area is the assembly of water beetles.

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Stephen Parker: and this is one of the largest water beetles, so it's about the size of the pop of your hand. It's called the great Silver Water Beetle. but he's just one, and probably the largest one.

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Stephen Parker: a largest beetle in in in Britain. In fact.

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Stephen Parker: it's just one of many that you find in the area. Some of them are just about the size of a grain of rice.

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Stephen Parker: so that reflects some of the interest that's in the in the ditches.

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Stephen Parker: There is, a little bit of an issue, though, a major issue that you've probably heard of across other parts of the British hours, and that is, of course, is water quality.

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Stephen Parker: So the ditch here, which is covered in a a green plant, a green algae is actually the result of very high levels of phosphate and nitrate.

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Stephen Parker: and this can come from several sources.

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Stephen Parker: It can come from farming, as the the little photograph in the in the bottom there suggests. But it also can come from sewage treatment works.

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Stephen Parker: A lot of work is going on, and has been going on for a long time to to try and solve this problem.

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Stephen Parker: but it does rather ma the the the era in in some ways. as I say, not only

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Stephen Parker: is that a problem in Somerset it is widely recognized as a problem

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Stephen Parker: across the many of England and and Britain's rivers

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Stephen Parker: there are in places some fantastic meadows.

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Stephen Parker: These are a very species rich. They've got lots of wild flowers, such as the southern marsh or kits in the photograph here.

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Stephen Parker: This area, and and the name, I think, gives it away East and West waste

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Stephen Parker: So in the past these these places were extremely common, and not greatly valued by by people. Hence the name waste

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Stephen Parker: sadly. This is a habitat we've lost about 97% of since the Second World War.

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Stephen Parker: Luckily, in in the Somerset Wetlands we still have some of these wonderful

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Stephen Parker: wet, and in places

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Stephen Parker: fairly dry meadows.

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Stephen Parker: This area here is known as South Lake More.

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Stephen Parker: And it's part of this super national nature reserve. So Somerset levels of Moore's National Nature Reserve or Somerset Wetlands national Nature reserve.

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Stephen Parker: And this is an area that's been deliberately flooded.

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Stephen Parker: You might ask why, that is. And every winter it's possible to to raise the water levels here.

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Stephen Parker: For the benefit of the over wintering autof out ducks, geese.

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Stephen Parker: lap wing and and other water birds. So that's a deliberate flooding. But in 2,013, and the

85
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Stephen Parker: winter of 2,013, 2,014 we had extensive and and long-term flooding. So here, on West sedge one, another important site, a very important site

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Stephen Parker: there was flood water around for 4 months. Of course, wetlands and wet and wildlife is very capable of

87
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Stephen Parker: of dealing with that problem, and it is not a huge problem for the wildlife.

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Stephen Parker: It is quite a challenge. So

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Stephen Parker: for the people that live in the era, with roads being closed and and in a very few cases houses being flooded.

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Stephen Parker: So flooding is is valuable for wildlife. But it can cause issues with in other areas.

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Stephen Parker: Somerset wetlands are basically a farmed landscape. Mostly the fields are small, divided by these ditches.

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Stephen Parker: and mostly the farming is on a a relatively small scale. So this farmer here, with a relatively modern tractor, is bailing up the hay that's been cut, and that, of course, is conserved. Grass conserved food for animals in the winter time.

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Stephen Parker: Grazing animals are mostly represented by cattle. There are very few sheep.

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Stephen Parker: It's a bit too wet for sheep that would we would suffer a feet would suffer from that. I used to be, quite a lot of dairy in the area. So

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Stephen Parker: dairy cattle

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Stephen Parker: nowadays it's tending more towards beef cattle.

97
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Stephen Parker: but still a highly valued and grazed area by a large number of farmers. This is an area that isn't dominated by one or 2

98
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Stephen Parker: large landowners. It's dominated. or it

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Stephen Parker: covered by large numbers of relatively small

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Stephen Parker: independent farmers.

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Stephen Parker: conservation and farming community, and not always had an easy relationship in the area.

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Stephen Parker: This, a historic photograph here dates back to around 19 eighties. when

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Stephen Parker: the Nature and Conservancy Council, or Natural England, as they were known then, actually designated part of West Edge more

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Stephen Parker: as a site to special scientific interest

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Stephen Parker: these documents here, which obviously can't read at that small scale. But these documents here represent the sort of the legal process would started once a a of special scientific interest

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Stephen Parker: is notified.

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Stephen Parker: Well, as you can see, the the local land owning community didn't like this, and and they went to a fairly extreme measures. Here. What you can see is is 3 dummies, 3 models

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Stephen Parker: that have been hung up. and they're being hung. And I think there's even a fire going on underneath. And these represent representatives from the Rspb. I think that's the guy with the the binoculars there, and and also government officials from English nature and from other government departments.

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Stephen Parker: Now I must say that was a. It was a bit of a low point, and since then relationship with the farming community is much improved.

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Stephen Parker: In the winter time the area is visited by

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Stephen Parker: roughly a hundred 1,000 winter winter in waterfall.

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Stephen Parker: So that's ducks like teal and widget and shovel but also herons, swans, geese to that extent.

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Stephen Parker: So for that reason

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Stephen Parker: part of the the Somerset Wetland actually of international importance. It's a special protection area

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Stephen Parker: in this case, ducks, as you consider here on a place called catcot lows. And, by the way, this used to be a carrot field until about 20 years ago.

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Stephen Parker: The sky is quite often blackened with lap wing, and and these come here in in very large numbers, and fly over

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Stephen Parker: and and and rest on the Somerset levels, here, flying over a site at Grey lake, which in this case is a

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Stephen Parker: rural society for the Protection of Birds. Reserve

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Stephen Parker: swans also are pretty common. During the the winter time we have at least 3 species of one. This is the the more common mute one, but we also get

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Stephen Parker: who for swans, and indeed we get Buick one in the area.

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Stephen Parker: There used to be about 200 Buicks, one that would regularly visit the area and because of changes in climate. they thought that only about between

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Stephen Parker: 10 and 15 birds. Now come here.

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Stephen Parker: They they tend to use other areas that

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Stephen Parker: are more favorable to spend in the winter.

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Stephen Parker: One of the big conservation efforts has been to try and restore and recover

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Stephen Parker: the sites for breeding waiters.

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Stephen Parker: So this map shows a a range of slides that in the past of held breeding wanders. That's birds like lapwing

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Stephen Parker: red shank, curly and snipe. Those are the 4 that are

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Stephen Parker: ominous across the levels as though by no means common at all nowadays.

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Stephen Parker: So this is a red shank. This is probably the rarest breeding waiter on the site, now

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Stephen Parker: a at a place called Tel, and more just in the background. There you maybe you'll see less Glastonbury tour.

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Stephen Parker: So the rate shank is quite often quite a common word

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Stephen Parker: along the coast of of Britain.

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Stephen Parker: But as inland breeding bird, it is relatively rare

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Stephen Parker: that wing used to be extremely common right across the British Isles nowadays much more restricted, and this is a lap wing nest with just 4 eggs in the nest there.

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Stephen Parker: So the nest isn't really a much of a a structure. It's just a a slight dip on the ground.

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Stephen Parker: and the 4 nests for eggs there are in the nest, the the female bird

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Stephen Parker: and the male bird will actually incubate those.

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Stephen Parker: and with luck the check will be born. So this is a a chick fairly newly hatched from that

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Stephen Parker: that wing. Numbers have declined across the Somerset wetlands, and that reflects a decline

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Stephen Parker: in their numbers across to Britain

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Stephen Parker: in the winter time. As I said, we get large flocks of these birds, but a breeding numbers are are relatively small. Those large flocks

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Stephen Parker: flying from from the other parts of Europe. and only a few remain not to breed

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Stephen Parker: a bird that is extremely characteristic of the levels is the snipe. This is a a way that is incredibly difficult to see. It's very well camouflaged.

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Stephen Parker:  but it does give itself away. The the males have this flight.

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Stephen Parker: and they've got 2 2 little feathers on the back of the tail, and they clapped together in a drumming sound. So snipe drumming is is a sound that is quite often heard.

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Stephen Parker: late in the afternoon, early evening, right through to it gets dark, and then again early in the morning. So that is one of the

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Stephen Parker: characteristic Both sounds of the Somerset levels a unfortunately becoming rarer is the curly. So this is a curly. It's not my photographic. And so you by the

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Stephen Parker: the markings on the slide here.

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Stephen Parker: So the curly has has has declined massively across its whole range. It's our largest wading bird, and as you can see here it's Its habitat, like the other Wade is, is is breeding on the ground with a relatively small nest. Here we've got.

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Stephen Parker: I think 3 young. There may be 4 in there, and they will. Well.

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Stephen Parker: and they'll take you through some sites in what we call the Avalon marshes. and it at the that starts roughly

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Stephen Parker: at Glastonbury tour. So we got Glastonbury tour in the background there, coming across a series of of nice meadows until we get to an area known as Chatway Keith, which is a national nature reserve

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Stephen Parker: and History of nature. Conservation in this area goes back to

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Stephen Parker: to 1,961, when there was an original agreement with a Pete cut in a company called License.

