This is the first of a monthly special ‘Flying by the Seat of Your Thong‘, where your host Catherine Lyn Scott is joined by different Brit co-hosts for true British chat, fun and laughter. This show is not planned, WE SAY WHAT WE WANT when WE WANT TO!

Co-host Lee shared the sad story of Malcolm McLaren’s death, as well as the history of punk in the world famous Kings Road. We also shared celebrity gossip about Jude Law. We discuss British culture, nudity, the paparazzi and the internet spin off of Eastenders. Our anglophile and roving reporter ‘Leo’ joined us to add an American twist, to this very British show!

Plus what we miss as ex-pats from the UK, especially British chocolate and what would a Brit conversation be without touching on the weather. Add in a crazy host and this makes for a fun ride.

Music featured by Brit singer Sammie Jay and Buppy Brown.

If you need a giggle then this is the show for you. Listen here: http://www.latalkradio.com/images/Catherine-040810.mp3

Brit Celeb Radio #4 Nothing but Brit chat! is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Caption Sarehole Mill: Believe it or not this is pretty close to Birmingham City Centre

(Photo By BB B on Flickr, click image)

Every day I drive home from work in Edgbaston, Birmingham to Solihull, a drive of about 12 miles through the city traffic.  About half way home I pass through Moseley, down the Wake Green road and turn up Sarehole road towards Hall Green.  Just before Hall Green, I pass an unremarkable wooded area on the left hand side.  Despite its reputation for concrete and traffic there are actually lots of hidden green areas in Birmingham and it may surprise you to find out that you have probably already heard about this one.

Why have you heard about it? Watch the film clip.

JRR Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 but came to live in Birmingham with his mother when he was three. The family eventually moved to Sarehole road, now in Birmingham but at that time a rural area. The actual house that the family lived in is now gone but Sarehole Mill where Tolkien is said to have played around is still there. There has been a Watermill on this spot since the 1540′s, originally corn was ground here but it had also been used for metal working during the industrial revolution – most notably by Matthew Boulton.

Moseley Bog, is this where Tolkein saw the tree people the ‘Ents’?  (kcshearon on Flickr click image)

The Mill, it’s water wheel and the Mill pond are still there along with Moseley Bog which is a large area of wilderness – all of it pretty much as Tolkien would have remembered it in the 1890′s. This area had a lasting influence upon Tolkien; he later admitted that it was the inspiration for the Shire in the Lord of the Rings.

Orthanc seen from Minas Morgul? (Waterworks tower seen from Perrots Folly)

by dominiclemoine on Flickr click image

Another part of the city that visitors don’t often see is Edgbaston reservoir – a mile or so to the west of the city centre. Compared to the area around Sarehole mill this is a much more densely urbanised inner city environment. Tolkien’s mother died when he was 12 and it was to this area that he came to spend the rest of his childhood.  Two large towers Towers, Perrot’s Folly and the tower at Edgbaston Waterworks in this area are said to have inspired the Two Towers of the book. These old towers do look rather odd and one can easily see how they might have made an impression on young Tolkein.

Perrots Tower Edgbaston Birmingham By edyta41976 on Flickr

Whilst we are in the area I might as well mention another local boy John Wyndham – why is he famous?

Known as the ‘master of the middle class catastrophe’  Wyndham is also known for the Midwich Cuckoos. He specialised in bringing sudden and unlikely disasters to cosy English settings. As a child, Wyndham had experienced what must to him have felt like disaster.  His parents split up when he was eight and he spent the rest of his childhood at boarding school. One can easily speculate about how this childhood experience must have affected his later imaginings.

Writing the occasional post for Anglotopia has caused me to reflect upon my own area and it’s history. I have been suprised how often this has caused me to notice things that I had really always taken for granted. What about you, wherever you are – what is commonplace around you that you take for granted and others might not? do you drive home past any famous/obscure literary landmarks?  why don’t you share them? – I would love to hear from you!

A Little Brit History: A bit of JRR Tolkein and John Wyndham is a post from: Anglotopia.net

“This royal throne of kings,

this sceptered isle,

This earth of majesty,this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in a silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,

Feared by their breed and famous by their birth”

In Elizabethan times, England felt itself embattled and surrounded. At one point, Elizabeth faced hostility from Scotland, France, Ireland as well as from across the North sea in what is now Belgium. At times, the threat of Spanish invasion caused near hysteria. This famous painting of Queen Elizabeth, known as the Armada portrait partly celebrates this victory which saved England from a Spanish led invasion.

