1066: The Battle For Middle Earth

[Beorn]

Has anyone tried the proxy server thing? That should work, theoretically.

You just reminded me.

I was annoyed I couldn't access US and Japanese Youtube pages, so found this software to overcome the restrictions.

That Hotspot Shield has got to work.

[Aemma]

You can even play the game of the three battles here.

I tried having a go at recording the programme, but my Replay Screencast doesn't seem to enjoy recording it.
I had thought it was faulty and downloaded a newer version, but it seems it is Channel four's way of preventing people from recording their online programming.

Unless someone can direct me to a software which overcomes that, I'm afraid I cannot record it for our North American friends.

A big thank you for trying Beornie and a big thank you for troubleshooting too Cythraul.

[Óttar]

If not, I am going to record it online tomorrow and post it on Google.
So sit tight for the moment till then.

Get on it! We're waiting!

[Óttar]

Perhaps on a slight tangent, I am wondering why does a traditional English history class always start with 1066 and the coronation of Guillaume Le Bâtarde?

[Osweo]

Perhaps on a slight tangent, I am wondering why does a traditional English history class always start with 1066 and the coronation of Guillaume Le Bâtarde?

It's wrong, isn't it?

I put it down partly to inertia. The curricula of seventy years ago only need slight tweaking to fit the modern paradigm, so they can't be bothered fixing the 'not broken'. There's the ghost of rote learning involved here too, in so far as 1066 can be parroted by any Englishman above forty with a slight education. There's so much fear and reluctance to go beyond the familiar in our public life, I'm afraid. And so our most formative past remains a closed book to the majority of our people.

Another aspect: 1066 was so drastic, that not much of institutions on a national level (and our state hates regional distinction and continuity, seeking to subordinate all to the national story...) survived. And so modern history, with its heavy leaning on modern political thought (with all its 'civic nationalism') sees nothing relevant from the AngloSaxon period. All we got from that is our ethnic heritage and identity, and you know how that is evaluated by the Mainstream in education and politics...

I'd love to see the Heptarchia brought back to life for our schoolkids. They should know that they're South Saxons, Deirans, etc. 'Englishness' has proven a rather unwieldy thing, and needs these buttresses.

I went into a tourist information office in Kent the other day, and asked the woman there what there was to see of the Saxon burials at Lyminge (I'd just seen 'Anglo-Saxon burial' on the map). She looked on Google for me, eventually and told me "It's a cemetery, a J.. er, Jutish cemetery, if you know what that is???" I asked her if she was local, she was; "You are a Jute!" It's depressing to have to tell people this sort of thing.

[Beorn]

"You are a Jute!" It's depressing to have to tell people this sort of thing.

"Well, you'll never guess what I was called at work today, Edith!"
"Ooh! What did you get called today, Iris?"
"Some hairy man from the north came in asking for directions. He seemed very polite at first and was most eager for me to look upon Google map for a burial site!"
"A burial site?! He must be one of those northerners you hear about in the news. What happened?"
"Well, he called me a Jew!! Can you believe it!?"
"Well I never! That's the last time I go further north than the Thames, I'll tell you now"
"More tea and crumpet?"

[Óttar]

"You are a Jute!" It's depressing to have to tell people this sort of thing.

I was watching the film Svartbok i.e. "The Black Book" and one of the Dutch calls a German a Kraut.. That was also present in another German and Dutch co-production about 2 sisters.. I always want to scream.. "Yeah, if Germans are Krauts, that makes Netherlanders Kroots!"

[Osweo]

He seemed very polite at first

You don't know me near as well as you think.

"More tea and crumpet?"

No no, I distinctly heard it. She said 'crampit'... Bluddy Jutes.

"Yeah, if Germans are Krauts, that makes Netherlanders Kroots!"

Haus = huis, no?

Kruits, no?

[Óttar]

Haus = huis, no? Kruits, no?

I was thinking more Baum = Boom (Tree), Kraut = Kroot

I looked it up, Dutch kroot = beet.

Dutch kruit = gun powder. German Schießpulver

[Freomæg]

So, what was thought of the second part of this 1066 programme?

I momentarily wondered, when at the end the narrator persistently made the point that "England was never the same", whether there might be some small agenda or 'moral' to the production. Perhaps a subliminal: "England is an ever changing entity, culturally, therefore just accept multiculturalism" (which is largely true, but in its emphasis it could be suspicious). Or am I being paranoid? I hope so because I'd like to believe this was one of the best things I've seen on TV for a long time.