The park is one of my favourite places in London. Its good to know that the tradition of the overpriced cafe has been stable of museums since the beginning.
Just had probably the worst turkey club sandwich (soggy bread, dry-ass turkey!) at the Whitney Museum Gallery last night. Oh well, guess we're not there eat, but damn! The current exhibit is nice, btw, but don't come hungry.
The phrase to “Spend a penny” does stem from the great exhibition, it was not used prior to this point. Additionally the fountain in the middle of the great exhibition was also sponsored by Schweppes and was in fact filled with tonic water. The company is still proud of their association with the exhibition and their drinks logo continues to be an image of this fountain.
Thank you, that's very kind! Looking at my numbers, I think my videos mostly spread through word of mouth rather than through The Algorithm, so if you are able to share it somewhere, it would be much appreciated. Have a lovely day!
@@JDraper Really solid videos. I always share them with my family. I hope you keep them up. I personally feel that at some point the channel will naturally scale or you'll be asked to present a funded history show. Excellent stuff !
@@JDraper It seems you're getting more assistance from the algorithm. Seeing a lot of new comments and I was just recommended your channel from another history channel. Great work!
Crystal palace is one of my absolute favorite human creations. When I hear the name of it it just makes me feel goosebumps, it's so freaking cool I'd love to see like a good art film about it.
I love how objects made especially for this exhibition are STILL appearing randomly on the Antiques Roadshow. Objects found in barns and attics or just sitting in people’s gardens. Simply brilliant I say ❤ 🙂🐿🌈❤️
History student here…Your videos make me feel like when I was a kid falling in love with history for the first time. You’re one of the best history channels on RUclips.
I’ve always been intrigued by the Crystal Palace. It’s a shame it wasn’t able to be saved or rebuilt. Though I have read that by 1936 the palace was in a pretty shabby condition which was what led to the fire being able to spread as quickly as it did. Churchill remarked it was the end of an era and I believe him.
The palace was very much the peak for the British people, and it has rapidly gone down hill since then. I say that as someone who has cause to hate the British and their Empire, but I don't.
Your channel is such a well reseached, educational and enjoyable place to be. I share it with everone. So much good work. Respect. Love from Australia.
I love the way you say the long, long, list of things you would see at the Crystal Palace. World Fairs and Exhibitions held an important role in shaping the world we live in today. I think 1967 Montreal was the last one of comparable scale, because while they still are held, we are already so well connected through the internet. They were THE place of dreams. All those inventions and connections of people from around the world. I would love to see a series on World Fairs.
I played in the ruins as a child, we managed to get into an underground tunnel which went from the promenade at the top to the bottom of the hill near the entrace to Crystal Palace Park in Penge. We didn't get very far but we saw train tracks.I believed it to be some kind of amusement ride and possibly a precursor to the London Underground.
May I recommend viewers of this excellent vid resort to taking a 3D view in Apple Maps of the Sydenham site as it is today? Parts (in masonry) of the original CP can be seen to the north of Crystal Palace Road, which in the 1990s was a huge empty flat area (now filled with housing) and where the mysterious tunnels were said to be.
God, what I wouldn't give to get to visit and walk around that exhibition. I can't even imagine. I wish someone would make a highly realistic video game simulation of it, with the most accurate details available, and just let you... explore. Sigh.
At 16:53 is the Giant Sequoia from California called the “mother of the forest” where the bark of the tree was dismantled in sections (as you can see) and reassembled for display in the Crystal Palace. It burned in the fire that is mentioned here. The actual tree still stands in Big Trees State Park (Arnold CA) and the lines where they removed the bark still show. The tree is basically a dead standing skeleton left to remind people of the shallow thinking that people did in those days to make a buck.
My husband and I stumbled upon the Temple of Mithras when we were just walking around London last summer and I couldn't believe it wasn't more publicized because it was SO cool! Hidden gem, for sure.
I hesitated several times to play this video when it came up in my feed as I thought I wouldn't be interested, but I gave in in the end, partly due to the high quality and engaging nature of your other videos. I am very glad I changed my mind, this was also wonderful and interesting. It appears you can make anything appealing! Thank you 🙂
That was brilliant! I have long been fascinated by the Crystal Palace. While it’s often mentioned as a lost wonder of the modern world, I have never encountered so much detailed information on the topic in one place. Delightfully presented as well. I look forward to watching more videos on this channel.
