I can completely understand all the feelings of nostalgia when we see Jack Hargreaves talking about mainly the 20s and 30s period when he was young, then you can watch the fantastic videos of the Larkin Family in the period around 1955 - 1970 based on the H E Bates novels. I was born in 1955 and already by that time much of our knowledge of country life was diminishing when WW1 and WW2 took such a toll on our young men. Almost every generation has a story about it isn't what it used to be, but my dad was born in Rochdale in 1910 and at the age of 14 he was in almost slave labour in the cotton mills. He had all his teeth taken out at a fairground when he was 18 because they were so badly decayed by malnourishment and too much sugar. Don't get me wrong I love Jack. I love H E bates I love Flora Thompsons Lark rise to Candleford set in the 1880s in Oxford, but times were also pretty tough then and though some people will dispute this, the rise of social revolution in Russia and France and belatedly in England at least allowed the working classes to get out from the yoke of feudalism to create the world of today. It may have been "authentic" to labour 12 hours scything hay and drinking a gallon of cider at lunchtime, but the cider there was to numb the pain....
Jack knew the countryside, its people and the way things worked. With his passing and the like, we have lost a lot, but we must not cry or moan and groan we must seek out for ourselves that which is good in our time.
When I left school I started an agricultural apprenticeship working on a dairy farm that had a pedigree herd of Jersey cows. One of the daily jobs was for myself and the farmers son to walk the bull around the village in the afternoon's just at the time when the children were out at play for them to see the bull, and they always looked forward to it. Waving and saying hello, yes now theses times are long gonethe countryside and everything that happened throughout the seasons was a part of life and learning.
'... Waving and saying hello, yes, now theses times are long gone...' My stepdad (Jack Hargreaves) said that by the time I was old (I'm now 82. I first met JH when he came to live with my mum in 1948) I would be living in 'the city of England'. I enjoy your memory and share, as did Jack, your strong sense that 'the countryside and everything that happened throughout the seasons was a part of life and learning'. Jack was saddened (and angered) by the growing disconnect between town and country - just the thing you and many regret.
@SimonBaddeley thankyou. Yes, all now, sadly lost. No great characters like Jack or johny kingdom anymore. I'm 73 and have watched our country life disappear under urbanisation.
I use to date a girl who worked at Southern/Meridian TV. Jack was a Director of said stations and I often encountered him. I must say he was the Coolest person I've ever known, well before Cool was 'invented' Money and Power never went to his head (unlike a lot of other 'celebrities'
That is some compliment! Some context for your wonderful description of my stepdad in an email to me from a young trainee colleague of Jack's at Southern: "It was this wonderful marriage of fact and fiction that made him such a great broadcaster (and inspiring boss). Like so many men from that generation Including George Egan (OOT's director for 25 years), who flew SOE agents into France aboard tiny Lysanders), Jack had been through something infinitely bigger and more scary than any of us would ever find in television and it gave him a breadth and a perspective and a degree of creative mischief that was utterly beguiling. I put a number of the Out of Town programmes onto tape (Stan shot mute film; Jack's studio musings became the sound-track) and after a while I began to spot where fact strayed into fancy. Viewers, and gobsmacked youths like me, loved him. Like Stan, truly a buccaneer."
I think I remember JH from a children's tv programme in the 60s, called, I think, How? I thought this film would probably not catch my interest, but it really did.
It is a little sad, but don't too despondent, there are a few nice traditions still going strong. I live in Dorset and the traditional ideas are still going strong with plenty of young lads and girls joining in.
For years now I've been, with expert enthusiasm and resources, working to ensure the survival of my stepfather's legacy - his broadcasts and his books. Jack survives in print, on a large repertoire of DVDs and solid state storage, on 16mm reverse-negative film securely stored, and in the cloud.