“I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms”

Queen Elizabeth I – 1588

Naturally, nobody took Elizabeth’s words about taking up arms herself at all seriously. As ever, the duty of taking up arms fell to the common man. In the days of Elizabeth’s father, King Henry it was the task of Cardinal Wolsey to attempt a survey of England’s military readiness. In 1522 he organised a survey which discovered that there were 128,250 men available from 28 counties. These men had 35,328 coats of mail and that one third of the men were archers. Funnily enough nothing much came from this survey in the way of military preparations although it was used as the basis for a series of repayable ‘loans’ to the government amounting to £260,000 – of course, the ‘loans’ were never repaid.

Nowadays of course, apart from a lingering anti-Europeanism -( I know, I know we are European too, it’s better not to try & understand that one) we don’t feel at all threatened by the rest of Europe (well most of us don’t – not all the time anyway) and we don’t spend a lot of time preparing defences. On the whole, England feels pretty safe and where I live is no exception.

A few years ago we moved into our 1930′s house in Solihull in the West Midlands. Only three families had called this place ‘home’ since it was built.  Now I have lived here a few years I can see what makes people stop. This is typical English middle class suburbia, red brick houses, privet hedges, well tended gardens sloping down to the park. This is the sort of place that Betjeman would have written about (but didn’t) :

It was difficult to imagine anything unpleasant troubling the past inhabitants of this house until a find in the attic made me think about our recent past.

Photo from Flickr

Inspired by years of watching the ‘Antiques road show’ on TV, I was keen to climb into the loft to check out its secrets. Sure enough there was plenty up there, mostly looking like it had been untouched for many years. There were a lot of 1930′s books, and a framed photo of a well dressed man punting a boat down a river. In far corner of the loft, leaning against the chimney was a dusty, string tied parcel. Inside was a neatly folded fireman’s uniform, a canvas bag containing a gas mask, some booklets about air raid precautions and how to build a shelter. On the bag the owner, a Mr Harkus had penned his name and Auxilliary fire service number. Mr Harkus had obviously spent the war helping to put out the fires from the blitz.  Although I don’t think Solihull was bombed too much (we still have a shelter down the garden) there were certainly plenty of bombs dropped around here on Birmingham and Coventry.

Photo from Flickr

Mr Harkus wasn’t alone in being called up to do his bit for the war effort. My Grandfather, Francis McCabe served with the Home Guard, a force made up of old soldiers and others who were not called up into the regular forces.

I remember Granddad telling me that in the event of invasion his unit was responsible for stopping the Panzers advancing up the Bristol Road into Birmingham. Luckily, the Panzers never came and Granddad, Mr Harkus and all the others packed up their uniforms and got on with the rest of their lives.

I listened recently to some of Churchill’s speeches from this time and heard an echo of the words spoken by Queen Elizabeth in 1588. Churchill had said that if the invaders got as far as London then he would have died fighting, somehow, I suspect that he actually would have done.

A Little Brit History: Mr Harkus Does His Bit is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The British Beehive’ By George Cruickshank 1867. 

Us Brits don’t get too excited by things, we are calm and reasonable. We certainly don’t get too upset by things like religion or politics. In fact, if you visit Britain then don’t even think of discussing politics in the Pub – remember the old drinkers maxim ‘never discuss politics or religion whilst you are drinking’ (Stick to the weather old boy – much safer!).

‘English history in particular seems the work of a temperate community, seldom shaken by convulsions’  (Simon Schama A History of Britain)

For the most part, this sums up what it feels like to live in England and more generally in Britain too. Britain likes to present itself to the world as being a stable and (mostly) harmonious place. This harmony, we believe is especially noticeable when we compare ourselves to the rest of Europe, this is not a new idea:

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, 

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 

This other Eden, demi-paradise, 

This fortress built by Nature for herself 

Against infection and the hand of war, 

This happy breed of men, this little world, 

This precious stone set in the silver sea, 

Which serves it in the office of a wall 

Or as a moat defensive to a house, 

Against the envy of less happier lands,– 

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

(William Shakespeare King Richard III Act 2 Scene 1)

Along with relatively secure borders another important contributor to stability (some would argue) was the class system.  A really good illustration of this system can be seen in the ‘Beehive’ engraving at the top of this page. This presents a view of British society as being stable and well structured. Everyone has a place and very importantly knows what this place is. Of course, things are different now – but some would say not that different.  As this sketch from the TV show ‘The Frost report’ suggests, class was still an issue in the 1960′s.

