7 British Facts That Totally Surprised Me
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- As a Canadian living in the UK, check out these 7 British facts that totally surprised me! Even though I've lived in the UK for over 6 years, there's still so much to learn about British culture and the British people!
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Hey! I'm Alanna - a twenty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a CZcams video every Tuesday & Friday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT on Twitch.
Alanna x
The Queen doesn't have a passport, she also doesn't have a driving license, even though she regularly drove. If for some unimaginable reason she did need one, she could easily write it out on a piece of paper, and sign it, and that would be entirely valid. Since they're signed on her behalf, her own signature would count.
Gloucestershire is pronounced gloss-tur-Shur.
Yes we have quite a lot of strange traditions especially in smaller towns and villages.
Maybe by people across-the-pond Bill, or people in "The West Country", but speaking as a Brit from NW England.
A Scouser, and admittedly Our accent really isn't archetypical British, having heavy Lancastrian, Welsh and large Irish influences.
Gloucestershire IS pronounced Gloss-ter-sher (but a very soft r in "sher", definately not a rolled R) and Gloucester is pronounced Gloss-ter, almost "Glosta" or "Glostuh".
Worcestershire IS pronounced Wuss-ter-sher and Worcester is pronounced Wuss-ter.
Leicester and Leicestershire are Lesster and Lesstersher.
Cholmondeley is pronounced Chumley.
Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Fanshaw
These last two, Why ? It's anyone's guess.
BUT.
Being a Brit absolutely ROCKKKKKKS !
Like Leicester(shire)
You cut the ces sound. I was surprise as a French.
@@DexxBlue NW England is foreign so you get a pass on the bad pronunciation.
Glosstasheer, actually.
The sad truth about Llanfair PG (as it's locally known) is that the original name of the town was Llanfairpwllgwyngyll and the extra bit was deliberately added in around 1869 purely to attract tourism and commercial interest.
Do you know the meaning? I can't remember it but I know it's just basically a geographical description. The name of the place I live is derived from a Saxon phrase meaning place at the bridge.
Llan means church, it's a common element in Welsh place names. Fair is a form of the name Mary in Welsh. Pwll means pool or hollow. Gwyn means white. Gerych means willow. The church of St Mary by the hollow with white willows. The rest, which is about a rapid whirlpool, the church of St Tysilio and red caves, is almost certainly Victorian invention just to make it longer. I was taught how to pronounce it as a child on holiday in Wales but it's too complicated to explain in writing. The one thing that is fun to know is that LL in Welsh and Icelandic sounds quite similar, which helps in pronouncing Eyjafjallajokull, the famous volcano.
All Welsh place names are geographical locations.
Llanfafairpwll is also is home to the the first women's institute outside of the US.
But it certainly worked!
Wales invented mail-order delivery too: When the small community of Newtown in mid-Wales was connected to the UK railway network in the mid-19th century, one local draper, Sir Pryce Jones (1834-1920), saw an opportunity to expand his customer base. By using trains to deliver his products, Jones pioneered the world’s first major mail-order business, eventually supplying garments to customers as far afield as America and Australia, as well as to a number of famous clients, including Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria.
So were’s my parcel then?….🤣😂😂😘😎
@@petersmitham8273 lol over a 100s later and there still going missing in transit 😂
Sure it wasn’t sears in the USA who invented catalogue home delivery. You could order from the catalogue then via rail they would deliver the products
@@winclouduk Apparently there is a difference between Catalogue sellers and Mail-order sellers! At any rate, Price-Jones started mail-order in1861, and Sears in 1888!: BBC News, December 2020- "Pryce-Jones could only dream of the impact his entrepreneurial vision would have on the world when he was selling Welsh flannel to Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale in the late 1800s. Jones is credited as being the pioneer of a global mail-order industry now worth about £75bn. Forget the internet and delivery drivers, Pryce-Jones used the superhighway of the day-the railway and parcel post.-'The mail-order pioneer who started a billion-pound industry' "
Was he dropping notes through the door saying "Sorry we missed you, it's gone back to Newtown" even though they were in?