Jack Hargreaves, my stepfather, indeed made 100's of weekly episodes of 'Out of Town' for over 25 years starting in 1959, followed by 60 episodes of Old Country (clone of OOT) on Channel 4 between 1982-84. He even started making over 27 home video episodes of OOT on VHS tapes (later DVDs) in 1986. He left me rights and royalties in these. For the last 15 years I've been overseeing the republication of Jack's broadcasts. A condition of licencing my rights to a publisher is that I - or my lawyers - must report illegal uploadings of JH's work (i.e. theft), especially monetised ones, and have them taken down. I've managed to recover many hours of OOT location film going back to the early 1970s. To get this into publishable form this old material has to be digitised and matched to separate sound tapes of Jack's voice overs, because until the late 1980s Jack's work only existed as location film (16mm reverse negative) with no complete recordings of whole episodes which include both location film as well as Jack talking over the film from his studio 'shed'. This work is expensive, hence my preoccupation with preventing illegal uploadings of my stepfather's work.
@SimonBaddeley hi Mr baddeleythanku for your reply it sounds as if u got your work cut out with all u said. I can only wish u luck with your endeavour an hope u have a successful conclusion. Wat a privilidge to have jack as your stepfather. A very knowledgeable man I have watched your uploads to. I love jacks programmes we need more. Thanku again for your reply. An u are welcome to talk to me anytime good luck
Could question. My stepdad said that what vexed him about dying was not being able to satisfy his insatiable curiosity as to "what happened". You can get some idea of what he expected from these lines that JH wrote in the year he died ... thetuesdayswim.com/2012/01/15/an-un-earthered-poem-by-jack-hargreaves/
@@lyndoncmp5751 you are right, England is still beautiful but we have lost so much of what jack shows, the lovely wildflower meadows have almost disappeared to be replaced by perennial rye grass and not much else, most of the fields now are devoid of life. Our rivers are polluted beyond belief and disgusting to swim in let alone eat anything from them. So yes England is still beautiful and still has beautiful places but on the whole is a different place to what Jack grew up with.
A poignant query. Don't all of us who may be old (I'm 82) have tendency to think that 'my England' is all England, or do you see something worse. I think of how the industrial revolution must have changed so many people's worlds in the 19th century.
Perhaps you have, and didn't know. But Jack's 'Ghost' was entirely real. It's that in the dusk, in the meadow where she grazed she could walk up to you like a grey phantom.
Ghost is indeed, gone but her foal lives on into old age. The sounds on Out of Town are all library sounds edited by Dave Knowles - no coconuts. Dave's a perfectionist! Stan, Jack's long term cameraman on OOT, always filmed mute.
As a young man I grew up watching this charming man. A true gent, a true patriot.
Remarkable man. The theme tunes of Old Country and Out of Town get me every time.
I love watching anything with Jack in it....But at the same time they make me sad.......
Same here..
Absolutely!……no big match after!! 😢
I know what you mean 😪
Where has our country gone and what have we become as a people?
Totally agree.
Brought up with Jack, sadly times we will never see them again
“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I can completely understand all the feelings of nostalgia when we see Jack Hargreaves talking about mainly the 20s and 30s period when he was young, then you can watch the fantastic videos of the Larkin Family in the period around 1955 - 1970 based on the H E Bates novels. I was born in 1955 and already by that time much of our knowledge of country life was diminishing when WW1 and WW2 took such a toll on our young men. Almost every generation has a story about it isn't what it used to be, but my dad was born in Rochdale in 1910 and at the age of 14 he was in almost slave labour in the cotton mills. He had all his teeth taken out at a fairground when he was 18 because they were so badly decayed by malnourishment and too much sugar. Don't get me wrong I love Jack. I love H E bates I love Flora Thompsons Lark rise to Candleford set in the 1880s in Oxford, but times were also pretty tough then and though some people will dispute this, the rise of social revolution in Russia and France and belatedly in England at least allowed the working classes to get out from the yoke of feudalism to create the world of today. It may have been "authentic" to labour 12 hours scything hay and drinking a gallon of cider at lunchtime, but the cider there was to numb the pain....
