[Misc] Most important people, concepts and events in English history?

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Joking aside, I did actually enjoy the Netflix film The King, despite reviews and complaints of historical accuracy.

I've not seen it. Is it supposed to be based on Agincourt? If it is, so long as it depicts us giving them a good whooping I don't mind too much about accuracy!

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

I've not seen it. Is it supposed to be based on Agincourt? If it is, so long as it depicts us giving them a good whooping I don't mind too much about accuracy!

Yes it focuses on a much dramatised version of Henry V as a reluctant King, his close buddies, and how they fight and sacrifice for him in a more than satisfactory Agincourt battle. Timothée Chalamet plays Henry, so the missus can enjoy it too.

 

[Codner's Wallop]

But weren't Colchester United still playing at Layer Road?

Coincidentally, I just read this comment while parked in that same Layer Road waiting for my missus who’s having a haircut. Do I get a prize?

 

[acrossthepond]

Battle of Lewes - 1264 (obv)

If you elect clowns, you get a circus - 2019 (obv)

 

[Goldstone1976]

If I were [MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] I'd also bone up on the Anglo-Swedish war (1810-1812) in which the only bloodshed was when a Swedish Major-General led an action against Swedish farmers rebelling against the conscription laws and killed 30 of them.

There can't be many entire wars where the total casualty list comprises blue-on-blue action - go Sweden.

 

[Braggfan]

Boudica
Henry 5th – Battle of Agincourt
Spanish Armada
Tolpuddle Martyrs
Henry 8th and his 6 wives (Tudor Period)
Richard the lionheart and the crusades
Magna Carta
War of the Roses
Shakespere
Plague
Fire of London
Industrial Revolution
Dunkirk
Battle of Britain
D-Day invasion

 

[Hamilton]

Peterloo

(I think it was the crossroads for us and the rest of Europe)

 

[beorhthelm]

Peasants Revolt (1st Poll Tax)
Ketts' Rebellion
The Levellers and the Putney debates
London Correspondence Society and the Combination acts.
Tolpuddle
Peterloo
The Chartists
The Great Dock Strike and the Match girls
1919
The General Strike
Battle of Cable Street
The creation of the Welfare State
The Miners Strikes '72, '74, '84/85
The Poll Tax Revolt
Don't forget the history of those at the bottom of British society. Whilst the winners write the history, it doesn't mean it's true!

its indicative of some that history is only about "class struggle", overlooking everything else. and that is why that school of thought fails.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

As an academic, I take the view that anyone who uses Wikipedia as their main sauce is a lazy timewaster.

Spotus onus

 

[Comrade Sam]

its indicative of some that history is only about "class struggle", overlooking everything else. and that is why that school of thought fails.

Whilst most ignore it completely and history is merely a Govian list of the monarchs and the great men of history. In itself a class history, but only the ruling class. There's more to history than a chronological list of facts.

 

[Dr Q]

Just looked at the syllabus for the Swedish course at Scumbags College. Apparently they have a two week course on Swedish History covering:

Volvo
SAAB
ABBA
Bjorn Borg
the rise of Ikea Meatballs
Rebecca Ferguson

I could put a lot of research into the last on that list mind

 

[A1X]

George Stephenson

 

[Willow]

The Venerable Bede might make an appearance.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Just looked at the syllabus for the Swedish course at Scumbags College. Apparently they have a two week course on Swedish History covering:

Volvo
SAAB
ABBA
Bjorn Borg
the rise of Ikea Meatballs
Rebecca Ferguson

I could put a lot of research into the last on that list mind

No Ulrika? Disappointing

 

[Eeyore]

Who killed Lucy ?
The Weatherfield One
The Emmerdale plane incident

 

[Eeyore]

its indicative of some that history is only about "class struggle", overlooking everything else. and that is why that school of thought fails.

Quite the opposite. The history of common folk was always taught in a peripheral way. Why should a child know the names of kings and queens and nothing of the struggles of the ever day folk that made up most of the population ?

That's the problem. We knew who designed a great building but nothing of the struggles of the labourers who built it. Perverse.

History is that of the masses, not the ones who could hold the quilt.

 

[Mellotron]

Some key parts of recent English history

• Rod Hull's roof death

• Michael Barrymore's My Kind Of Music - particularly "See You When You Get There" - cultural significance thereof

• David Blaine stuck in a glass box 30 feet in the air by London's Tower Bridge while a man uses a drone to tempt him with a cheeseburger

• Brian Harvey from East 17 running himself over after eating 4 jacket potatoes

• Evolution of the Grange Hill theme tune - see: "Chicken Man" (1978–1987, 2008) /// "Chicken Man" (re-recording) (1988–1989) /// "Grange Hill theme" (1990–2007)

• Olly Murs' Soccer Aid career

 

[The Clamp]

That time aliens invaded Woking.

 

[Gwylan]

Quite the opposite. The history of common folk was always taught in a peripheral way. Why should a child know the names of kings and queens and nothing of the struggles of the ever day folk that made up most of the population ?

That's the problem. We knew who designed a great building but nothing of the struggles of the labourers who built it. Perverse.

History is that of the masses, not the ones who could hold the quilt.

A Worker Reads History
Berthold Brecht

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.

Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?

Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.
So many questions.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

I'm studying English at Lund University because a) I'm lazy (and education is free over here), and b) I want to improve my grammar.

However the course started with a two week thing about English history and I've not exactly done what I should be doing (reading) and the exam is tomorrow.

Apparently the exam is quite small and a bit different - (somewhat random) English people and events will be listed and we're going to describe them with a few sentences. On the exam from last year, these were the things on the list:

The Roman Period
William the Conquerer
Education in the Middle Ages
Henry VIII
The Puritans
Robert Walpole
The Victorian Period
The Suffragettes
The Auld Alliance

I would'nt have passed that as I could only describe three or four of those. This year it will obviously be different ones and as I'm unlikely to read the 400 pages that I should be reading... so if you could just bombard me with stuff that I should Wikipedia the shit out of, I probably have a better chance (5 percent?) of making it.

Regards, ze Swanmeister.

Please re-read your post and, if you want to improve your grammar, ask your tutor to correct the errors in grammar and spelling.