On the subject of postage stamps, the UK is the only country that doesn't have the name of the country on its stamps.
It's the same reason that neither the Royal Air Force nor the Royal Navy have the word 'British' in front of them. When Henry VIII founded the Royal Navy, no other nation had a national navy; their governments just hired merchant ships in times of war and filled them with soldiers. When the RNAS and RFC were merged into the RAF in 1918, no other nation had a dedicated air force; they were all either branches of their armies or their navies. And when the Penny Black was issued in 1840, no other nation issued nationally valid postage stamps - so we just put the silhouette of Queen Victoria's head on the stamp, and that was all the identification it needed.
If you haven't already can I suggest you read the books by Bill Bryson , an American who came here by accident and never really left, his books on the absurdities of British and American culture as he tries to explain one to the other are some of the funniest you will ever read, in some ways you are the youtube generation of Bill Bryson. Notes from a small island and the road to little dribbling are masterpieces. -Mark
Where was he intending to go? Did he misread Gatwick as Graz or something? I'm baffled as to how someone accidentally goes to another country that is literally an island. Like someone accidentally going from France to Switzerland, sure, it's a land border, but from the US to the UK by accident?
Also, I'm aware as i type this that the obvious answer to this is 'read one of his books', but I'm lazy, ok?
CZcams has the series of his book, thoughts on a small island
@@mistycrom He was intending to go home after visiting Europe,got drunk and talked into applying for a job here, met his future wife etc etc. Notes from a small island is trying to explain Britain to Americans, Notes from a big country is trying to explain America to British people ( he moved back home for a while ) and now he’s back here I think. Very funny writer on any subject he chooses.
@@mistycrom Apparently he had been travelling in Europe and took a boat to the UK just intending to have a casual walk around and nose before getting a flight back to the US...but he ended up in a pub.
You could also read Mother Tongue, his book about the history of the English language and how it compares with the others. There's even a chapter on swearing!
The Medway megaliths are older than the pyramids too, and a lot closer to home for you. And unlike Stonehenge they are free to visit and not roped off. Put em on the list for this summer.
Avesbury Henge is older too.
@@gordonlawrence1448 Avebury is fantastic but a fair old way from Kent.
I am ashamed to say I've never even heard of them and thats terrible as I do not live far away (Sheppey) so thank you for bringing them to my attention as I will definitely be checking them out now.
Kits Coty is fenced
Countless stones are difficult to find
@@mikeholley1 It has a railing, It not like its fenced off and you can't get within 100 feet of it like Stonehenge. Countless Stone is a doddle to find these days with maps on your phone.
To the rural population we tend to refer to the local nearest town as just that, the town.
I went to Stonehenge as a kid in the 1960s.... my memory is that Dad drove the car up close by and we got out and clambered around the stones, had pictures taken etc ........ there was nobody else there, no tickets or staff, it was just completely open
Wow!!
I have similar memories from when I was a kid in the early 70s! Somewhere around there are black and white Polaroid photos of us all sitting, climbing and leaning on the stones as if they were in the middle of our local park!
@@andybaker2456 Same here, including the Polaroids! :-)
My mother went there in the early 50s and that’s how she described it - no one around and no barriers. I have a little black and white photo she took there with sheep grazing around it.
Yes, that was how it was. I went there on a school trip in the late 60s (and quite a few times since, I live nearby) and you could just walk right up to the stones.
We live at a time closer to cleopatra than she did to the making of the pyramids. That blows my mind.
I had the privilege to sit on the stones at Stonehenge back in the 70's. My Dad was one of the people who built the visitors centre and he took us there one evening.
Glazed over here..... but still love your videos. I'm old so there was nothing new to me. Your joy and enthusiasm however, are a breath of fresh air. Long may it continue. Thanks Alanna.
The cheese rolling was officially banned for a while due to Health and Safety concerns (not sure if it was the running down the hill or the danger of falling cheese to people at the bottom) but people just kept doing it anyway in illicit cheese rolling contests. And those two things (separately and combined) are the most British thing ever.