A fine comment - with telling family experience - on the difference between nostalgia and history.
So much knowledge has died alongside jack an others like him
Old England lost forever. 😢
Where does the knowledge go ?🫤
@Vidley1866 well hopefully it's past on
Jack knew the countryside, its people and the way things worked. With his passing and the like, we have lost a lot, but we must not cry or moan and groan we must seek out for ourselves that which is good in our time.
... the good in our time ... as would JH
Loved watching Jack on old country and How. Quality programming. Sadly missed.
When I left school I started an agricultural apprenticeship working on a dairy farm that had a pedigree herd of Jersey cows. One of the daily jobs was for myself and the farmers son to walk the bull around the village in the afternoon's just at the time when the children were out at play for them to see the bull, and they always looked forward to it. Waving and saying hello, yes now theses times are long gonethe countryside and everything that happened throughout the seasons was a part of life and learning.
'... Waving and saying hello, yes, now theses times are long gone...' My stepdad (Jack Hargreaves) said that by the time I was old (I'm now 82. I first met JH when he came to live with my mum in 1948) I would be living in 'the city of England'. I enjoy your memory and share, as did Jack, your strong sense that 'the countryside and everything that happened throughout the seasons was a part of life and learning'. Jack was saddened (and angered) by the growing disconnect between town and country - just the thing you and many regret.
@SimonBaddeley thankyou. Yes, all now, sadly lost. No great characters like Jack or johny kingdom anymore. I'm 73 and have watched our country life disappear under urbanisation.
I have a medlar tree in my orchard. It's beautiful. This is such a lovely gentle yet sad video. Kudos❤
This' is bliss 😊🎉
Great little video thanks Simon for sharing.
Thanks for posting this Simon, I know it was a while ago now.
Deep deep joy to watch thank you for sharing it. What would Jack make of today’s world?
I use to date a girl who worked at Southern/Meridian TV. Jack was a Director of said stations and I often encountered him. I must say he was the Coolest person I've ever known, well before Cool was 'invented' Money and Power never went to his head (unlike a lot of other 'celebrities'
That is some compliment! Some context for your wonderful description of my stepdad in an email to me from a young trainee colleague of Jack's at Southern: "It was this wonderful marriage of fact and fiction that made him such a great broadcaster (and inspiring boss). Like so many men from that generation Including George Egan (OOT's director for 25 years), who flew SOE agents into France aboard tiny Lysanders), Jack had been through something infinitely bigger and more scary than any of us would ever find in television and it gave him a breadth and a perspective and a degree of creative mischief that was utterly beguiling. I put a number of the Out of Town programmes onto tape (Stan shot mute film; Jack's studio musings became the sound-track) and after a while I began to spot where fact strayed into fancy. Viewers, and gobsmacked youths like me, loved him. Like Stan, truly a buccaneer."
medler! i have this tree and never knew the name. thanks old chap.
I planted 20 last year - thanks to the deer, there are only 9 left ..... a bit better protected now ;
medlar 😊
I think I remember JH from a children's tv programme in the 60s, called, I think, How?
I thought this film would probably not catch my interest, but it really did.
I remember series too…🧐🇮🇪
Exellent more like this
Thankyou Simon
Quel vibrant éloge de la marche et du pays natal.
Merci mon amis 👍🇫🇷🇬🇧
It is a little sad, but don't too despondent, there are a few nice traditions still going strong. I live in Dorset and the traditional ideas are still going strong with plenty of young lads and girls joining in.
Thanks for that upbeat note.
Lovely tv program
Jack and Fred Dibnar are personal heroes of mine
Gotta drive there lad
Then we'll walk
Belting information and education here
Wish I'd paid attention to these programmes in my 20s but I was working
The good old days🇮🇪🇬🇧
Quality 👌
Historical Importance of These is hugh...