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Stephen Parker: Then there are various notifications to

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Stephen Parker: update the conservation laws. Most significant of those is it in 1,986, when it was notified

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Stephen Parker: under the what it's called the 1,981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. so. But Pete. Extraction carried on for a certain time in this area and from 1,994 onwards

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Stephen Parker: the peak companies pulled out of the area, and a major scheme of restoration started

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Stephen Parker: including in. That was a heritage, a lottery funding Grant

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Stephen Parker: in about 1,998 to buy another part of the site. so Charlie Keith is about 400 hectares of of Wetland reserve.

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Stephen Parker:  it's origin, as I said, was was really in peak cutting. So here we've got a a a photograph going back to 1,000 921,900 thirtys of of Pete cutters by hand, stacking the the piece up there to dry, and that would have been used to the fuel for

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Stephen Parker: the domestic housing and and and properties, and like.

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Stephen Parker: there was even at one stage a a small railway that was collected Pete before it was a shipped further away. So here we've got quite a historic photograph

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Stephen Parker: of people unloading that that railway

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Stephen Parker: At one stage the actual railway engine fell into the the main drain, which was a great fun for everyone. It had to be cut into pieces, and and there are bits of it still there.

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Stephen Parker:  but this is what the site basically looked at looked like

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Stephen Parker: once the peat extractors with the peat cutters

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Stephen Parker: had had left the area.

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Stephen Parker: It was a major challenge, a major restoration challenge, and that was taken on by

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Stephen Parker: Then English nature.

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Stephen Parker: which is government, body advertising on nature conservation.

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Stephen Parker: the

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Stephen Parker:  the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

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Stephen Parker: and later, an organization known as the Whole Canal trust.

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Stephen Parker: So those organizations got together and started to restore this

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Stephen Parker:  the landscape that have been changed.

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Stephen Parker: radically altered

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Stephen Parker: by Pete extraction. It had been an area of wet heathland

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Stephen Parker: but because the levels were lowered. Here it was, and is now

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Stephen Parker: a large reed bed.

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Stephen Parker: So this is the start of that work dating to the mid 19 nineties

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Stephen Parker: and and just taking a a a map, a habitat map of that area in in 2,009.

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Stephen Parker: You can see there's quite a complex range of colors in there, and they represent different types of habitats across the Somerset levels. it's probably easy to envisage that by looking at this

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Stephen Parker: a real photograph.

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Stephen Parker: So here you can see it quite in desolate farm field, and then a a large era of reed bed, open water, wet woodland. and this area stretches for about 10 kilometers along this corridor that is now known as the Avalon Marshes.

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Stephen Parker: a lot of volunteers working for those organizations. and this this chat here is a drone or one of the drone pilot team, and they are taking photographs of this very rare breeding bird.

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Stephen Parker: known as a great white egret. This is the first place that these birds first print in the British Isles.

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Stephen Parker: And the drone pilot here can actually see individuals on their nests. It doesn't disturb the birds. It's a it's a very non intrusive way of of actually counting the nests.

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Stephen Parker: and those birds are our magnificent animals are a large white egret.

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Stephen Parker: as I say, they first bred in Somerset at that Chat week Heath. a around 10 years ago. Now

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Stephen Parker: they are now extremely common then. They are now

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Stephen Parker: almost as common as it's grey herons in the area. They're slightly larger than a grey heron. Just a

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Stephen Parker: they give you a size comparison.

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Stephen Parker: The other bird that was a target of conservation.

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Stephen Parker: particularly for the restoration

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Stephen Parker: of those peat working sites, was the bitten and bit numbers I have

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Stephen Parker: declined massively. They were actually actually extinct in Britain at one stage. but then they May. Then they returned on their own steam

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Stephen Parker: and Somerset levels. Now the Somerset Wetlands is one of the major areas for them. At one stage it has a held the largest population.

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Stephen Parker: The males create a a noise attract their their partners by creating a sort of a a booming sound

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Stephen Parker:  and that can be heard for for a very long distance across the read bits.

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Stephen Parker: They are read bed specialists.

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Stephen Parker:  I think in north they're called butter bumps

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Stephen Parker: and they were once a hunted.

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Stephen Parker: They became extinct in Britain, due to habitat loss, which is a sort of a familiar story, I think, for many people.

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Stephen Parker: So the restoration of the peak and

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Stephen Parker: because the walls of the because the land level has been lowered significantly, it created a series of shallow lakes such as this one here covered in in yellow water lilies.

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Stephen Parker: And here we've got a survey by a botanical surveyor from the

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Stephen Parker:  British from the Bsp I,

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Stephen Parker: who is

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Stephen Parker: who's Actually

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Stephen Parker: survey in the plants by by canoe. Quite an unusual job to do that. So that's a botanical society in Britain, on the island.

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Stephen Parker: looking across the sites.

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Stephen Parker: there are areas of wet and dry woodland, and these these are quite rich in breeding birds. At one stage of all 3 species of of British woodpecker there in

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Stephen Parker: and that they're still doing pretty well. They they like this dead standing timber on site.

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Stephen Parker: There are areas of marsh marshland, marsh grassland.

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Stephen Parker: bulks, and here we got some some of the the the bog species. The bog asked for their this lovely little pink plant here bog pimpernel.

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Stephen Parker: and of course sund you, and in insectivorous plants.

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Stephen Parker:  probably more exciting, for some of these is a lesser butterfly orchid quite a rarity.

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Stephen Parker: and in Southern Britain frog is a rarity. becomes much commoner in the north of of the country, but in in Somerset there are only

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Stephen Parker: one or 2 locations known

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Stephen Parker: now to manage these bogs and wet grasslands, and and in fact, the repades

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Stephen Parker: the organizations that work on the area. So it's a natural England in this case, at Chatwick.

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Stephen Parker: use red Devon cattle. These are fully organic. They live their entire life

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Stephen Parker: on the on the area. They were introduced in 2,000, and and they've done a a remarkable job. They capable of eating the very rank rough vegetation.

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Stephen Parker: but sometimes you need a a larger animal. So Highland cattle have been used in in other areas.

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Stephen Parker: It's not all a great success. Story. the march of artillery butterfly, one of Europe's rarest butterflies, actually became extinct and continues to be extinct in in the Somerset wetlands.

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Stephen Parker: and we also thought that a a large mass grass of her, this this rather wonderful beast here that was also extinct.

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Stephen Parker: The records suggested that there was last seen in

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Stephen Parker: in 1,998, and hadn't been seen since but a few years ago. Now, 3 or 4 years ago.

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Stephen Parker: These 2 characters here Fred and Bill discovered a large colony of them. This is their largest grasshopper in in the

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Stephen Parker: in the British Isles. It's it's nearly 2 inches in length, so whether I had had always been there, and entomologists haven't had just haven't found it.

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Stephen Parker: or whether it did recolonize, we don't know I'm I'm work is on going to try and determine that. But it it's certainly of a a very interesting and very rare

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Stephen Parker: and very beautiful animal.

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Stephen Parker: So chat with Keith. Not only is the outstanding

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Stephen Parker: wildlife. There's also a a lot of buried archaeology.

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Stephen Parker: and particularly archaeology that's It's wooden trackways and the like.

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Stephen Parker: and this represents the a prehistoric track by dating back to the

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Stephen Parker: about 6,000 years ago.

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Stephen Parker: that traveled or went about 2 kilometers across the this the Somerset wetland there at chat with Keith.

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Stephen Parker: to conserve that the organization

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Stephen Parker: natural England pumps water in. So this is the pump house, and this is the irrigation pipe, and that keeps this wooden track way

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Stephen Parker: from stop it from rotting.

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Stephen Parker: And here we've got an excavation archaeological excavation by Southwest Heritage Trust a few years ago. That's Dr. Richard Brunning, and he's monitoring the condition

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Stephen Parker: on this sweet track as it's got. and I think it's fairly good news. The track. What's stable?

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Stephen Parker: there's a lot of these trackways they date from the Neolithic period right through the Middle Ages, right up to almost the modern day.

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Stephen Parker: There's also 2 iron age villages, one known as the Glastonbury Lake Village, and the other Mayor Heath Village, or near a village.

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Stephen Parker: and these are extremely rare. So it's well worth keeping the area very wet to conserve this, this wooden archaeology.

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Stephen Parker: So Chatwick is just one of the national nature reserves in the area another is West ham more.

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Stephen Parker: This is this is got a similar history to to chat with

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Stephen Parker: with. extensive peak cutting in the past now shallow lakes

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Stephen Parker: but it has got Moreland areas as well. So so

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Stephen Parker: a a rich Maya bulk out habitat developing, including some, some some rare fungi

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Stephen Parker: in this case. and this this is one of our rarest at plants on the Somerset levels. it's quite tiny.

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Stephen Parker: And here we can see Rome that's recorded at the Avalon marshes actually surveying for this plant. So Rome are volunteers

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Stephen Parker: they go out to 2 2 or 3 times a week. And how record, what species are there and all that information gets fed back to the conservation organizations? So here they're looking for this plant which is called they want. It's a tiny little briar fight.

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Stephen Parker: and it depends on open areas of of bare p to survive. So quite quite a specialist plant in this case.