There are some videos on CZcams. The nature of the danger should be immediately apparent: almost nobody succeeds in running down the hill. Competitors tumble all over the place, and I gather that broken bones are pretty common.
@@chrisshipman6253 the benefits of Free NHS healthcare and mandatory sick pay for most!
Love the jumper! Congrats on the VLC sponsorship!
You might like to know that the Calanais Standing Stones at Callanish in the Isle of Lewis in Scotland are older than Stonehenge or the pyramids of Giza. So is Newgrange in County Meath, Republic of Ireland.
What a great video! I ran across your channel just last week and I love it. I'm totally addicted to it. Please just keep doing what you do!
Thank you so much!!
Hi Allana! The standing stones at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland are older than Stonehenge.
Cool!
@@AdventuresAndNaps As are the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney. Its thought that the ancient Orcadian builders moved south onto the British mainland bringing their culture and beliefs with them
Stonehenge's age seems to be getting older every couple of decades. In the 50s, they thought Stonehenge was less than 4000 years old (1852bc).
@@Thurgosh_OG That's because archaeology at the site has uncovered stuff since then. The Stone Henge site was built over the course of several thousand years. Most of the really old stuff are just earthy mounds now though - the stones themselves came later, probably around the time the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. Not sure if that really means 'Stone Henge' itself was older than the pyramids, but we can tell the site itself was in use going back to 8000BC.
I didn’t know a lot of those facts, they were interesting! This was a cool idea for a video! I love that I learn things in your videos and that your videos are always funny! I really like your videos!
Awesome! Thank you!
Loving the jumper, probably needed with the change in weather. Hope you are keeping the running going.
Hi, Alanna, that was brilliant and really funny. I loved your pronunciation of the Welsh word and of Gloucester and an interesting way of spelling High St. I am looking forward to the video of you taking part in the cheese rolling competition or even the cheese roll competition. This has really cheered me up, a brilliant video. Well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@AdventuresAndNaps You have to grow up in Wales as if not a Welsh speaker you learn how to speak the names and know the meanings or be one of the lucky ones who learn the Language of the Angels and not be Welsh, went to a Welsh pre-School before going to a local primary school and they shut that school down and I can't remember a thing now, 😡
@Adventures and Naps just to help, the county is pronounced "Gloss-ter-shire". Nice try though 👍🏻Also, I am from a town called Stourbridge in the West Midlands. An American link here is a firm in the town built the first steam locomotive to run on American rails. It was called the Stourbridge Lion.
Love the video
There are quite a few monuments older than Stonehenge in the UK!
Thanks so much!
I live close to Cleeve Hill and have watched the Cheese Rolling several times. I would suggest to pay a visit to check out the hill before entering. It is STEEP and photos do not do justice to how steep it is. I do agree with you on the fact that there are all these crazy, weird things still going on in the UK.
That's incredible!
i used to live in the village just below the hill where they do the cheese rolling. when I was a kid I once was asked to be one of the catchers at the bottom because I was quite good at rugby tackling. quite a memorable day.
I heard the health and safety nerds have stopped it now. Is that true?
@@amococ2487
No, not yet. They have tried very hard to shut it down but the locals won't let them! 😁
Yeah I imagine injuries would be very common.
Good video Alanna. I have items in my larder older than the pyramids, but Stonehenge will be better when they finally install the windows.
I did the cheese-rolling a few years ago. If you want to take part, all you have to do is show up on the day. Get yourself up to the top of the hill (bear in mind the main path can get impassably busy) and then to the gap in the fence as they select the next batch of runners. They separate men’s and women’s runs for whatever reason, and there are far fewer women trying to get a spot, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting onto the hill. Whether you’ll still want to after looking over the edge is a different matter!
I remember going to Stonehenge with my family in the mid 70's and I don't recall any ropes or barriers. I have a vague memory of walking around the stones (I was 9-10 at the time), and this was one of the things that sparked my interest in ancient history (the main one was seeing the Sutton Hoo treasure at the British Museum a few years later).