For years now I've been, with expert enthusiasm and resources, working to ensure the survival of my stepfather's legacy - his broadcasts and his books. Jack survives in print, on a large repertoire of DVDs and solid state storage, on 16mm reverse-negative film securely stored, and in the cloud.
We need more uploads of jack. There must be some somewhere they need to be tracked down as he made hundreds of programmes
Jack Hargreaves, my stepfather, indeed made 100's of weekly episodes of 'Out of Town' for over 25 years starting in 1959, followed by 60 episodes of Old Country (clone of OOT) on Channel 4 between 1982-84. He even started making over 27 home video episodes of OOT on VHS tapes (later DVDs) in 1986. He left me rights and royalties in these. For the last 15 years I've been overseeing the republication of Jack's broadcasts. A condition of licencing my rights to a publisher is that I - or my lawyers - must report illegal uploadings of JH's work (i.e. theft), especially monetised ones, and have them taken down. I've managed to recover many hours of OOT location film going back to the early 1970s. To get this into publishable form this old material has to be digitised and matched to separate sound tapes of Jack's voice overs, because until the late 1980s Jack's work only existed as location film (16mm reverse negative) with no complete recordings of whole episodes which include both location film as well as Jack talking over the film from his studio 'shed'. This work is expensive, hence my preoccupation with preventing illegal uploadings of my stepfather's work.
@SimonBaddeley hi Mr baddeleythanku for your reply it sounds as if u got your work cut out with all u said. I can only wish u luck with your endeavour an hope u have a successful conclusion. Wat a privilidge to have jack as your stepfather. A very knowledgeable man I have watched your uploads to. I love jacks programmes we need more. Thanku again for your reply. An u are welcome to talk to me anytime good luck
Wonder what he’d make of England now.
Could question. My stepdad said that what vexed him about dying was not being able to satisfy his insatiable curiosity as to "what happened". You can get some idea of what he expected from these lines that JH wrote in the year he died ... thetuesdayswim.com/2012/01/15/an-un-earthered-poem-by-jack-hargreaves/
He would be disgusted like most of us
Indeed he would @@davegillman6296
@davegillman6296
Im not disgusted. England is still lovely for the most part. You just have to get out there and wander, as I do.
@@lyndoncmp5751 you are right, England is still beautiful but we have lost so much of what jack shows, the lovely wildflower meadows have almost disappeared to be replaced by perennial rye grass and not much else, most of the fields now are devoid of life. Our rivers are polluted beyond belief and disgusting to swim in let alone eat anything from them. So yes England is still beautiful and still has beautiful places but on the whole is a different place to what Jack grew up with.
‘Medlar mush’ tastes good, a bit like fruity peanut butter.
And this current lot want to build thousands of boxes on green belt land, both sad and disgusting 😢
Jack, my stepdad, told me back in the 1980s, that I'd live out my old age in 'the city of England'.
What have THEY, done to my England.
A poignant query. Don't all of us who may be old (I'm 82) have tendency to think that 'my England' is all England, or do you see something worse. I think of how the industrial revolution must have changed so many people's worlds in the 19th century.
I wish I could walk with a ghost 👻
Perhaps you have, and didn't know. But Jack's 'Ghost' was entirely real. It's that in the dusk, in the meadow where she grazed she could walk up to you like a grey phantom.
I'm sure the french call medlars dogs arse😂
Yes, 'cul de chien', and Shakespeare called the fruit “open-arse”
oui je confirme!
Was Ghost a Highland Pony?
I wish I could let you know. I was not in the UK during this part of my stepdad's career.
ghost is probably a ghost by now😢 someone overdid it with the coconut halves.
Ghost is indeed, gone but her foal lives on into old age. The sounds on Out of Town are all library sounds edited by Dave Knowles - no coconuts. Dave's a perfectionist! Stan, Jack's long term cameraman on OOT, always filmed mute.
@@SimonBaddeley Thanks. That explains it then.cheers
0 , yes, when life was good. Sadly gone.