This was amazing. I've heard for decades of The Crystal Palace but yours is the best detailing of it I've found. Your enthusiasm and storytelling is engrossing. I found myself having a myriad of emotions during the story. The Crystal Palace was truly an example of the greatness of man when he reaches for the stars.
I've been so enjoying your channel, but this piece is really exceptional. I knew about the Crystal Palace, but I learned to so in this, and your presentation is very captivating.
What a brilliant content! I was looking for a snippet of information about London's crystal palace to add to one of my cologne reviews content but instead I was taken into a wonderful "back-to-the-past" travel through this video! Thank you so much for your great work! By the way, in a trip that I recently made to Brazil, I visited a city called Curitiba, capital of a southern state called Parana, where there's a large greenhouse in the middle of the city's botanical garden which its architect was inspired by London's Crystal palace. It shows how such a marvellous British creation still amazes and inspires people's imagination and creativity around the world up to this day!!
I love it when you find a really great, entertaining, educational youtube account you've never heard of before that you can immerse yourself in their back catalogue. Im flying through these videos.
You’re a doll, and a national treasure. Thank you so much for sharing Britains wonderful history and culture. I’m sharing you with everyone I can think of.
02:26 - omg, J., I don't know if you'd read this, but just know that I'm so thankful that someone actually genuinely addressed this type of anxiety. Thank you for sharing this with your viewers. Whenever I try to talk about this, people just shrug it off, as if "stop comparing", "it was a different time" and etc. And actually hearing one of my favorite RUclipsrs, sharing the similar experience is so wholesome. Thank You once again🙏
I only discovered your channel recently but have loved your content. I particularly liked this one. When my children were small, in the 80s this was a favourite Sunday walk and my mother told of seeing the glow in the sky when it burned down from mid Kent.
Really stunning video. I've read a deal about the palace, but nothing really prepared me for how remarkable it was. Your writing, images, editing, and delivery gave the subject an immediacy and excitement I'm sure the actual thing did, but which I'd never understood or felt before. Thank you SO MUCH for this. I'm subscribing... and probably going to binge everything you've done.
As an American, my first introduction to Crystal Palace was it's namesake football team. I loved learning more about the actual building. This was a fascinating video, as always.
I learn so much from your videos! This is very interesting to see the origin of the idea for the Worlds Fair! Your listing the exhibits gives a sense of the experience of overwhelm of trying to see them all!! So well done!
not just one of the best history channels on youtube, but just one of the best channels of any subject, and obviously doesn't have the subs and views it deserves, greetings from Colombia in southamerica, and If I may make a suggestion to the lovely jenny, you should do collabs with other history channels, that adds to the exposure and views
What a great video! It's a pity that the second version of the Crystal Palace burned down but it's nice to know that the offsprings of the original version still stand in Kensington
The Crystal Palace at Sydenham before it was burned down was home to some of the pioneering development work of television by JohnLogie Baird and of course nowadays is the site of the tall tower broadcasting modern TV transmissions across London.
I had heard a few obscure mentions of this before. This video was charming and wonderfully inspiring. Thank you for your work and bringing very interesting history back to life. A pure delight ! Sara, Your Gardener -Salem, MA
I never knew the whole history of Crystal Palace. Amazing. Could something like this be created today? Possibly. Although I am not sure we have anything now that captivates the public like this did. Thank you for a most excellent presentation.
Oh, how I wish I could have seen the Crystal Palace! I'll bet it was a wonder to behold as it originally was. Think of how many people saw exhibits of countries and things they'd never heard of before. This would have amazed even many of the well educated, and some of the well traveled, never mind those who were of lesser means. 😊
The Sydenham site was a prominent location all throughout my youth, hosting school trips, family days out, and well into my teens Saturday morning fishing trips. Thank you for bringing back some long forgotten memories.