No barriers in the 70s. I don't think there was even a visitor centre or a car park, it was just a bunch of big stones in a field. This was before Officialdom decided they had to "manage" every single thing we are permitted to do in this country.
Sadly it is very different today - to prevent erosion (and make money for English Heritage).
No barriers in the 80s or early 90s when I visited.
I went when I was 9 in the 80's, and I'm glad they have roped it off since. There were three groups there when we got there, one group was sat on the top drinking beer and another was leaning against the stone taking pictures and praying, rubbing their hands all over.
We were there for just short of an hour and the behaviour was atrocious.
It’s Gloss-ter-shear 😂
Great watch Allana, I’d say most of those facts are well know by older Brits, I don’t know about the kids 👴🏻
And the cheese is Double Gloucester [pronounced "gloster"], which Alanna should definitely try. It's a lovely cheese.
Thanks for watching!
Doesn't say much about the standards of education today, kids spend too much time with heads in a screen not a book.
Or 'Gloss-ster-shuh' (Native English people would never say 'sh-eye-er' or 'sh-ear' for -shire (unless they're talking about where the hobbits live!)
@@DaveBartlett ... I thought that the Hobbits _did_ live there ;)
I went back to some of your're older videos at this point...some of them were really great...and i can only say that you are quite entertaining and that's from a Texas viewpoint!!!
My wife remembers visiting Stonehenge as a child with relatives in the 60s, with an aunt would walk up to it with a rock in hand, to whang chips off as a souvenir. That's why it's fenced off now. (I got to see it about 10 years ago, it IS amazing).
It's been a rough week at work. Alanna trying to pronounce that Welsh town name was just the laugh I needed today!
Glad I could be of service!
hahaha, that was awesome.
@@AdventuresAndNaps Llan is pronounced by setting your mouth up as you are about to say the phonetic sound of the letter 'L' (tip of your tongue behind your front teeth) then try to say 'SAN' while keeping your tongue in place. 'Fair' is pronounced as va-ee-rr.
@@zingyyellow554 NO! Put your tongue there, yes. Hold it there and blow, so that the air escapes round the side of your tongue. No voice just blow! Believe it or not , Welsh is easy to pronounce as it is almost totally phonetic! 'CH' is NOT the CH as in 'church, but is more of a soft gargle sound.
Great video! Cheese rolling, Morris dancing, so many local traditions that seem like they should be a Monty Python sketch...
Thanks for watching!
Morris dancing is a corruption of Moorish dancing; in the style of North African Morroccan or Arab dance. Musicians from that area were popular at the various courts of the Spanish aristocracy and Venice too.
Great video as always Alanna, very interesting and funny. 🙂
Thank you! 😃
"Glostersher"!
Many many "High Streets"up & down the UK but in Keighley ("Keethly") there's also Low Street.
Stonehenge is indeed old but I'm told that Newgrange & nearby neighbour Knowth about an hour's drive out of Dublin are even older. I visited them both about 20 years ago & they are well worth a visit.
I knew about the cheese rolling, stamps, the Queen not having a passport etc., but as a Brit never realised Stonehenge is older than the pyramids. Learnt something new 👍
The Queen has no driving licence either. She does not require one. And with respect, you *learned* something new, not learnt.......
@@Brian-om2hh Both learnt and learned are acceptable as the past participle of the verb to learn. I prefer the former.
And there are woodhenges (or remains thereof) that are even older than Stonehenge
Ahh this was funny in a good way. I loved how you pronounced Gloucester (Gloss-ter) - kind of hard to type phonetically but kind of like that. Thanks for all the videos hugs, Amanda
Thanks for watching!
Love this so entertaining great vlog alanna ❤️
Thanks for watching!