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Stephen Parker: the error is also rich in

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Stephen Parker: grass, snakes, and adders. So this this grass snake here

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Stephen Parker: a very friendly grass like this one. It curled up on my Wellington boot for a few moments.

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Stephen Parker:  But from West T. More there's also a very wet site known as West a heath. So these are 2 colleagues actually

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Stephen Parker: rowing or punting through the wetland here, and and this is a strange habitat. It's a floating M. Of vegetation. If you jump up and down on this the whole thing quakes And actually, if you jump up and down too much, you might go through that matter of vegetation, and end up in the 2 or 3 meters of water under that

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Stephen Parker: that floating, that there so plants such as this, this great water dock here, but but lots of other plants as well.

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Stephen Parker: And there's there's a drove way that goes through that, and that's been colonized by by birches. It's quite rich in the

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Stephen Parker: in the autumn time for for fungi and and other

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Stephen Parker: interesting plants. Okay, so that's covered the area of

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Stephen Parker: River Brew, and the river acts up to Glastonbury. which I say now is is known as the Avalon Marshes.

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Stephen Parker: But now I want to take you over the pole and heels to the floodplains of the river tone

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Stephen Parker: and the river parrot

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Stephen Parker: I'm with. The site we're going to visit is South Lake. More

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Stephen Parker: so. Sounds like more is a part of this new

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Stephen Parker: super national nature reserve. If you've been watching spring watch on the television

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Stephen Parker: You hear them talking about the the the super national nature of

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Stephen Parker: down on the on Peninsula in Dorset. So we've got the equivalent of that in in Somerset.

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Stephen Parker: just about a bit larger than the the Dorset example.

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Stephen Parker: And this is a this is a natural island. It's called Burrow Mump

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Stephen Parker: and a place called Borough Bridge. And is this? Is that the

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a place where the river tone

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Stephen Parker: meet the river parrot?

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Stephen Parker: And it is this area that, subject to

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Stephen Parker: quite a lot of flooding. So in

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Stephen Parker: 2,01314, the winter there.

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Stephen Parker: This was the area that made the national news

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Stephen Parker: for about 4 months.

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Stephen Parker: when we had a series of of rainfall events one after another, and the river system wasn't wasn't able to

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Stephen Parker: cope with that amount of rain, and we have extensive flooding

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Stephen Parker: Flooding has been an issue on the Somerset levels for

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Stephen Parker: thousands of years.

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Stephen Parker: The original

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Stephen Parker: draining of the area or the water management of the area was carried out by the Romans. and when they left the area fell into a bit of disrepair. But then the Saxons, and particularly the

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Stephen Parker: the monasteries, doubt a lot spent a lot of time and money

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Stephen Parker: draining and managing the water levels across the area. So this is South Lake more from the top of Burrow, mum.

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Stephen Parker: and you can see it's a very flat landscape here, intersected by

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Stephen Parker: a series of of small ditches.

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Stephen Parker: Some of them are a tree lines. No, others are much more open.

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Stephen Parker: So in the winter time this will. and and this is the area that is. that deliberately flooded. So here we've got members from the Somerset Internal Drainage board.

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Stephen Parker: and this was a conservation project

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Stephen Parker: carried out

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Stephen Parker: in in the

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Stephen Parker: 2,009. To reinstate this this process called Warping W. Our W. A. Rp. I. And G.

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Stephen Parker: Which is a medieval term, and it was deliberately flooded. The, the, the, the landscape.

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Stephen Parker: as in the photograph here.

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Stephen Parker: we do that now for conservation purposes. But back in the 1,800 fortys.

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Stephen Parker: It was done to bring silt on to the more. and to to control the vermin. and by vermin I probably think they mean moles, and the like, or

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Stephen Parker: or whatever nowadays, as I say, it's done for the benefit of the the winter in waterfall.

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Stephen Parker: So from about Christmas, right through to maybe the end of January. The

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Stephen Parker: the water is shallowly moved across the moor.

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Stephen Parker: It's somewhat reminiscent of the of the water meadows in in other parts of the country.

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Stephen Parker: but but slightly different.

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Stephen Parker: In the summer the area is much drier, and, as I say, it is a farmed landscape.

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Stephen Parker: Here. We've got one of the rarest, another rare plant of the Somerset wetlands. This is a greater water parsnip

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Stephen Parker: a large umbrella, for it stands

313
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Stephen Parker: probably 2 meters in height, so over 6 foot in height

314
00:35:19.850 --> 00:35:24.959
Stephen Parker: its feet are in the water. It's a very much a Wetland plant.

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Stephen Parker: There was a quite a big conservation effort. some time ago, now 7, 8 years ago, now to

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Stephen Parker: just to reintroduce this to areas that have been lost from so working with Bristol Zoo seedlings for grown on all seeds were germinated and grown on, and this was then spread around and and planted out in other areas

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Stephen Parker: as part of a biodiversity action plan

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Stephen Parker:  the problem with that is that the cattle and the deer really love it. They they see it out and they eat it. It must taste extremely nice to them, because they will. Cattle will actually get in the ditch and will paddle out to to eat this plant.

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Stephen Parker: The ditches also, support a wide range of other aquatic plants such as this pond we this is broad. Leave pond, weed

320
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Stephen Parker: and the rather beautiful marsh violet. This flows fairly early in the year. It flowers from March from my onwards. And it's got floating leaves, so it's not

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Stephen Parker: actually growing out of the the bottom of the ditch. It's a floating plant.

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Stephen Parker: although.

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Stephen Parker: Well, that's that you're very likely to see. You'd like to see road here that they're reasonably common.

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Stephen Parker: but especially interest, I I think, is the brown hair, and here we got the Madge March hair as the the males and the females chase around.

325
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Stephen Parker: Going back. Some 10 years ago there was a project with the great Crane Project run by the Wildfire and Wetlands trust

326
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Stephen Parker: the Rspb.

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Stephen Parker: Pennsylvania Trust, which is based in Norfolk.

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Stephen Parker: and for a door which is the local a local company.

329
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Stephen Parker: and they have reintroduced the crane. The common crane.

330
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Stephen Parker:  cranes were. Eggs were collected

331
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from the the North German plane.

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Stephen Parker: I brought over to

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Stephen Parker: the Wilderness Trust slim bridge where the

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eggs were hatched.

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Stephen Parker: And then the crimes were

336
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Stephen Parker: what talk to be cranes by humans dressed in crane suits

337
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Stephen Parker: and then reintroduce. I think there was about

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Stephen Parker: 50 or so eggs are introduced. They're now breathing on the Somerset levels. So that's been a very successful reintroduction

339
00:38:00.420 --> 00:38:05.620
Stephen Parker: project that's gone on. And It's it's been very popular with

340
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Stephen Parker: with local people that they love to see particularly here. The cranes.

341
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Stephen Parker: one of the the most extensive areas of lowland. Wet grassland is an area known as Wet West Sedge more.

342
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Stephen Parker: and this is a very special place indeed.

343
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It's managed now by the Rspb. A large area. It's managed by Rspb.

344
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Stephen Parker: and it's the type of vegetation that is now extremely rare in the British Isles.

345
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Stephen Parker: I think at the beginning, someone said, this is

346
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Stephen Parker: one of the largest area of lowland, wet grassland, or wetlands surviving in Britain, and it is truly

347
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Stephen Parker: an important site from that point of view.

348
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Stephen Parker: One of the the plants that's that's very familiar. It's not a rare plant in its own right. But these meadows form this sort of marsh marigold community

349
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Stephen Parker: that is is very uncommon now

350
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Stephen Parker: they've been lost through drainage, or through fertilization, or or whatever. So West Edge More is is one of the most important areas in the country, for

351
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Stephen Parker: well, it's a rare wetland community. It's also very important for breeding birds and for the winter in waterfowl and for all those things that I've talked about in its own right.

352
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Stephen Parker: So, although it's wet in winter. it dries out in the summer and the spring.

353
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Stephen Parker: and then the the hay is taken, the cattle graze

354
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Stephen Parker: and it's a sort of a a normal grassland. In that sense.

355
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Stephen Parker: One special plant is is associated with drive droves in the area with the the areas that are sort of covered in water in the in the winter time.

356
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Stephen Parker:  the home in the early spring

357
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Stephen Parker: to this little buttercup it's called mouse tail

358
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Stephen Parker:  very uncommon, not found in in many other places in Britain. and, as I say, it's it's dependent on the sort of the wet, muddy droves or drives

359
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Stephen Parker: of the Somerset wetlands.

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Close to to West S. More

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Stephen Parker: is A. Is an upland wood, or a on the one of the little ridges that run through the area. It's a good swell wood, and this has got a a rather splendid Henry

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Stephen Parker: And grey herons nest here. There's also little egret nest here. so we know the error is very important for its for its wildlife. It's very good to visit as as well. It's a not

363
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Stephen Parker: nice place to visit, and there's lots of

364
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Stephen Parker: opportunities.

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Stephen Parker: So here we've got some of the some of the many reserves in the area. We're we're very, very lucky indeed to have so many nature reserves. So we got the Theatwick Mall nature reserve.

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Stephen Parker: that's the one of the newer nature reserves in the era that's managed by the whole Canal Trust.