Fantastic video! I work at Chatsworth and we all love to talk about Joseph Paxton with visitors, so this was super interesting and insightful. Thank you so much 😊
If I could go back in time and experience anything, it would be this. Sometimes even just thinking about it moves me to tears. All the culture, all the innovation and inventiveness. Really wish I could have experienced it. Anyway, I’ve watched probably every video on RUclips having to do with the Great Exhibition and this is my favorite one. Awesome job covering a massive topic.
Very good storytelling! Liked and subscribed! I’ve been listening to so many Victorian and Regency books lately that there’s soo many things I’m curious about! Thanks for being here!
There was a very similar building called The Garden Palace built in Sydney,Australia in 1879 for an international exhibition. Obviously inspired by it and probably grander as it had a huge dome! Burnt down as well a couple of decades later. I have always wondered how a predominantly glass and steel building could burn so easily creating a vast conflagration but I suppose it's the flammable things inside!
Apparently New York, Munich and Montreal also had their own structures built inspired by it that all ended up burning down as well. The one in New York in particular seem to have only survived for 5 years.
I have a contemporary guidebook called "London as it is today" published for people coming to the exhibition. It has a map of London and notes on all sorts of places of interest. Madame Tussead's is mentioned and the lady herself is lamented as only recently having died.
What a wonderful video on the Crystal Palace, thank you! Just one very small correction, on the off-chance you are still reading these comments: Paxton probably had little or nothing to do with the dinosaur sculptures. Those were made by natural history artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins,. He was commissioned by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company and consulted with famed palaeontologist Richard Owen (who had coined the word "dinosaur" in the first place) and other scientists. The formal study of dinosaur fossils was still quite new, and they were working from the best interpretations of dinosaur fossils available at the time. Hawkins created large molds into which to pour the concrete out of which the dinosaurs were made -- indeed, the mold for the Iguanodon was so huge that he hosted a small dinner party inside it as publicity for the new and improved Crystal Palace. The biography of this artist are, btw, worth looking up, even if only on a _Wikipedia_ level -- a fascinating life story.
Fantastic video I have been watching quite a few of your presentations recently and they are all fantastic. Can I add that you can still see the remains of the aquarium, the first indoor aquarium in the country, if you go to the far right hand side of the Sydenham site. After the fire The Girl Guides were permitted to collect the lumps of melted glass to sell to raise funds.
i already knew a lot about the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace, but I still learned something new. I wonder if there might be a movement to rebuild/replace the glass building for the bicentenary in a few years time.
Thank you so much. My mother - who was born in 1901 - told about how she used to go to the Crystal Palace to play in its gardens wearing a gouvered dress.
Thank you very much for this well-researched, engagingly edited and brilliantly narrated video. I look forward to having a look at some of your other videos on YT. Definitely one of the better history documentaries that I've come across on here recently!
Wow! This is just fascinating! Seriously so. And well narrated/presented. I'm forwarding the link to people I know who would appreciate it. Subscribed and liked. Thank you for posting this and I can't wait to look through the rest of your postings. Cheers!
I live right by it and grew up playing in its shaodws and still walk my dog through it's echos and it still breaks my heart to think of what we lost that fatefuil night.... Great Video !!
That was a really fantastic video! Thanks for making it - even though I've been down many a Wikipedia rabbit-hole that has lead me to learning more about the Crystal Palace, it seems there's always more to know :)
Brilliant video. The Palace site is still an amazing place and well worth a visit. I would so like to be able to go back in time and see the building and the Exhibition.
I got worried when I noticed all the visuals were paintings and black and white photographs. I was like don't you do it don't tell me it's gone! That's really sad it sounds like it really was a sight to behold. I can just imagine how many historians and scientists of all varieties were inspired by that building.
A most excellent piece of investigative journalism combined with truly engaging naration and imagery to boot. I often think of the Crystal palace (in both iterations) and the sad, I'll fated demise as the land based equivalent of the HMS Titanic. Both glorious examples of Victorian engineering splendour, forever lost but never forgotten. 🇬🇧
I’ve just stumbled across your channel and think it’s great. Thanks very much for this video and your ‘shorts’ as well. My dad worked on the Crystal Palace in the early 1930’s and told a story about coming out of a cinema to see the CP on fire.