You are super hyper in this video, lol too much coffee? It was good fun and a great choice, I did know a lot of them, but didn't think about it Stonehenge being older than the pyramids before. But did know that when the first Pyramids were being built, Woolly Mammoth were still roaming around Europe. Wonder if they had to chase some off when building Stonehenge lol. Weird eh!? Have a great weekend Alanna 👍 😉
Just when you think Alanna has been completely assimilated by British culture she comes out with “Glauowstersheer”.
Stuff like that should be on the citizenship test.
Yeah but don't you just Loughborough?
Hi Alanna, the pronunciation of British place names is not only inconsistent but is also a struggle for Brits too!
in a similar way that Leicester is pronounced Lester
Gloucester is pronounced Gloster, (rhymes with Foster)
That reminds me of the old nursery rhyme...
"Doctor Foster went to Gloucester, In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle, Right up to his middle,
And never went there again."
I've often wondered why Bicester is pronounced "Bisster", Leicester is pronounced "Lester" but Cirencester isn't "Sinster..."?
Towcester pronounced toaster
@@MartinParnham - Cirencester varies. "SIGH ren sester" to outsiders, "SISS iter" to locals. Uttoxeter is "you TOX itter" to outsiders, UTCHer to locals. And down in Alanna's neck of the woods, we've got Northiam and Bodiam - Nodgem and Bodgem to locals!
Would you run with a Burning Barrel around the Streets. It happens in a Devon Town called Ottery St Mary. In which they pour tar on it and set a light.
Considering your live of cider you should look into wassailing to apple trees. Also look into the Tar Barrel festival at Ottery St Mary and also Up Helly Aa in the Shetlands.
I once broke down in Llanfair PG and decided it was easier to walk to Menai Bridge and get a friend to help rather than bother to call the AA from Llanfair PG and have to try to pronounce the name in a way they would understand. Yes, locals call it Llanfair or Llanfair PG.
Allana? The name (translated) is directions to a Church (St Mary's ) beside/overlooking a small stream NOT the village
[quote:]St Mary's Church (Llanfair) in a hollow (pwll) of white hazel (gwyngyll) near (goger) the swirling whirlpool (y chwyrndrobwll) of the church of (St) Tysilio (llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo goch).
And Nobody has worked out the local Landmarks mentioned in the text 😕 eg: Like the Red Cave or the swirling whirlpool?
@@texbankuk The long name was "invented" in 1869 as a stunt, precisely to give it the longest railway station name.
The village's original name was Pwllgwyngyll.
As you say a 'High Street' is usually the main street in a town through the shopping area. This is not so in Ipswich, Suffolk. There it is a road coming off the main area
but it has no shops at all. It does, however, have around 30 dentists.
My partner and I used to go to the cheese rolling every year when she lived in Gloucester, what you don't actually see is that there's pretty much just one guy in a hi-vis vest standing at the bottom trying to stop everyone from flying into an enormous patch of stinging nettles. Also, the hill is ridiculously steep - standing at the top of it is more like peering over a cliff edge. It also became a weirdly and quite joyfully global event; the last time we went, there were news crews from Australia, Japan, the US and Brazil all there, and Chinese and American tourists posing for photographs with dazed and broken participants. All very surreal, but also kind of cool.
I am English, from the Midlands. If I went more than 20 minutes from my house I couldn’t understand peoples’ accents. So, I was a bit nervous when we moved to Wales about 13 years ago. I was so unutterably (pun intended…) relieved when we first moved to a village called Tumble. Yeah! I can pronounce that! Then we moved again… just around the corner to… Cross Hands! Get in! No problem. We recently moved again… Not so lucky this time, I can’t even pronounce the name of our house (which is unfortunate because we don’t have a house number or even a road name), never mind the name of the village!
Sad you haven't made the effort to learn to pronounce your hour etc.The very thing the english say about immigrants. 😢 to england.
"When I hit the ball with the stick.. The ball goes in a direction.. that I did not want.." pretty much sums up my attempts to play golf at various times of my life. When I worked hard and played hard in the 80's/90's I'd play regularly. Even had an expensive set of clubs. During an average days golf I would lose about 5 balls, and find about 8. Because I spent that long in the woods/rough.