367
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Stephen Parker: Then the Wildlife Trust have

368
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Stephen Parker: a series of nature reserves, including

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Stephen Parker: catcot, Nature Reserve and West A, which I've shown. Some photographs of

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Stephen Parker: the Rspb. Are are big landowners in the era. They've got a reserves and wall

371
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Stephen Parker: they've got reserves at West such more and that they've also got a Grey Lake reserve as well. So 3

372
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Stephen Parker: very important wetland reserves, not only for the bird life, but also for their

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Stephen Parker: other wildlife as well. the National Trust own an area known as Burrow mump.

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Stephen Parker: and that's an area where you can get, spend your views

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Stephen Parker: over the countryside, and chat with Keith is is one of the larger national nature of those. So please come and visit. It's it's a wonderful area. Come in the winter time and see the the large flocks of of wintry mort file

376
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Stephen Parker: Come in the summertime see the dragonflies

377
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Stephen Parker: and the the wonderful wild flower meadows. So without further ado, I'll say thank you very much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed that.

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Stephen Parker: and I'm very happy to take questions.

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Fiona Wright: Thanks very much for that, Stephen. Interesting stuff. let's let some go to some questions. We've got a few here that we'll we'll start off with Steven. let's the first one actually from Catherine.

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Fiona Wright:  you were talking about farmers objecting to to natural England plans and developments.

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Fiona Wright: What were their objections? Why did they do that?

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Stephen Parker: Okay, so this is pretty early on in the history of

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Stephen Parker: government, nature conservation.

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Stephen Parker: And what happens when a site is is designated a site, a special time of interest. The landowner will get a a description called a citation

385
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Stephen Parker: a map showing the area, and then a list of things that they have to consult

386
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Stephen Parker: at natural England about. And it was that list of operations really, didn't go down very well.

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Stephen Parker: so that's they were objecting to that. It was.

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Stephen Parker: I think there was quite an element of misunderstanding in that. And there's a

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Stephen Parker: the area that the farmers and the the conservationists work hand in hand. So so it was just a

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Stephen Parker: a a moment.

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Fiona Wright: I think we've lost Steven for the minute. There.

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Fiona Wright: let's see if he comes back.

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Fiona Wright: Okay, folks. I am just going to go on to mute for a second, and I'm going to give Steven a quick call just to see if we can get him back.

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Fiona Wright: Okay, folks. Steven is going to be back with us in just a second. He's just logging himself back in. We'll be back with you in a second.

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Stephen Parker: Hello! Sorry about that.

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Stephen Parker: Welcome back, Stephen. They got cut off in your prime. There, I did. Yes.

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Stephen Parker: so yeah. So I think I'd I'd answer the question about the

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Fiona Wright: the notification and the original issues. Yeah.

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Fiona Wright: So that was our first question, wasn't it? That was a bit far, most, wasn't it?

400
00:46:59.350 --> 00:47:03.080
Fiona Wright: Okay? Now, it's a a question here from Maria.

401
00:47:03.120 --> 00:47:07.959
Fiona Wright: are the levels of liminal zone. Now, that's a term I've not heard before.

402
00:47:09.060 --> 00:47:14.490
Stephen Parker: so meaning is it? Sort of a a, a a sort of a wet.

403
00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:17.969
Stephen Parker: wet, wet zone from that.

404
00:47:19.040 --> 00:47:22.940
Stephen Parker: Well, so so the hydrology is based on

405
00:47:23.670 --> 00:47:26.399
Stephen Parker: 5 or 6 rivers that flood through.

406
00:47:29.030 --> 00:47:30.430
Stephen Parker: flow through the area

407
00:47:30.520 --> 00:47:37.330
Stephen Parker: and they over top and flood in the winter time. I don't know if that answer the question, and not quite sure what?

408
00:47:37.660 --> 00:47:41.940
Stephen Parker: we're trying to get to that. But yes, that there's certainly a

409
00:47:42.340 --> 00:47:48.380
Stephen Parker: a wetlands in the winter time, and then it's it's it's much drawer in the summer time.

410
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Fiona Wright: Some of floods aren't unknown.

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Fiona Wright: Okay. And I hope that answers your question, Media, you can put another another comment in if there is anything else you want to know there. And okay, so question from Bridget, you were talking about the great Crane Project

412
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Fiona Wright: people dressed up in.

413
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Fiona Wright: How do you teach a crane to be a green?

414
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Stephen Parker: So so when cranes are are naturally read by parent birds that they've said

415
00:48:20.620 --> 00:48:22.220
Stephen Parker: But to

416
00:48:22.290 --> 00:48:26.010
Stephen Parker: so the birds that were introduced hat from eggs.

417
00:48:26.250 --> 00:48:30.979
Stephen Parker: and what the what the organization didn't want is the cranes

418
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:36.860
Stephen Parker: associating food with people. So the people actually dressed in crane suits

419
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:45.069
Stephen Parker: And they fed the birds by using a pair of sort of those rubbish because you can get. You know, those things so little tongs you can get

420
00:48:45.290 --> 00:48:49.699
Stephen Parker: And so that they didn't become acclimatized or okay.

421
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Stephen Parker: they didn't become so associate food with with humans. And that's how they did that.

422
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Fiona Wright: And it well, very well, it's very, very successful. Okay. And I hope that answers your question. And

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Fiona Wright: and you talked about at the end there, how you know people visiting the various different nature reserves in the area. And is it is it easy for people? I mean, there are lots of fit paths. And is there a website that people can go to to find out more. Yes, the the so access is that it's from Miranda. By the way.

424
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Stephen Parker: some very good nature is a so so the site I went to today. it's known as the Avalon Marshes Center

425
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Stephen Parker: and that's between. That's on the Glastonbury Road. if you

426
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Stephen Parker: I'm sure as you search Avalon Marshall center. You'll find that. and there's a big nature reserve there. and lovely facilities. There's cafes and toilets and all the sorts of things that you you really need, and that gives you access to a number of nature reserves.

427
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Stephen Parker:  some areas are are private, and you can't go there, obviously. But but I would direct people if they wanted to come down to to the Avalon Marshes center.

428
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Stephen Parker: So if you Google. oh, search

429
00:50:05.420 --> 00:50:11.429
Stephen Parker: Avalon marshes, then you should be able to to find that. And how you access the area

430
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Fiona Wright: okay, there, you go, miranda.

431
00:50:13.620 --> 00:50:19.270
Fiona Wright: okay, so, i have a question here from Steve.

432
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Fiona Wright: how do you anticipate climate change impacting on the area?

433
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Stephen Parker: Very, very good, very, very good question. Well. in the long run with sea level rise. this area will be returned to the sea.

434
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Stephen Parker:  At the moment there's there's the sea will keeping the sea out effectively.

435
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Stephen Parker: But this time you get to the moors, the inland area, you're actually below sea level. So once sea level rises a meter or so, it is okay. A 100 years time. Maybe.

436
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Let's see that will be breached.

437
00:50:57.250 --> 00:50:59.809
Stephen Parker: They're currently building a

438
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Stephen Parker: barrier across the river parrot, a sort of a tidal barrier. such as the one in in in London. The Thames barrier.

439
00:51:09.630 --> 00:51:19.849
Stephen Parker: So in the the long, the long run this will area will go back to see, and that that's where it came from. The first place. It was once a part of the 7 s. 3

440
00:51:20.820 --> 00:51:35.769
Stephen Parker: in the shelter term. we're seeing much Drier springs, and that it's pretty bad news for those breeding waiters, because the ground dries out so much. It's starting to show signs of that now.

441
00:51:36.010 --> 00:51:47.490
Stephen Parker: after a few weeks. hot, sunny weather. So if this goes on that the the land will dry out, and wetlands are are highly dependent on on water

442
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Stephen Parker: and rainfall.

443
00:51:49.660 --> 00:51:58.899
Stephen Parker: This happened last year. But the good news was that, you know, once the rains came again, then the wildlife tends to bounce back

444
00:51:59.160 --> 00:52:01.250
Stephen Parker: so via

445
00:52:01.290 --> 00:52:02.490
Stephen Parker: summers.

446
00:52:02.750 --> 00:52:07.859
Stephen Parker: but also the other challenge is going to be much wetter winters rainfall events.

447
00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:13.920
Stephen Parker: We saw that in 2,01314 and we've seen it in the 19

448
00:52:14.160 --> 00:52:18.520
Stephen Parker: seventies and 1,960 is to a so that flooding will

449
00:52:18.700 --> 00:52:29.990
Stephen Parker: be more frequent. And I think the wildlife can probably cope with that. it's the challenge is going to be for the people that live in the scattered villages across the area.

450
00:52:30.190 --> 00:52:33.860
Stephen Parker: So the villages don't flood so much. It's the road and the

451
00:52:34.020 --> 00:52:37.390
Stephen Parker: communication networks between them that become challenging.

452
00:52:37.830 --> 00:52:41.089
Stephen Parker: Yeah, in in the winter time. So I think we're going to see

453
00:52:41.240 --> 00:52:42.920
Stephen Parker: more flooding in the winter

454
00:52:42.960 --> 00:52:46.240
Stephen Parker: and possibly draft things, and in the long run.

455
00:52:46.250 --> 00:52:51.819
Stephen Parker: so you will inevitably reclaim this this bit of land.