Truly delightful, you've encapsulated the amazing Palace I've always wondered about since my first brief visit to Hyde Park 50 years ago. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for making such a wonderful video; I learnt so much and you connected different parts of London and the story so well. I've been wanting to go to Crystal Palace for a long time and haven't been yet; now I have a fantastic video to show my neices that will set the foundation to seeing a park with dinosaurs... And imaging all that was there before. Thank you.
I've been getting into history more lately (hated it in school but now gaining an appreciation. This is one of the best historical videos I've ever seen
Absolutely fantastic! Loved hearing about this! I remember when I was a little kid....my next door neighbour telling me that he had visited the Crystal Palace that same day and how shocked he was when it caught fire...
The park is one of my favourite places in London. Its good to know that the tradition of the overpriced cafe has been stable of museums since the beginning.
Ahah this!
Disney took notice.
Poor in quality and high in price. Every museum I’ve ever been too 😂
It used to be a greasy spoon cafe, you could get an excellent plate of chips for a pound, it's gone downhill now!
Just had probably the worst turkey club sandwich (soggy bread, dry-ass turkey!) at the Whitney Museum Gallery last night. Oh well, guess we're not there eat, but damn! The current exhibit is nice, btw, but don't come hungry.
The phrase to “Spend a penny” does stem from the great exhibition, it was not used prior to this point. Additionally the fountain in the middle of the great exhibition was also sponsored by Schweppes and was in fact filled with tonic water. The company is still proud of their association with the exhibition and their drinks logo continues to be an image of this fountain.
I'm always encouraging people to "spend a penny" it's my favorite phrase
I had no idea about the logo being this very crystal fountain. That is a great factoid!
Wow thanks for sharing that info
I can't believe you don't have more views! Such a pity, you're a fantastic storyteller.
Thank you very much for this.
Thank you, that's very kind! Looking at my numbers, I think my videos mostly spread through word of mouth rather than through The Algorithm, so if you are able to share it somewhere, it would be much appreciated. Have a lovely day!
@@JDraper Really solid videos. I always share them with my family. I hope you keep them up. I personally feel that at some point the channel will naturally scale or you'll be asked to present a funded history show. Excellent stuff !
Echoing this sentiment!
Exactly!! Love her vidz ❤️❤️
@@JDraper It seems you're getting more assistance from the algorithm. Seeing a lot of new comments and I was just recommended your channel from another history channel. Great work!
Crystal palace is one of my absolute favorite human creations. When I hear the name of it it just makes me feel goosebumps, it's so freaking cool
I'd love to see like a good art film about it.
I love how objects made especially for this exhibition are STILL appearing randomly on the Antiques Roadshow. Objects found in barns and attics or just sitting in people’s gardens.
Simply brilliant I say ❤
🙂🐿🌈❤️
History student here…Your videos make me feel like when I was a kid falling in love with history for the first time. You’re one of the best history channels on RUclips.
I feel like a child in primary school, sitting cross legged in front of the teacher and having my mind blown. This is fantastic!
I’ve always been intrigued by the Crystal Palace. It’s a shame it wasn’t able to be saved or rebuilt. Though I have read that by 1936 the palace was in a pretty shabby condition which was what led to the fire being able to spread as quickly as it did. Churchill remarked it was the end of an era and I believe him.
It would have been a bit of a liability in the Blitz though
The palace was very much the peak for the British people, and it has rapidly gone down hill since then. I say that as someone who has cause to hate the British and their Empire, but I don't.
Your channel is such a well reseached, educational and enjoyable place to be. I share it with everone. So much good work. Respect. Love from Australia.
I love the way you say the long, long, list of things you would see at the Crystal Palace. World Fairs and Exhibitions held an important role in shaping the world we live in today. I think 1967 Montreal was the last one of comparable scale, because while they still are held, we are already so well connected through the internet. They were THE place of dreams. All those inventions and connections of people from around the world. I would love to see a series on World Fairs.
Before globalization, before every home had an Encyclopedia, there was there were world's fairs and exhibitions.
I played in the ruins as a child, we managed to get into an underground tunnel which went from the promenade at the top to the bottom of the hill near the entrace to Crystal Palace Park in Penge. We didn't get very far but we saw train tracks.I believed it to be some kind of amusement ride and possibly a precursor to the London Underground.