I was in St Andrews today. There are many golf shops. Many.
Like your videos! Nice stuff and very good to improve my English. You’ve got a nice clear voice.
Thanks! 😃
There is still some discussion about how some of the stones at Stonehenge got there as the particular rock is only found in Wales. Last visited it in the late 60's and one could go right up to it and read the scratched modern graffiti on it as well as the ancient.
A popular antique walking cane is a Sunday Stick as Scotsman would use it to practice Golf on the way home from the Kirk on a Sunday, the handle was the shape of a club head.
The Queen is also not subject to airport security checks.
One other fact is one always travels up to London irrespective of actual heading, probably due to the railway line to London is always the up line and the one leaving is the down line. Although the term was in use at the time of Mail and stage coaches.
Oh it's pronounced glosster.
Discussion? No it was transport room wales on rollers and with manpower.
@@davidedbrooke9324 The discussion is over whether it was all overland or a sea crossing of the Bristol Channel involved. One thing for certain lots of manpower and native pony power.
Gloucester is pronounced gloster , easy when you know. And the unpronounceable place in wales is generally known as clan fair p.g. The cheese rolling is insane and defo is worth a visit. I love watching you trying to say the tricky Uk names. 😅
Lets see her try Loughborough before we tell her, or cholmondeley lol.
I wonder how many people sign in to watch your sighs and sounds of suffering, especially those related to pronunciation challenges. Some of us, though, watch to see your joy, happiness, and resilience. Keep it coming! Congratulations and thank you for your work.
Thanks for watching!
Hey Alanna, You be thrilled to know that this year's Women's Cheese Rolling race was won by a fellow CANADIAN, Delaney Irving. Apparently, she finished the race UNCONSCIOUS and only found out that she had won when she woke up in the medical facility!! :O
Llanfair PG was named such as a tourist attraction so isn’t really an honest entry into the longest name competition
Yay.
Gloucestershire, well you stuffed that up with cream cheese and it's an almost vertical hill with many injurys so maybe not do it, just go watch it with the butler to film it 😉
9/10 cheese wheels.
I live in a village just outside our local town. The town is built on a hill and wherever you live you have to go uphill. So we go " uptown" . Rather than a high street we have a Market Street ( oddly enough there is also a New Market St, which doesn't have a market on it , nor do I think it ever has!).
You caught on to "High Street" as particularly British, but did you know there's a mountain called High Street? It's up in Cumbria, and has a Roman road over the top, on a ridge-way from Ambleside to Penrith. The word "street" is often particularly connected with Roman towns or roads, and "high"... well, it's a pretty high mountain!
Great video Alanna, even though I was pretty sure I knew them all - it's still good fun to see your reactions to the facts. Cheese rolling is serious hardcore stuff and lots of people get injured every year...the hill is pretty damn steep (czcams.com/video/7rjXS_HmjZc/video.html), so don't sign up too soon!!
An early form of football was also banned so as to make more time for archery practice. Hey, those French weren't going to shoot themselves now were they. One word here, Agincourt. All that practice sure paid off eh🙂
Sticking two fingers of the right hand up (palm towards self) was a sign to the French that the archer had not been a POW as the french chopped off the index and forefingers of captured English archers.
@@tonys1636 Aye, i'd heard that. It was a good taunt too, let the enemy know what was coming there way...
In the same boat as you. In Kent for six years from USA. Yes weather sucks today! Love the channel!
Thanks for watching!
As always, another terrific video!! Thank you for sharing these with us.
I knew about Wales having the longest name....I'll never attempt that madness, lol. For the cheese rolling thing...in new about that also. It's very dangerous and people get seriously hurt. It does look like a ton of fun, but I like my bones not broken, lol. You should watch a video on that if you haven't already. It's quite amusing yet cringey at the same time. More like a 'watch through your fingers' kind of event.
Hope you are staying well Alana!
The Union Jack was only called that when it was mounted on a warship when it was on land it was called the Union flag nowadays we just refer to it as the Union Jack on land and sea.