456
00:52:51.920 --> 00:52:56.980
Stephen Parker: that's that's gonna happen, I'm afraid. But that's a very long run.

457
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Fiona Wright: Yeah, okay, I hope that answers your your question, Stephen.

458
00:53:01.310 --> 00:53:05.379
Fiona Wright: okay. Now, what else do we have?

459
00:53:05.880 --> 00:53:12.779
Fiona Wright: Oh, question from Kim, do you have beavers in areas that's obviously an animal that's been reintroduced in a number of areas, isn't it?

460
00:53:14.200 --> 00:53:18.139
Stephen Parker: They have been reintroduced into a number of areas, not on the Somerset levels.

461
00:53:18.760 --> 00:53:24.239
Stephen Parker:  the Somerset levels looks ideal for that.

462
00:53:24.300 --> 00:53:28.400
Stephen Parker: for that animal. and that animal was great.

463
00:53:28.450 --> 00:53:30.050
Stephen Parker: ecosystem engineer.

464
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Stephen Parker: They will, I think, if they're not. Even if they're not deliberately introduced, they will find their own way here in Somerset. There are a number of populations that have arrived one way or another. and they they will turn up.

465
00:53:48.200 --> 00:53:53.840
Stephen Parker: It's going to be a challenge for people like the environment agency and the internal drainage boards

466
00:53:54.270 --> 00:53:57.999
Stephen Parker: because they they do create these dams.

467
00:53:58.390 --> 00:54:05.609
Stephen Parker: which is great, because that that creates a wonderful wetland for them. And I think a lot of conservations would welcome that.

468
00:54:05.750 --> 00:54:10.910
Stephen Parker: But, It would be a challenge for the farming community.

469
00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:15.839
Stephen Parker: and everywhere that beavers have been introduced. I know there's been

470
00:54:18.590 --> 00:54:32.330
Stephen Parker: a lot of effort put into talking to the local population, to people like fishermen foresters and the like. So as I, as I understand it. Can I no longer work for natural England? But, as I understand it, there are certainly no plans

471
00:54:32.460 --> 00:54:34.190
Stephen Parker: for a reintroduction

472
00:54:34.270 --> 00:54:42.459
Stephen Parker: of for those animals at the moment. But again, I think, like long term, that they will, they will

473
00:54:42.500 --> 00:54:44.669
Stephen Parker: find the way here one way or another.

474
00:54:45.440 --> 00:54:51.330
Fiona Wright: Okay? Interesting. Right? We've got a question here from Paul. hopefully, I get this right.

475
00:54:51.530 --> 00:54:54.860
Fiona Wright: Can you repeat the Norfolk dialect for

476
00:54:55.130 --> 00:54:58.290
Fiona Wright: Britain's? I think it was

477
00:54:58.420 --> 00:55:06.570
Stephen Parker: the Norfolk Broads for 40 years and never had the term

478
00:55:07.250 --> 00:55:10.929
Fiona Wright: used to be called the butter bump.

479
00:55:12.690 --> 00:55:17.369
Stephen Parker: that's probably the I think that that

480
00:55:17.520 --> 00:55:22.629
Stephen Parker: they're large birds, so that you know they like the swan size effectively

481
00:55:22.690 --> 00:55:26.740
Stephen Parker: a bit smaller, but they would have been a very good meal, and I I can imagine

482
00:55:26.840 --> 00:55:33.720
Stephen Parker: living in the in the wetlands in the past, and and people would have would have taken them, and apparently they were called butter bumps.

483
00:55:34.240 --> 00:55:39.409
Fiona Wright: There's no local name in Somerset that I'm aware of.

484
00:55:39.580 --> 00:55:44.740
Fiona Wright: Okay, let's see what else we have. actually, we've got a question here from Jackie.

485
00:55:44.770 --> 00:55:50.570
Fiona Wright: what were the names of the 3 types of one that you mentioned earlier.

486
00:55:50.630 --> 00:55:56.160
Stephen Parker: Okay, we have mute one, which is the this one that the everyone knows.

487
00:55:56.530 --> 00:56:01.669
Stephen Parker: that's that's an ancient introduction, probably introduced by the by, the Normans. Okay.

488
00:56:02.080 --> 00:56:07.410
Stephen Parker: we have the Hoop swamp. and we had the Buicks one.

489
00:56:07.470 --> 00:56:10.130
Fiona Wright: Now, those are both migratory.

490
00:56:10.250 --> 00:56:17.730
Stephen Parker: so Hooper swans, for example, breeding Iceland, and they fly into to Britain and the Continent

491
00:56:17.760 --> 00:56:24.069
Stephen Parker: to to over winter, when it's it's much. much less cold there than that it would be an ice that

492
00:56:24.470 --> 00:56:30.000
Stephen Parker: and and the and the bitter sorry the the buick one

493
00:56:33.070 --> 00:56:42.699
Stephen Parker: is the other one that we get here. So their numbers have declined, because weather conditions aren't. All climate isn't quite the same as it was, so that they tumble into places like

494
00:56:42.830 --> 00:56:52.680
Stephen Parker: the Netherlands, and then come across onto the the Was she in over in Norfolk? But they're not visiting this part of the world at the moment.

495
00:56:52.840 --> 00:56:58.240
Stephen Parker: So the when I was to winter visitors, the the mute one is, is here all year round.

496
00:56:58.680 --> 00:56:59.630
Fiona Wright: Okay.

497
00:57:00.140 --> 00:57:24.990
Fiona Wright: I think that might be us. Actually, I think it is. thanks very much for that, Steven. I I hope you all enjoyed that out there. And even though we have that little break for a minute or so in the middle, and thing is really interesting to hear about the wildlife and the natural history of the area, and although there are challenges, there are also some positives as well. Stephen.

498
00:57:27.980 --> 00:57:31.410
Stephen Parker: absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. The the future is is good, I think, and

499
00:57:31.430 --> 00:57:43.179
Stephen Parker: very pleased to say that there's quite a lot of investment, including in the last well, last month. a new visitor center at the at the Aval marshes. So it's a place to to come and visit and enjoy

500
00:57:43.340 --> 00:57:46.109
Fiona Wright: great well, thanks. Again, Steven.

501
00:57:46.350 --> 00:57:47.919
Stephen Parker: okay, thank you very much.
 

Lecture

The history of the windmill

A windmill with its turning sails is quite a vision to behold. A familiar part of our countryside and towns throughout the UK 150 years ago, today they are a rare sight.

Join WEA tutor Michael Turner to explore the history of these wonderful structures, taking in the origins, development, demise and restoration of surviving windmills. There will even be the chance to see inside a flour mill!

Download useful links for further reading here

Video transcript

00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:16.000
Well, welcome everyone to this. Talk to saved in on the history of the windmill.

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:26.000
The, windmills can be found. In all areas of the UK, so England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:35.000
So I don't know where. Any of you come from? But, I'm sure they will be a windmill.

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:46.000
They spy. Even if for many people It is a ruin tower. Is all that is left.

00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:57.000
They're not too many working windmills. And we will discover why that was. As we go through the talk.

00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:12.000
Now I'll give you, a brief introduction. And then we will move on to slides because I feel that, You say a picture is worth a thousand words.

00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:28.000
And it will make it much more understandable. You particularly if you know very little. The subject. It's a subject which, Hi, found fascinating.

00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:37.000
Even from my, you, I recognized a tower. On a hill but didn't know what it was.

00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:47.000
It wasn't until later research. Ind the Cornish windmills. That I realize. It was an old wind mode tower.

00:01:47.000 --> 00:02:00.000
But then I had to. Acquire a car. Before I can visit it because many of these, Very isolated.

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:09.000
And you either have to. Jeremy yourself by car. Or you have the bulk.

00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:21.000
Well, first of all, When did windmills. Up here. Well, the crucial date is 1137.

00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:33.000
Now that is after the Tuesday survey. Doomsday, recorded a large number of mills, but they were all Water males.

00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:38.000
So the windmill appeared after Doomsday.

00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:56.000
But the oldest windmill. Still standing. Dates from the middle of the 16 hundreds. So there's a large gap of 500 years between documentary evidence of a windmill.

00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:10.000
Physical evidence that you can actually go and see if yourself. They might wonder. Well, how do we know then in those 500 years?

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.000
What the early windmill was like.

00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:24.000
Well, fortunately we have a large number of illustrations. We have many evil manuscripts.

00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:36.000
Which have, drawings. And pictures. Of the early windmill. We have stained glass windows in our churches.

00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:46.000
Which include a windmill. In stained glass. We have.

00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:55.000
And carvings in churches on the bench ends in wood. And we also have carvings in stone.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:14.000
In the porches, upon of charges. Now this collection. All records. Indicate to us that first of all windmills were quite numerous.

00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:24.000
Because it is these. The sorted artist. Who looked around the countryside and wondered what they would it include.

00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:39.000
In their picture. And they became of sleep for mayor. We windmills. They remarkably All the windmills, it turned this 500 years.

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:47.000
Are all of one type. Called a postmill.

00:04:47.000 --> 00:05:00.000
And when we come to the slides. I will show you what a postmeal is and the point out the main features.

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:10.000
But it didn't remain at this one type. We moved on to another type called a Smoke Mill.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:20.000
And then after that. A tower mail. So we have 3. Basic types.

