1970: GHOSTS and ARSENIC | Curious Character of Britain | Voice of the People | BBC Archive
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- “Simply that feeling of somebody watching. And waiting for me to make a mistake.”
The Tamar river snakes through south west England, separating Devon and Cornwall.
One man who lives not far from its banks is Ernie Gregory. An expert on the old abandoned arsenic mines that dot the countryside, he lives a hermit’s existence, salvaging copper. And at dusk, he confesses to being scared of the ghosts of the old miners returning.
Clip taken from Curious Character of Britain: I Suppose We Died with the Arsenic, originally broadcast on BBC One on Thursday 23 April, 1970.
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Remarkable how the BBC could find these characters and stories.
Truth is everyone was a character in them days. Tv has played a part sadly in making the majority lose their character or becoming one that is not naturally them.
pbs had things like this and is mostly pabulum now. maybe its harder to be a character but they could do one on me heh.
Have a listen through the BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4. Lost of radio programs with many interesting characters.
What a great insight into the very recent past...and yet it seems SO long ago. These archives are a treasure trove!
I remember Ernie from when I was a child. He was very clever but also clearly troubled.
Love these old archive videos,bring bag so many memories as I was born 1965 in Bonnie Scotland 🏴
BBC2 did a programme about Ernie a couple of years later called 'Old Panhandlers never die", part of a series I believe, called The Fanatics.
Calstock - parts still look much like the tiny glimpse we get of the viaduct in this 54 year old video.
Not sure what the river quality was like back then.
The 1970s in many places was dire for water quality.
We've come full circle on that one then, it's once again dire.
The rest of this video, the pace of it, the stories from it may as well be from a different planet - in just 54 years.
We can still get glimpses of it, we can visit these places and get a bit of a feel for it, but it's mostly long gone.
I guess it's an age thing really - I was born in 1968, I have a strong connection to the 70's - yet it's like a foreign land to me in many ways.
I can "discover" a world that existed when I was a nipper, but it feels disconnected.
What’s happened to the water quality there? The Thames has never been better
@@andywatts8654 It actually looks like the Tamar river is currently relatively good.
The Thames - hard to say, some say good, others beg to differ.
In the 1970s, as much as 70% of rivers in the UK were considered badly polluted - heavy industry, plus sewage.
Sadly, we've rowed back on the sewage, plus have the issues of run-off from intensive farming practices that are ruining rivers.
Apparently, only 14% of UK rivers are considered as being in "good" ecological status.
Seems like we came a massive way since the 1970s to fix our rivers, but over the last decade or so, the privatised water companies mismanagement and underinvestment, plus intensive farming (chicken farming), are seeing us go backward.
Good old tv in 1970 they were they days
This sort of thoughtful, well-written observational television doesn't really exist anymore. Not upbeat enough for a modern audience perhaps? I've never been a fan of the 'dumbing down' accusation often levelled at the media but sometimes I wonder...
Dumbing down was/is definitely a thing - tell - lie - vision An integral part of the governments conditioning of the Brit masses.
We are actually looking at a way of life that would have looked much the same in pre-war Britain. Folk in 1970 had more thinking time to work out solutions to problems and my recollection is that everyone seemed to be more resourceful, could turn their hand to anything.
fascinating
How do I apply for a job at BBC archive, it would be amazing to have access to all these wonderful old archives of British history.
Start by becoming a Marxist.
Why
I bet they have heaps of cp in their archives, i doubt they would let outsiders in
@@davidpeters6536 "Start by becoming a Marxist."
They prefer the term 'progressive' now.
@@davidpeters6536 Typical far-right English r.sole. People like you don't matter.
Remember collecting a few pieces of copper pyrite there about 1970
I would be interested to see those heaps now, and see if he did make a difference. I suspect he did.
3:46 "but it was late enough. Quarter to eleven. Time when all decent people ought to be in bed."
2:15 push me
Catch salmon eh, they are not there anymore 😢
They seem to still be around between March and October you can book to fish for them online :)
Wonder what the dumps look like today?
Not much different to be honest. If you go to tamar trails you can walk around them.
guy is like an irl minecraft player
Doesn’t know his Arsine from his elbow that bloke 😂
Then they build holiday homes in Cornwall
Sadly the salmon are long gone…
'If I can't make something of it then I deserve to fail'
How different to the victim mentality and government dependence of the 21st century
When people could still live in tied cottages,or have a fair rent set? Housing was for a home not a multi million pounds investment opportunity! Country people have long been priced out of where they grew up, and their families go back generations. The government created a housing market so many can't afford, the government forced women to leave their infant children to work at minimum wage jobs and leave their children in overpriced poor standard care, why shouldn't they cough up a bit to keep the whole miserable system going?
@@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts Government are not coughing up anything. The government have no money. The government spend your money, when they raise taxes they disincentivise work and make people poorer
@@simonsimon325 The idea societies are on a permanent upward trajectory, or remaining exactly the same, is arrant nonsense. The fact humanity itself becomes weaker, as technology does more of the heavy lifting, is provable for a start. The fact testosterone levels in men are spiraling downwards is significant, as is the rise in irrationality and anxiety
its a bit right wing and white ?
Is that you humza?!
@@Mateus-sz4je listen up pilgrims...
Jeez