It is commonly called the Union Jack these days but it's still wrong, although I'm not one of those who correct people about it. I do call it the Union Flag though.
@@Elwaves2925 it's a flag, it's conceited to call it anything else! Only Nepal has a particularly distinct flag.
It was formally changed, the correct term for the flag is Union Jack or Flag of the Union where ever it is flown
@@monza1002000 it's a flag.
@@Elwaves2925 Specifically only when flown from the Jackstaff at the bow when in port or at anchor. The White Ensign of the RN is usually flown off a mast or at the stern, Blue Ensign by the Coast Guard, Border Force, HM Customs and Police, 'defaced' with the relevant badge, the Red Ensign (Red Duster) by the Merchant Navy or a private vessel.
Hi Alanna. If you enjoy the learning about the various town / city names around the UK it might interest you to you look into the meanings of the prefixes / suffixes of the towns and the way these have been contracted over the years. For instance; my home town was Thornbury - Bury meaning 'market town (not sure where the 'Thorn' came from though; maybe a 'spiky' pub landlord? ) maybe you could let me know? Stay safe.
Alan, you should check out the well dressing in a village or villages I believe is in Nottinghamshire. I think it's something to do with having a good harvest.
The main street in my home town of Thetford in Norfolk is called King Street, with Bridge St & White hart St being important too.
Your pronunciation of Gloucestershire made me smile lol... bless you 10/10 for effort x
I watched this because your Canadian accent video from 4 years ago 😂. I loved the video and your sense of humour. Good videos!! I’ll have a double double for ya and bagel eh. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
In my local town, the road named High Street only has the side of a cafe and no other shops in it
If it hasn't already been pointed out , there is a vlog on CZcams of the cheese rolling competition . Very funny but also very brutal , you should do an episode on it which may make you change your mind about signing up for it !!!
I knew most of these (although I thought stone henge was even older that it is). Cheese rolling is one of those silly tradition that has probably been kept alive by our love of a drink. Another rural "sport" more aimed at school kids is welly wanging. It's an athletic throwing sport, similar in principle to javelin, shot put etc, but played with a large Wellington boot and was a core part of school sports day in my youth. Do try some Double Gloucester, its a lovely creamy flavour and one of my favourites. Excellent video as always Alanna
Hey Alanna. Nice one and don't feel bad about not getting Llanfairpg right, I've heard most Welsh can't say it these days.
Your Dad had great taste as I love golf, although I haven't played for years. The Queen doesn't need a passport, she just points to a stamp or some money. I did know that about Stonehenge and it was built by them alee-ins, I tell ya. It does have an atmosphere about it.
High Streets going back say 700 years were the street where all the shops and services were and usually had a market square on them. My old town of Bedford (originally Beed's or Beda's Ford depending on who you read) has had multiple changes of venue for the market but originally it was on the outskirts of the town uphill from the river in about 800AD in the small square opposite what is now Mill Street. High streets were called High streets because many of them were high ground near to the fords before bridges were common. The name stuck and then all medieval central shopping streets were called "High Street".
Callanish (Callanais in Gaelic) standing stones on the Island of Lewis are the second largest stone circle in Britain and are older than Stonehenge as are the ones on Orkney Islands. There are actually 12 stone circles in the area of the Callanish stones.
You have a wonderful knack of making anything interesting, well done :-)
Thank you very much!
I actually think that Stonehenge is better viewed from a distance. When I was a boy, sent 8000 km to study at a cathedral choir school in England, our history master took the six of us in my Yr 4 class (aged eight), to Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Winchester. My first sight of the monolith, I can only describe as hauntingly atmospheric. We drove across the Salisbury Plain, and it just appeared...it was unforgettable.
Great video Alanna
Thank you!!
We have worm charming in Cheshire. Oh and many years ago I took part in the National Custard Pie Throwing Championship which was somewhere Birmingham way.
The town I live in the main street is called The Broadway, there is a High Street but it's a minor residential road.
Great video! Very funny!