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:29.000
And I will be showing you examples. These. During the evening. So we will go on to.

00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:39.000
Share screen. And we will look. At the pictures.

00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:57.000
So hopefully you can all see the title slide. The history of the windmill.

00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:10.000
And the first slide is. A number of key dates. In any historical subject of course there are many days to remember.

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:20.000
But, as it is very much an introductory talk. I limited it to 4. The first.

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.000
The one I just mentioned, 1137.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:36.000
And then we have smart males coming in. In the late 15 hundreds. And then we have the late 70.

00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:50.000
Even though there were some tower mills before that time. But, this is the period when we have these, Tapering brick towers.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:57.000
Which are really coming to the pinnacle. Of the design of windmills.

00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:07.000
And then the fourth one is that we'll see that some post males. Had a roundhouse.

00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:18.000
And this idea came in in the 17 hundreds. So when I show you some of the When males from the 16 hundreds.

00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000
They weren't originally built. With a roundhouse.

00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:28.000
Hmm.

00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:37.000
They're all the things that. We have records of. I just picked that one example.

00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:45.000
And this is a brass rubbing. From Samarcas Church. Kingsley in Northache.

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:50.000
You can see the date there.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:08:00.000
Now this on the left hand side is a picture of a post mill. It's a very small building.

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:09.000
Indeed, you could almost describe it. As a garden shed.

00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:17.000
So give you 90 of the size. And we have a main post here.

00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:30.000
Which gives us his name. And then it's supported by these quarter bars. Go back. Sorry.

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.000
Cool to bars and then at the very bottom. We have what's called the cross trees.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:56.000
Now all of this where the and below. Is fixed. But everything above this. Is capable of being turned.

00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:10.000
Because the sales have to turn into the wind. 2 operate. And to do that. The minute would first of all raise this ladder up.

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:21.000
Touch it to the tail pole here. So the latter resolved the ground. And then he would use this tail pole.

00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:30.000
Hit push a hold of this body. And the sales. Back into the wind.

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:39.000
There are many of these, illustrations. Include a horse. As we'll see the area on the right.

00:09:39.000 --> 00:10:00.000
And. It's an interesting story because the it tells us a little bit about. How would they, who was regarded as something that of the social in many evil society.

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:16.000
And this story. Was to try to put the the midter. In his place. And the story is, is that, this is the manner here.

00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:27.000
On the back of the horse. But initially, He walks alongside the horse. Away from the windmill.

00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:33.000
Into the village. To collect the corn for grinding.

00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:42.000
And on his way back. The horse is carrying the sack of grain.

00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:57.000
The manor is walking alongside. The horse. But us the horses approaching the windmill. The miller sees the horse is getting tired.

00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:05.000
And so he takes the sack of grain off the back of the horse. And put it on his own back.

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:10.000
And then he gets on the horse.

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:19.000
So the poor horse. Had twice as much weight. They carry the struggle back to the male.

00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:28.000
But this is a medieval story. And is often featured. In these.

00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:34.000
Diagrams.

00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.000
Now this is one of the

00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:47.000
Windmills the post males you can see the date there is 1636 It's, new to Cambridge.

00:11:47.000 --> 00:12:02.000
And it really shows it's in that the only one we have, which is. Just like. The illustration we've just seen.

00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:12.000
You can see here the. The letter, the pack. We can see the poll here used for.

00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:23.000
Lifting the ladder off the ground. Touching it in a hook. To the tail pole.

00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:36.000
Now because of the age of this windmill. It no longer works.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:50.000
But it's quite a famous windmill, so much so that British railways produces quite colored or attractive

00:12:50.000 --> 00:13:01.000
Painting for a poster. And you can see here, more clearly than the photograph. The main post.

00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:12.000
The quarter bars. And the cross trees. Now the important things here is that Even though it doesn't appear.

00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:21.000
In the picture to be resting on the cross trees. It is known.

00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:34.000
The weight of the male is taking down through the quarter bars. Into the cross trees. And into these brick foundations.

00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:44.000
So no wait. Comes on the center. We if it did, it was split the wood.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:48.000
Hmm.

00:13:48.000 --> 00:14:00.000
Now this is a national trust. How smell? Similar date. This one is that

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:12.000
We'll see in a minute, it's a carbon. Inside of 1627. Now I included this because it's got a around house.

00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:21.000
So we now know that. This was an addition.

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:30.000
The rained house had a number of functions. One is that we protected the. Across trees and the quarter bars.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:38.000
And. From the weather. He provided, additional storage.

00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:43.000
Or both grain and flower.

00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:53.000
Because the body at the mill and the cells turn into the wind. It's possible at some time that they're taking sales.

00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:58.000
Would pass by this door.

00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.000
And to overcome that.

00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:15.000
The, houses had 2 doors, one. Opposite each other. So, whichever. Orientation the male was in.

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:21.000
Then the medical safety get into the roundhouse.

00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:28.000
Notice here, take the weight. Of the

00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:39.000
This timber, they've got a cartwheel which is also quite a usual feature.

00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:48.000
And inside we've got the date card in the timber. 1627.

00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:55.000
Year it was built. Hmm.

00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:11.000
Now we move on to the next,. Smoke mail. Well, his name comes from the The smocks warmed by those who worked and lived in the countryside.

00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.000
And these are a couple of examples here.

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:27.000
And national trust. In the other way.

00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:39.000
Now. Immediately you realize that these smok mills We're huge. And.

00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:52.000
This particular one because it was built actually in a village. Sales had to declare. The tops of the houses.

00:16:52.000 --> 00:17:02.000
Because they it would interrupt the wind. It was too low. So we got this enormous.

00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:06.000
Brick base.

00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:16.000
Recallery. To reach the the sales. And then we have timber weather boarding.

00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:27.000
And these were built multi-sided.

00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:37.000
And. As an example of a tower mill. I've got this, example from Scotland.

00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:49.000
From 5. It has been radically, altered over the years. Now, use as an observatory, which is why.

00:17:49.000 --> 00:18:01.000
We've got all these windows. I the cap. Which is not, the thing you would find in your work in windmill.

00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:13.000
And also the. This is just a representation. Of when Mill Sales.

00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:19.000
It's not, open at the moment to the public. I'm not quite sure why.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:28.000
But it was, used for, pumping water, seawater. Into these ponds here.

00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:34.000
To extract the salt.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:49.000
So this was not a traditional. Cool, but a splendid, location, isn't it?

00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:53.000
Hmm.

00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:03.000
Now there are several methods of. Turn in the middle into the wind. And first of all, we're going back to look at the.

00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:12.000
House Mill. One of the, with these post mills is that it could be very stiff.

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:22.000
To turn. And. And so is one example in Derbyshire.

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:37.000
Called the the cat and fiddle. Post mill. In which, we've got, Here, attached to beer is at a post.

00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:45.000
I ran the circumference. And then block and tackle. In order to.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:55.000
Hold the mill around. Now you will notice that. Unusually this is a circular.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:03.000
Tail pole. And it's got little slots cut out of it. Some here or some there.

00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:10.000
And you come to realize that in fact this is an old telegraph post.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:21.000
Because quite close to this particular post mill. Is the great North Road. Today we call it the A one.

00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:32.000
And sometime. The Telegraph posts were replaced. And the mirror managed to get hold of one.

00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:44.000
And to incorporate in his windmill.

00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:55.000
Now this is that. The method of turning. The camp of Smoke Mill.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:02.000
So the whole, the body, the smoke, they all the timber frame in here and the weather boarded.

00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:12.000
All this is fixed. And it's only the cap. And the sails return into the wind.

00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:18.000
Now this is the Dutch style of doing that.

00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:30.000
Indeed, if you. Get Christmas cards, paintings of their windmills. You will find that Jack.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:41.000
This is the common method. It wasn't really adopted much in this country. But, and you will see there, there were a few.

00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:46.000
Windmills like that.

00:21:46.000 --> 00:22:03.000
And of course you had to pull this is really a And the minute I had to. Push this around.

00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:13.000
Hmm. The natural windmills are a nice tall tapering towers.

00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:27.000
Many are quite. Short. But entirely cylindrical all the way up. And many of them in the West Country are like this.

00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:32.000
And the method of turning this one into the wind.

00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:41.000
Is that on the back here? There's a cable. Hanging down it will hang right down to the bottom.

00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:52.000
And the miller would have to come out of the mill. And then wind the cable round. And that would, engage in various.

00:22:52.000 --> 00:23:05.000
Yeah, And so the cap and the sails. Will be turned back into the wind.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.000
Now this was rather laborious.

00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:25.000
But in, 1745. Thank you there. Excuse me. Invented the Hmm.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:35.000
And this. Automatically. As the wind direction changed. It's automatically kept the cap.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:41.000
And the sails into the wind.

00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:52.000
So this was. Great invention.

00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.000
Let's have a look at the sales.

00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:07.000
While they all the early windmills or the post males. Had common sales.

00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:12.000
And what I mean by that is that,

00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:23.000
The sales were originally built of latter's work of timber. And then you could lay on top.

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:32.000
Of the timber. A canvas sale. But you could vary the amount of canvas.

00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:43.000
That was spread onto the sail. Now this is just like a yacht. If you go out in a yard.

