No writer before or since has caught us so completely as William Shakespeare. Great Britons s1e10, Shakespeare, Fiona Shaw
[Ben] Jonson immediately recognised Shakespeare’s genius. He later wrote of his friend, ‘He was not for an age, but for all time’. But even Jonson would never have guessed how right he would be. Shakespeare had by now produced the greatest body of creative work the world had ever seen and ever would see. ibid.
Just three years after his return to Stratford in 1616 he died, on the same day he was born: the 23rd April. Only three months earlier he had claimed to be in good health. But it’s thought the years of heavy drinking took its toll. ibid.
Of his fourteen major novels almost all are among literature’s greatest titles. Great Britons: Charles Dickens, H2 2018
John Dickens’ carelessness with money began to threaten the family’s security. ibid.
The 16-year-old boy began his first career as a clerk in a lawyer’s office. ibid.
Dickens became tremendously famous. Dickens became a hot property. ibid.
‘The news spread rapidly that Dickens had come, and at once the throng of visitors poured in’. ibid. Atlantic Monthly US report
‘His fiction which had begun to reflect a darker view of life.’ ibid. commentator
In 1876 just a few words revolutionised communication for ever. ‘Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.’ The first phrase spoken by Alexander Graham Bell into his invention. He knew he had seen the future. Great Britons: Alexander Graham Bell: Voice of Invention
Bell experimented with the concept he called the Harmonic Telegraph. ibid.
From old stone circles and modern stone circles. Cunk on Britain s1e1, BBC 2018
Britain was already part of Earth but it was scrunched in along with a lot of other countries. ibid.
Stones are more jaggedy [than rocks]. ibid.
Where did Romans come from? ibid.
And they put the capital of Britain in Colchester where nobody would want to come and get it. ibid.
Middle-evil England was such a big deal it was even happening in Scotland. ibid.
Today, Britain stands at a fork in its crossroads … Cunk on Britain s1e2
Last week we discovered how God invented Britain. ibid.
Henry is also memorable for his chronic wife addiction. ibid.
It was now the British got really into boats by getting into boats. ibid.
How did Sir Walter Raleigh invent the potato? ibid.
Drake became the first person to circumcise the globe. ibid.
As a puritan Cromwell outlawed popular entertainment effectively turning the entire country into BBC4. ibid.
Britain is in the grip of the Georgian era. Cunk on Britain s1e3
Austen wrote novels, which are books. ibid.
Darwin was born the son of a doctor. But using his own theories, evolved into a scientist. He was faskinated [sic] by nature, and decided to find out more about it by going to sea on a beagle. ibid.
Was the British empire evil like it was in Star Wars? ibid. Cunt to Professor Ashley Jenkins
But it wasn’t just prostitutes who died in Victorian Britain. ibid.
A time when Britain fought two world wars but no world cups. ibid.
In the last episode we saw how Britain was invaded by the Victorians who fought and won the industrial revolution but not without losing their leader, Queen Victoria, who stopped happening just as the 20th century began. Cunk on Britain s1e4
And in 1910 King Edward died and was buried beneath the soil to rule over his fellow potatoes for all eternity. ibid.
Things were shithouse bad. ibid.
People weren’t totally down in the dumps even if they lived in one. ibid.
Today, racist bigotry has no place in contemporary Britain, except Kent. ibid.
Teenagers were creatures who looked like adults yet had the minds of children, like professional footballers do today. ibid.
The arse end of history … Women had to stay at home washing clothes, raising hundreds of children by hand, and agreeing with their husbands. Cunk on Britain s1e5
The Beatles wanted to hold your hand which only made the disease spread faster. ibid.
Some women were having so much sex they decided to burn their bras. ibid.
Soon everyone in Britain was swinging. Except convicted murderers. ibid.
It was decided to start the 1980s a year early … As well as a uterus, Mrs Thatcher had a vision. ibid.
Led by their leader Arthur Scarface. ibid.
It seemed like a golden age of twattery. ibid.
Diana: Because emojis hadn’t been invented people had to cry with their faces. (Great Britain & Diana) ibid.
Between a rock and a harder rock. ibid.
I’m from a family of travellers. We’re Romany people – those travellers descended from the Gypsies who first arrived in Britain five hundred years ago. A Very British History s1e1: Romany Gypsies, BBC 2018
The 1960s were a difficult decade for us. For much of it we were like outlaws in our own land. ibid.
Romany Gypsies arrived in Britain five centuries ago after migrating across Europe from northern India. ibid.
And always there was an obsession with horses. ibid.
But elsewhere in the home counties strings of trailers continued to pull up on main roads. ibid.
It’s about migrants who came thousands of miles to a foreign land only to find poverty and prejudice. A Very British History s1e3: The Jews of Leeds
The Jews who came to Leeds in the late 19th century were Ashkenazi Jews. Their roots were thousands of miles away in the area around Vilna, now called Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. ibid.
Life in England hasn’t always been easy for the Irish. For some, it was a shock. And integration wasn’t always the done thing. But the English weren’t always keen on us. In the ’70s the Troubles brought inconceivable horror and suffering to the streets of Birmingham: there were consequences for the local Irish. A Very British History s2e1: Irish, BBC 2020
Most would agree that the Birmingham Irish community we see today started in the years following the Second World War. ibid.
According to the 1951 census there were about 36,000 Irish-born people living in Birmingham; 10 years later that number had increased by more than 20,000. ibid.
Despite discrimination there was work, especially in construction. ibid.
Families like mine have been coming to the UK to build new lives since the end of the Second World War. After we transformed Britain’s bland post-war dining scene, becoming the first foreign cuisine to become widely established here. A Very British History s2e2: Chinese
In the 1940s there were only a few thousand Chinese people settled here. ibid.