Thanks! 😃
Great video and cool selection of facts as well as being funny. A lot of streets in the west country are called Fore Street, as Forth is Cornish for street. So its Street Street! Almost 150 of them.
So when you are down rolling cheese, come a bit further west and visit a Street Street.
My mum has a photo of my dad sitting on one of the stones at Stonehenge, taken in the 50s. In the 1800s they'd give tourists hammers and chisels to take a bit home with them!
Thanks Alanna, for a small country, we do have a lot going on, some quite weird!
Enjoy your next adventure here, wherever you end up!
Thank you! Will do!
Hi Allana , if you think cheese rolling is strange, check out the flaming tar barrels of Ottery , or the Atherstone ball game :D
I live in Faversham in Kent and when I lived in one of the area town I would say I was "going down town" meaning going to the town centre and since moving to the other side of town I now say I'm "going up the town". I only refer to "the town centre" when I'm talking about other towns....
Shire at the end of a place name is pronounced Sher as in sheriff. The origin of the word sheriff comes from the monarchs representative in a shire who was called a Reave, so the Shire Reave became sheriff over time as in the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Thnk you for the video, I find it funny when you come across a place that I expect you to know but you just haven’t come across it yet. I’m sure the Butler will correct your pronunciation of Gloucester although I imagine there’s few people who can pronounce that particular Welsh place name. I hope you have a great weekend.
Thanks for watching!
👏 for having a go at it.
I strongly recommend watching cheese rolling videos, and looking at the statistics on injuries before you decide to take part. Let's just say that ice hockey has nothing on it for the injury rate.
If it puts you off, however, you could always try carrying barrels of tar instead. That's in Ottery St Mary. Oh, did I mention the barrels are alight at the time?
Cool fact there are megalithic structures on Orkney in Scotland even older than Stonehenge.Your delightful !! .
Hi, You must hit the ball with the head of the stick (As you said.) But get the ball in the centre of the head of the golf club. Or your going to send it left or right depending on what part of the head you hit the golf ball.
I really enjoy listening to you
The Standing Stones of Callanish, on the Isle of Lewis, are about 2000 years older than Stonehenge.
I recommend the book "England in Particular" by Sue Clifford and Angela King. You can get a hardcover copy on Amazon. Huge book full of all those weird and wonderful things you can find (only) in England. Yes, it does include Cheese Rolling.
Nice video Alanna. I didn't know any of those facts, even the ones I knew about I got wrong. I thought the welsh town name was the longest in the world. Thanks for teaching me something about my own country 👍
Cheers Murooke!
This is typical English weather, Alanna. Snow this morning and now sunshine and blue skies, and windy.
Golf " sticks" are called clubs. You'll have golfers chasing you with their niblicks lol. 🇨🇦🇬🇧😃💜
In London Downtown, City Centre would generally be called the "west end" Most UK cities now have sectors or quarters but they tend to be recognisable to locals only.
If you go to the stone circle that encircles the village of Avebury, Wiltshire (SN8) you can touch the stones
would love to go to stonehenge must get round to it this year.
Thanks for the light hearted fun fact Friday video, just what I needed to brighten up the end of what has not been the greatest week. Also just for the record I for one liked the orange jumper. ☺
Hope you have a great weekend!!
Another oddity of Gloucestershire is the Cotswold Olimpick games. Cheese rolling is bonkers, but recommend watching it.
Thanks for another great video.
There's a village in Wales called Eglwyswrw (meaning - 'the church of St Eirw'). The key to pronouncing is that, firstly, in Welsh, 'W' is not a consonant, but a vowel; and that the stress in Welsh words is always on the last syllable but one. So it's "egloo - i - SOO - roo" - with the 'i' pronounced as it is in "it" - and don't forget to roll the R! Easy-peasy!
I live a couple of hundred yards from High Street, May Bank which becomes Church Lane and then reverts to High Street, Wolstanton. That's two of tgat 1000.
There is a mountain in the Lake District which is called High Street which is named be cause a Roman Road (Street) runs across it.