00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:55.000
And there's very little wind. You have, you set full sale. In order to capture what wind is there.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:08.000
But as the wind gets up. So you reduce the amount of sale there is. On the vessel. And same principle applies to windmill.

00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:21.000
We common sales. So if there was very little wind. You had the canvas over the entire framework.

00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:27.000
And this is called for sale.

00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:38.000
But you could take off. The amount of sale. And this is called first reef.

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:46.000
And this one here. Is called.

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:59.000
So they had these names for the different settings. Or the amount of cell cloud. On the.

00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:15.000
And this is an actual windmill. And you can see it for common sales. And then, around the sales dog.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:20.000
It's a cell call.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Now set in the sail on the windmill was why the hazardous operation.

00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:39.000
First of all, you had to release the break. And then you had a long poll. To pull your sale down.

00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:50.000
Today it was in the vertical position. And then you had to clamber up. Here to undo.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:03.000
The common sale. And to drape it. Over these bars. Depending upon the frame for the wind.

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:13.000
Once you've done that. You would then, Release the brink. And there will be enough.

00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:27.000
Power from this one sale. To allow the sail with greatly move around. Until the next one. Was coming up to the vertical position.

00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:38.000
You then applied to break it. And you said. The second sale. And you had to do the same thing for.

00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:48.000
The other 2 is well.

00:27:48.000 --> 00:28:03.000
They're all the pictures we've seen so far. Happy with 4 sales. And that is undoubtedly the traditional way of doing it.

00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:13.000
But if you could increase the number of sales. And therefore you were extracting the power from the wind. You could.

00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:24.000
Increase the power. Into the windmill. By having more sales.

00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:31.000
But you can only do that. When.

00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:35.000
Another engineer called Don Smeton.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:40.000
Invented an iron cross.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:54.000
So the sales originally the sales stop pass right through What was called Poland? But that was the right if you had 4 cells.

00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:03.000
But if you it was no good if you had 5. John's meeting invented this, Iron Cross.

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:10.000
In which each individual cell was bolted. To the cross.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:23.000
Now, it was said that the most powerful windmills had 5 sales. But some male rice. Them with 6.

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:34.000
And there was even one. Wait 8.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:45.000
Also notice that, the sale clock. Has disappeared. And what we have now is that we have shutters.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:54.000
You see the lines here. Just like a Venetian blind. We have in our kitchen.

00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:09.000
And these Shutters were all linked up. To the center. And they pass through the. So shaft.

00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:18.000
To the back of the mail. And there was a chain coming down. I don't know, you can see that there is a chain.

00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:32.000
Here and the middle could come out of the and by pulling the chain. He can alter the angle of these shutters.

00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.000
On every sale.

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:47.000
At once. This was a wonderful invention. Because, with the cell cloth you had to.

00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:59.000
And stop the mail. And alter every So individually. But now you didn't have to stop the windmill.

00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:09.000
But you could change the. Ankle the shutters. Depend upon the strength of the wind.

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:21.000
Now the reason why The speed of the cells was important. Was that. You need it for your millstones.

00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:31.000
To be added fairly constant speed. If they rotated too fast. The grain will be burnt.

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:42.000
And if they rotate it too slowly. Then the grain would not be ground. So the speed was crucial.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:55.000
And the speed came from the wind. Which is we all know. Varies tremendously. And so the windmill needed to be capable.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:11.000
Or extracting whatever when was available. In order to maintain. Constant rotation. Of the milestones.

00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:20.000
And we'll go on to look at these.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:35.000
The process was, is that, as the, then there was a sack voice. That was power by the wind.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:42.000
And so the first of all, Put your chain around the the sack of, grain.

00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:52.000
And then he could operate the remotely. The sack voice. And the SAC would then go up.

00:32:52.000 --> 00:33:02.000
Through the floors, the mail. And the the media would listen to the trap doors. Going down behind the sack.

00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:13.000
And you would know exactly where that sack of grain was. And when he knew that it was up to the top of the mill.

00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:23.000
Then he released the break. And the sack of grain settled down. On top of the clues trap door.

00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:38.000
He would then have to climb up the mill himself. Let's do some help. And then tip the grain into the bins.

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:49.000
And that would be. It's sort of a process that you would have to go through. So this is the 1 million floor.

00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:56.000
And the grain here is coming down. From the bins.

00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.000
Into this hopper.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:11.000
Now it was most important. That the the grain should flow into the mill stones. At a steady pace.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:24.000
And not be used up. Because you could not afford the milestones. Do rotate. Without the gray passing through.

00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:35.000
Because there was a risk of sparks. And so much the windmill was timber. There was a very risk of fire.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:44.000
Now, because they may or may not be actually standing here. All the time you might have other jobs to do.

00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:55.000
He had an ingenious method. Because inside the hopper was a leather strap.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:06.000
And normally when the hopper was full of grain. Then that strap was kept toward.

00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:17.000
But as the grain ran out. That strap became loose. And it was attached to this piece of stream.

00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:23.000
Here and it will ring the bell.

00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:33.000
So alert in the manner. That the hopper was run out of gr. So we would have to, quickly.

00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:43.000
Get back. And. L more grain. From these bins on the upper floor.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:49.000
Into the hopper.

00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:57.000
The grain itself came from the bottom of the hopper. Into what's called the shoe.

00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:07.000
And here that, you needed some vibration. To shape the grain. Into this hole here.

00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:18.000
Which is in the upper. Stone. And you do that this particular shape. Which is rotating.

00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:27.000
Is swear. But it's kept toured. By this piece of string here.

00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:37.000
So as this rotates. So is sets up a vibration. So the grain is shaking down.

00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:46.000
In this you at his studies pace. Into the upper stone.

00:36:46.000 --> 00:37:03.000
What comes off these millstones? Is called male. No flower. Because what comes off is a mixture of Ground grain.

00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:15.000
He's got husk in it. It also has particles of millstone. As well. So it's not suitable for bacon.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Just straight off the milestones.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:31.000
Now the millstones themselves, they're There are a pair.

00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:37.000
We have one which is fixed. Which is called the bedstone.

00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:49.000
And then we have one. On top. We just call the runners down. And what we've just seen is that where the grain trickles down.

00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:54.000
Through the center of the runner's down.

00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:03.000
Now you will notice that the this bad stone is not smooth. It's got a whole series of.

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:13.000
Cut out. And it is these. Together with some fine stitching.

00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:30.000
Between them. That produces the meal. It's like, in in action. So the grain is shared.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:41.000
Now, in time, of course, the, with the millstones in use. This pattern begins to wear out.

00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:54.000
And so it has to be redressed. And this particular. Mail, unfortunately, got a a little crane.

00:38:54.000 --> 00:39:05.000
Which, is attached to other side of the runners down. Notice the shape. Of the supports.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:16.000
Because of course the the grooving is on the underside. Oh, the runners down.

00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:32.000
So what you needed to do, you want to be able to turn. This runners down around. So the this phase is face it up to allow the matter.

00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:41.000
To redress. This stone.

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:54.000
Well after the meal comes off the grain it has to go into some form of Steve. And it's from the same.

00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:02.000
That comes to flower. Used for bacon bread.

00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:13.000
And all of this, all this machinery. Is operated by the wind. So it is a remarkable.

00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:16.000
Device.

00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:29.000
Well, you may wonder why we don't have so many windmills. Around today is they were in the 18 hundreds.

00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:40.000
Basically, there were 2 reasons. One is the, repeal of the corn laws which meant that.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:53.000
Grain was coming in from other countries principally from America. And that grain was so much harder.

00:40:53.000 --> 00:41:05.000
And. Uk grain. The reason for that is, What did we call soft grain in this country?

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:19.000
Is because we have so much. Right. The prairies of America are extremely dry. And it's amazing that anything grows.

00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:28.000
But the grain they do produce is also referred to as hard grain. And that is not suitable.

00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:38.000
To be ground. Under a pair of millstones. And so a new. Oh idea.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:57.000
Of. Which came originally from Switzerland. And is cold roller. And because this grain was coming in from, across the world by sea.

00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:06.000
They set up them large mills. At sea ports.

00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:18.000
And today I would say probably 99%. Of our flower is produced by a roller.

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:32.000
It's very fast. Very efficient. And produces vast quantities of flower. Which, we buy.

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:49.000
In our supermarkets. And so the result of these 2 factors meant that. Our traditional rural. We'll, And that is why so few.

00:42:49.000 --> 00:43:01.000
Working bills, there are a few still. Only a few, today. So if you have a chance to go and see.

00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:09.000
A work in windmill. Go and do so because. It is quite a fascinating.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:20.000
Bit of equipment. And I'll now hand back. To Fiona.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:25.000
Thanks a day. Thanks very much, Michael. That's really interesting stuff there. And we'll go to some questions.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:30.000
We've got 2 or 3 here, so just send your questions and folks and we'll get to them.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:43.000
Okay, this is a question from Mike. Obviously you talked about when males first competing here, sort of in I think it was 1137 we said.

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:49.000
When and where in the world were the first windmills seen? Were the first ones here or were they elsewhere?

00:43:49.000 --> 00:44:00.000
Well, I, the evidence at the moment. Is that, the windmill build in 1137.

