Martyn Cornell - Edward VIII - Jo Brand - William Shakespeare - Thomas Hardy - Storyville: Brides for Sale TV - The Office US TV - Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends: Thai Brides TV - Stacey Dooley TV - I Was a Child Bride TV - Grace of Monaco: Hollywood Princess TV - This World: Britain's Jihadi Brides TV -
The claim that the word bridal is a corruption of bride-ale – a special beer brewed for weddings. No, it isn’t, all right? I don’t care how many sources you can find that say this – it’s not true.
Bridal does come from bride-ale, in Anglo-Saxon brýd-ealo, but ale was being used here in its secondary sense of ‘a festival or merry-meeting at which much ale was drunk’ ... By the 14th century bridal had come to mean the whole proceedings of the wedding or marriage. Martyn Cornell online article 17th November 2010, ‘Bride Ale – Too Many of You Are Getting This Wrong
Of course I do have a slight advantage over the rest of you. It helps in a pinch to be able to remind your bride that you gave up a throne for her. Edward VIII
When I got married, the The Sun ran the headline: ‘Here comes the bride, all fat and wide’. Luckily, it was a few days after the wedding – but it was still hideous to read at a great romantic moment. Jo Brand
And sooner dance upon a bloody pole
Than stand uncovered to the vulgar groom. William Shakespeare, The First Part of the Contention II Henry VI IV i 129-130, Suffolk
I will die bravely, like a bridegroom. William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear IV v 187, Lear
Well, what I mean is that I shouldn’t mind being a bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having a husband. Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd
‘Sonita! Sonita! Sonita!’ Storyville: Brides for Sale – Sonita, Sonita raps down with the kids, BBC 2016
How much did they offer as a bride price? – $3,000. But my dad wants more money. ibid. girl to girl
Girl 1: And worse, he already has a wife and kids.
Girl 2: You’re lucky; at least they asked you.
Girl 3: Did you agree or did they beat you?
Girl 1: At first, they beat me up. Then I agreed. ibid.
Can’t you see that I’m just at teen? But he doesn’t answer, just leaves me there. ibid. Sonitarap lyrics
It’s a big day for Phyllis, but it’s an even bigger day for me – employer of the bride. The Office s3e15, Phyllis’ Wedding, NBC 2006
Bangkok: capital of Thailand, love capital of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Western men travel here each year in search of the eastern promise of a Thai woman. My mission: to find out why. My first port of call: one of Bangkok’s largest marriage agencies: Anglo-Thai introductions. Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends s3e5: Thai Brides, BBC 2017
‘They’re brought up to look after the man.’ ibid. agency bloke Ron
I’ve come to Syria to meet women who left the West to join the so-called Islamic State. Now IS has been defeated, their home countries don’t want them back: they see them as a threat. Most now claim the didn’t know anything about the brutality of IS. They say they stayed at home and cooked. Stacey Dooley for Panorama, Stacey Meets the IS Brides, BBC 2019
Since then the Kurds who fought IS to gain control of this part of Syria have been left with radicalised foreigners nobody wants. ibid.
One of the female guards was stabbed to death. Shamima Begum, who left the UK when she was fifteen … is no longer here, but I would like to talk to other British women in the camp. ibid.
Support for IS is still very strong. ibid.
… Inside their tents, but with the atmosphere so tense [sic] … ibid.
They [Yazidi women] were saying some of the Isis women were far worse than the men … No-one saw anything apart from an oven. ibid.
I finally hear British accents. ibid.
I didn’t turn my back on democracy. You did. You knew what Isis stood for. ibid. Stacey to Isis women
It’s hard to know where the truth lies. ibid.
How common is this in the United States? How frequently are we marrying off little girls to men? I Was a Child Bride, Elizabeth Vargas reporting, CI 2019
Between 2000-2010 an estimated 248,000 child marriages in the United States. ibid. caption
‘I was forced to marry my rapist at 11.’ ibid. victim
Princess Grace’s wedding dress seems to have inspired bridal fashions for six decades. Grace of Monaco: Hollywood Princess, Channel 5 2020
The richest and most powerful terrorist organisation in history – Islamic State – is targeting British women to join its holy war. Leaving the classroom for the battlefield, three teenage schoolgirls from London find their way to Syria. Recruited to become Jihadi brides. This World: Britain’s Jihadi Brides, BBC 2015
Islamic fundamentalism has come a long way since the bearded old men of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. ibid.
There are around 550 Western women inside the Islamic State. ibid.