Ok, so this wasn’t actually a fair system. It concentrated wealth and power with the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the rest. Britain grabbed half the world to pay for it all – along the way causing  problems which rumble on to this day ( see Palestine, Israel, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, quite a lot of Africa, India, Pakistan etc).  Above all, ordinary people didn’t care for this system and the 1860′s, despite the impression given by the engraving – were punctuated by protest movements and civil unrest.

You may still hear Britain described (usually by us Brits) as the ‘Home of Democracy’, conducted within the ‘Mother of Parliaments’. In fact, ordinary people were not allowed the vote until the Great Reform act of 1867, legislation passed in the teeth of resistance from the ruling classes. In truth, Britain had been home to some pretty dubious ‘democratic’ practices. Firstly, most people just weren’t trusted to vote. One abuse was the routine purchase of votes and if necessary, violence and intimidation could be used. 

Another major abuse was the ‘Rotten Borough’ – this was a sparsely populated area, often one in which most of the people had left to live in the cities. Despite an area having few inhabitants it could still elect an MP to Parliament.  For example, Old Sarum in Wiltshire had 3 houses and seven voters.

Photo from Flickr – Cheetleys

By contrast, thousands of people in the Cities could not vote. Of course, it was the people in the inner cities, surviving in grim housing and work places who were most drawn to protest about their conditions. These were the people that those with power most wanted to stop from voting.

I still think that for the most part, Simon Schama’s description of a Britain ‘seldom shaken by convulsions’ is  one that still applies today. However, politically we are going through a bit of a strange time. I am not sure how much people outside Britain have heard about the MP’s expenses scandal. To be honest, if you don’t know about it, don’t ask me – I am completely fed up with it (If you’d like to know more – see explanation of scandal from BBC or listen to this podcast).

Look at this video from a recent ‘Question Time’ on BBC. To be honest, I haven’t watched this for years as it had all got too bland. Someone in the pub mentioned this was worth a look – and boy, was he right! The audience just doesn’t normally react to politicians like this.

Suffice it to say that there is a growing feeling that we are at one of those turning points in our history. People are fed up and want a change – how do I know this? All of a sudden, it is safe to discuss politics without being told to shut up. It is even possible to hear people in Pubs talking about it!

A Little Brit History: Britain – The Natives are Revolting! is a post from: Anglotopia.net

‘May morning on Magdalen tower’ by Holman Hunt (1890)

This is a beautiful time of the year to be in England.  The skies are a stunning blue and hedgerows and trees are bursting with blossom and new greenery. It is no suprise that our ancestors chose to celebrate this. As today is the first of May I thought it would be good to take a look at some traditional May day celebrations.

The picture and film above show part of a celebration that still takes place in Oxford every May Day. In a tradition which goes back around 500 years the choristers are singing a hymn called the Hymnus Eucharisticus. Other well known traditions include dancing around the Maypole and choosing a May Queen.

The May Queen - Photo courtesy of Rob Roy on Flickr

The May day events that we see today have their roots in celebrations that are of far greater antiquity. In pre-Christian times the festival known as ‘Beltane’ was celebrated at this time of year. This was a fire festival that welcomed the coming of Summer and it’s associated fertility.

When Christianity came to this country it was faced with the hard task of converting the pagan natives to the new religion (‘pagan’ comes from the Latin ‘pagus’ meaning countryside). In many places, rather than completely discarding old ways, a sort of compromise was arrived at. Traditions which celebrated the old gods were adapted or made to co-exist with the ‘new’ Christian practices. An example of this accomodation can be seen in the names of the days of the week. Monday – Moon – day , Tuesday – Tiw’s day ( Norse God), Wednesday – Woden, Thursday – Thor, Friday – Freyja and, a hangover from Roman times ‘Saturns day’.

Church St Mary’s, Oxon – Photo Courtesy Neil on Flickr

Similarly, many Churches are built directly upon the sites of much older, pre -Christian religious sites. This Church at Bampton in Oxfordshire (above) was built upon the site of two Bronze age barrows.