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:12.000
Was the first of his type. In the world. That there are. In the Middle East.

00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:18.000
There were windmills which were called horizontal windmills.

00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:28.000
But nothing like a postm. Hot smell, therefore, is believed to be. Very much.

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:38.000
And English invention. And other countries. Principally in Europe. And America.

00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:52.000
Took the idea on And when you study their records. Their dates of building were later. Then 1137.

00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:57.000
So the conclusion is that, We would the first.

00:44:57.000 --> 00:45:04.000
Hmm. Okay. I hope that answers your question, Mike. And this kind of leads me on.

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:15.000
You, I think you may be partially he was asking, are windmills in other countries of the same designs as the UK and you've just touched on that a little bit.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:20.000
He's thinking of unusual looking windmills that he's seen in the Greek island so don't know if there's a bit more that you can say about the different.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.000
Types of windmills in other places.

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:44.000
Right, yeah. You're quite right in the Magiterranean countries. They have large numbers of, rather like the West Country windmill I showed you.

00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:57.000
A short parallel. Tower, but the principal difference between the Mediterranean males and the British ones is comes with the sales.

00:45:57.000 --> 00:46:12.000
They the sales themselves were like triangular. Pieces of sail cloth. And the other factor was, is that around the circumference.

00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:31.000
Of these cells were a number of our firmware. And the reason for those Is that, The miners in the Mediterranean countries would also be tending their farms.

00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:42.000
And close to the windmill. And so they wouldn't actually be. They are present. To actually manage things.

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:49.000
But what happened if the wind direction changed? Hey, they didn't have, they'd never adopted.

00:46:49.000 --> 00:47:04.000
The English. Design. Of a But when the wind direction change Because of these Earthmware ponds.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:14.000
The same would change. And this would alert the, the. To the need to go back to the mail.

00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:22.000
And to turn the and the sales. Back into the wind.

00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:36.000
But, so that's the main difference between, UK. Windmill and one from the Mediterranean area.

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:44.000
Interesting. Okay, I hope that helps you there, Richard. Actually another one from Mike here.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:50.000
This is a quite an interesting one. You talked about these historic mills that more sales. Faster speed.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:48:03.000
And it's interesting that modern wood mills that we see everywhere now only have the 3 sales but turn a lot faster than the old ones I guess that's technology.

00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:20.000
It is technology. But it is also because of the design of the sales. Now, in the modern, windmills which produce electricity.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:25.000
The cells themselves have a twist.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:39.000
And it's rather like the old. Method of World War 2 planes. When they remember the peters themselves.

00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:48.000
Had a twist in them. Now, it was realized that Quite early on that, by twisting the sale.

00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:59.000
You could extract more power. From the wind. But if you imagine that, the windmills that we've seen today.

00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:12.000
With all their shutters. There's a limit. To the that you can provide. Because the actual shutters themselves.

00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:20.000
With start the jam up. And so the windmill, there's additional windmill we've seen today.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:29.000
Wasn't able to extract. As much power from the wind. As these, modern electrical.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:42.000
Windmills. Providing this with power. So that's the basic difference. The traditional male rights knew.

00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:56.000
They needed to twist the sales. Tricks, the power, but there were practical limits. Fortunately today we don't have those reflections.

00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:03.000
Hmm. Very interesting. Okay, another question. This is from Norman.

00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:12.000
Did anyone ever complain about the windmills on the grounds that they disturbed the visual amenity of the village?

00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:13.000
I.

00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:16.000
It's quite some of them would be quite imposing within the village.

00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:28.000
Well, that's right. I've never seen anyone complain. It's not, the sound of the cells.

00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:45.000
It's not, unpleasant. And I know that some of these modern. When meals produce, there's been complaints about the sound they generate.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:55.000
I never been that close to but, The windmills that have seen working, it's not.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:51:08.000
And unpleasant. Sound. And, I think because they were providing a direct. Service to the local population.

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:11.000
That was quite acceptable.

00:51:11.000 --> 00:51:19.000
Okay. Right, now we've got a question here from, let me just find it from, and also a sort of similar, well not similar, but a related question.

00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:34.000
From somebody else that I can't remember, from Brian. No. Oh, let me just find it again.

00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:46.000
And Marilyn was asking about water mills. Are they less efficient than windmills? She knows of a couple, they're still working, actually watermelons.

00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:54.000
And Brian is saying, and, he's asking if there are still any watermills And well, obviously, water.

00:51:54.000 --> 00:52:05.000
Yeah, well they. The vantage water mills have. He said, that they have greater control.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:18.000
Over the amount of water. That's directed onto the water wheel. And, Apart from times of severe drink.

00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:29.000
And there's usually sufficient water. To keep a water will turn it. In, in the case of a windmill.

00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:39.000
Which of you are lying on the wind? Then it could be days and weeks. When there was insufficient wind.

00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:51.000
To actually operate the windmill. So that, if you wanted reliability. I personally would build a watermelon.

00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:54.000
Other than the window.

00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:59.000
Okay.

00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:10.000
Oh, here's another question. Where Miller's dislike to buy their customers and Brian heard that they could divide the flower coming out so that some was diverted off for the Miller's own use.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:12.000
Is that any evidence of that?

00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:24.000
Well, they in the many evil period. And where there was no payment except involved, there were no coins.

00:53:24.000 --> 00:53:45.000
There was no charge. Then the minute was paid in kind. And, The intention was is that that Each windmill would have a large brass saucer, quite large.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:58.000
Probably 2 foot across. And as the flowers being produced. So that, it was directed into the saucer.

00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:09.000
And as it powered up. And started to spill onto the ground you would stop at then. And the middle would have a piece of timber.

00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:19.000
She would strike. Across the top of the soul, sir. And everything that fell off the sorcerer.

00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:31.000
Onto a sheet. Would be his. That will be his payment. Or turn in the grain into flower.

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:46.000
Now of course, This was all done. In secret. And you can well imagine that the villagers Would, suspect.

00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:58.000
That the miller was taken more than he deserved. And, there's again, cause a lot of upset and anger.

00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:10.000
In many evil society. And that is why the, was very much. Not only physically on the outskirts of the village.

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:22.000
But also he was. Mentally. I've recorded is someone that, was not part of local society.

00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:38.000
So it was not an easy task being Miller. Because you weren't, liked by many people.

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:39.000
Hmm.

00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:50.000
Yeah. Right, here's a really interesting one from Peter and I know this, and Peter saying he was told keeping your nose to the millstone is a phrase which came about because someone would be keeping their nose close to be able to smell if the grain was burning.

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:52.000
Is this true?

00:55:52.000 --> 00:56:02.000
Well, I've never. Heard that expression in regards to the male stones. I can tell you where it does come from.

00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:13.000
Because I've been to a water meal in North Devon. Which is, by the National Trust.

00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:20.000
It produced them. Igricultural tools. And.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:34.000
These tools had to be sharpened. And so the actual operator. Let on his stomach. Over the top of a grain stone.

00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:48.000
And, it leaned across this platform where he was lying on. And what is 5. Which, he would then sharpen up.

00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:58.000
And. That was very much. Keeping his nose to the

00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:20.000
There we go. And okay, and now we've got a couple more questions and then I think we'll wrap up folks because we' this is a question here from Patricia and the windmills and presumably they would have been strategically located in windy places.

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:21.000
Hmm.

00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:28.000
Well, indeed, indeed. We have this picture and there's many paintings of course of windmills.

00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:38.000
On top of hills, which is the most natural place. But when you realize that, This particular wooden mail will.

00:57:38.000 --> 00:58:00.000
In 1137. Was Ashley in Lincolnshire. Which is extremely flat. But of course there weren't many water males because You needed them lots of hills and streams and rivers to operate a watermelon.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:11.000
And so in. This very flat country of Lincolnshire in the Norfolk Broads. You had large number of windmills.

00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:20.000
Being built. And in the Norfolk rolls they weren't all core mills. They were used for pumping water.

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:35.000
To train the fence. Defense in Lincolnshire. And, foot of orchard principally during the winter period.

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:44.000
And. . This lamb was pumped dry And this was done by windmills.

00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:49.000
In land which was very flat.

00:58:49.000 --> 00:58:56.000
Hmm, interesting. Didn't know that. Right, one final question, from Sue.

00:58:56.000 --> 00:59:01.000
She's asking were there any cooperative or community when mills?

00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:12.000
Oh, most certainly, yes. In fact, they. The smoke mill I showed you, that very tall one.

00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:23.000
The full title. Of the windmill. Smoke.

00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:37.000
So it included the word union. In his title. And this met that, it was owned by The villagers.

00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:50.000
And they property. From the actual. Profits generated by the windmill. Because obviously by the 18 hundreds.

00:59:50.000 --> 01:00:02.000
And cash. Was being exchanged. For the actual work undertaken. So yes, there were a number.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:06.000
Of these cooperative. Windmills.

01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:08.000
Interesting, well there you go, Sue. Okay, I think we need to wrap up there.

01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:17.000
Thanks again for that, Michael. That was really interesting. Lots of really interesting facts there actually.

01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:24.000
And just really interesting to hear that the background to these structures that we just don't see anymore, certainly not in those forms.

01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:30.000
Okay, so thanks very much.