In parts of the country there was a  belief that certain times of the year were better than others to see ‘the little people’ – i.e. fairies and pixies, the evening of May Day being one of these times. You might imagine that such beliefs have disappeared and, mostly, they have.

However, England is justly famous for eccentric characters and they don’t come much more eccentric than ‘Circulus’ , a folk band who are part of the ‘strange folk’ tradition. Circulus describe themselves as ‘twisted mushroom pixie rock’ and maintain a belief in pixies, having once sacked a band member who refused to share this belief. Their best known song is called ‘Power to the pixies’ but because of todays theme I thought that their rendition of ‘Summer is Icumen in’ (dating from around 1260) would be most appropriate.  So, enjoy the video and once more, happy May day! – but whatever you do, watch out for those pixies tonight ?

In case you wanted to sing along, here are the original middle English words.

Sumer Is Icumen In

 Svmer is icumen in

Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

and springþ þe wde nu.

Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,

lhouþ after calue cu,

Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ.

Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu,

Wel singes þu cuccu.

ne swik þu nauer nu!

Sing cuccu nu, Sing cuccu!

Sing cuccu, Sing cuccu nu!

  NB Add translation alongside the above

 Summer has come in!

Loud sing cuckoo!

Grows seed and blooms mead,

And springs the woods anew.

Sing, cuckoo!

Ewe bleats after lamb,

Lows after calf the cow.

Bull starts, buck farts,

Merrily sing, cuckoo!

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

Will sing you, cuckoo.

Nor stop you ever now.

Sing cuckoo now! Sing cuckoo!

Sing cuckoo now! Sing cuckoo!

END

 PS Check out this interview featuring Circulus – it is well worth a look!

A Little Brit History: Happy May Day! is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Editor’s Note: Andy Walsh, who runs the cracking Tudor History blog Tudor Stuff, has graciously decided to write a monthly column for Anglotopia about British History. I’ll get out of the way and let Andy introduce himself.

Hi! My name is Andy Walsh and I am the author of the Tudorstuff blog, which as the name suggests is about all things Tudor.  As I have also agreed to do a monthly post on Anglotopia I ought to start by saying a bit about myself.

I live with my wife and kids in Olton, Solihull which is in the English Midlands (in fact we are only a few miles from Meriden which is said to be the exact geographical centre of England).

My day job is at Birmingham City University where I teach mental health nurses.  I am also a part time guide at Harvington Hall in Worcestershire which is a Tudor Hall famous for it’s ‘Priest holes’.

Although I am going to write about English history I should say that I am not a professional historian. I have always felt curious about the past – intrigued by the ways that history has shaped our language, our place and plant names, our customs and landscape.

As a chld I wondered about what lay under the humps and bumps in the fields near where I grew up (Cistercian monastery – demolished in the time of Henry VIII). Around here it is easy to dig up bits of china pottery or Victorian clay tobacco pipes but once I remember two schoolmates turning up in the playground carrying a real sword dug from a ditch.

In the Midlands we are close to Stratford, Warwick and Worcester, the battlefields of  Bosworth and Edgehill are close by. If whilst driving to any of these places you find yourself on a particularly straight country road then often you find it was put there by the Romans. Matthew Boulton built the first factory at the Soho works in nearby Birmingham and arguably, it was us Midlanders who started the Industrial Revolution here!

I listened to my Uncle tell tales about how he survived Dunkirk, my mothers memories of sheltering from the Blitz or our local librarian who met the Beatles – I always wanted to know more. My favourite books were about Robin Hood, William the Conquerer, Richard the Lionheart and Robert the Bruce – it was never all just stories though.

Coming from an Anglo-Irish family was another reason to be aware of the past. As you know, England has had a ‘complex’  relationship with its neighbours across the Irish sea – at times I have felt a bit torn by it all. It certainly helped to make me aware of how we are still influenced by our history.

So, if you want academic and impartial history then don’t look here – I can’t do that. I hope to say a bit about our history from the perspective of someone who is still trying to understand it himself. Given that a lot of you in the US also have your roots here I am aware that this is your history as well. I would really love to hear about what you are interested in and perhaps in weeks to come we can get to know each other a little better.

A Little Brit History: About Me – Andy Walsh is a post from: Anglotopia.net