Whaaaat??!
@@bobsnarey9894 This is new to me, so thank you for this!
Could that be the ruins of the atmospheric railway?
@@PUREbksb if she didn’t get very far I doubt it. The rail way was at the bottom of the park I believe
May I recommend viewers of this excellent vid resort to taking a 3D view in Apple Maps of the Sydenham site as it is today? Parts (in masonry) of the original CP can be seen to the north of Crystal Palace Road, which in the 1990s was a huge empty flat area (now filled with housing) and where the mysterious tunnels were said to be.
God, what I wouldn't give to get to visit and walk around that exhibition. I can't even imagine. I wish someone would make a highly realistic video game simulation of it, with the most accurate details available, and just let you... explore. Sigh.
How about a big LEGO model of it?
Royal Parks have a virtual tour
@@danwilbrey Will have to check that out, thanks
Its genuinely crazy to think there are still people alive who saw it before it burned down. You can talk to people who have no need to imagine.
Your videos, both long and short, are a treat to watch. I feel lucky that the RUclips algorithm brought them to my attention.
At 16:53 is the Giant Sequoia from California called the “mother of the forest” where the bark of the tree was dismantled in sections (as you can see) and reassembled for display in the Crystal Palace. It burned in the fire that is mentioned here. The actual tree still stands in Big Trees State Park (Arnold CA) and the lines where they removed the bark still show. The tree is basically a dead standing skeleton left to remind people of the shallow thinking that people did in those days to make a buck.
Shallow thinking became popular unfortunately.
My great uncle was there just before he left for Gallipoli, I have a postcard from him that he got at Crystal Palace, absolutely brilliant video
You should upload a picture of it
great video - thats why Schweppes uses a fountain as its logo
This was a lovely video! You have a great talent for storytelling. Greatly enjoyed learning about the history of the Crystal Palace!
WOW! This is the very best story about the crystal palace. Really fine work.
My husband and I stumbled upon the Temple of Mithras when we were just walking around London last summer and I couldn't believe it wasn't more publicized because it was SO cool! Hidden gem, for sure.
I hesitated several times to play this video when it came up in my feed as I thought I wouldn't be interested, but I gave in in the end, partly due to the high quality and engaging nature of your other videos. I am very glad I changed my mind, this was also wonderful and interesting. It appears you can make anything appealing! Thank you 🙂
That was brilliant! I have long been fascinated by the Crystal Palace. While it’s often mentioned as a lost wonder of the modern world, I have never encountered so much detailed information on the topic in one place. Delightfully presented as well. I look forward to watching more videos on this channel.
This is one of the most professional, interesting, fun and well edited videos I've found in RUclips. I deeply enjoyed it. Thanks!
This was amazing. I've heard for decades of The Crystal Palace but yours is the best detailing of it I've found. Your enthusiasm and storytelling is engrossing. I found myself having a myriad of emotions during the story. The Crystal Palace was truly an example of the greatness of man when he reaches for the stars.
I've been so enjoying your channel, but this piece is really exceptional. I knew about the Crystal Palace, but I learned to so in this, and your presentation is very captivating.
J Draper is so good, I feel a little bit in awe of her!
Ms. Draper, you must be the greatest tour guide of all time!
I've heard of the Crystal Palace before....but your video made me really want to SEE it for myself (oh for a time machine.) What an amazing story!
I knew of the Crystal Palace and the exhibition, but this was the first time I heard the whole story, thanks.
What a brilliant content! I was looking for a snippet of information about London's crystal palace to add to one of my cologne reviews content but instead I was taken into a wonderful "back-to-the-past" travel through this video! Thank you so much for your great work! By the way, in a trip that I recently made to Brazil, I visited a city called Curitiba, capital of a southern state called Parana, where there's a large greenhouse in the middle of the city's botanical garden which its architect was inspired by London's Crystal palace. It shows how such a marvellous British creation still amazes and inspires people's imagination and creativity around the world up to this day!!
Oh my word. 😃 This was done and told in amazing quality!! It was like watching the History channel back when it was good. 😊 Thank you! 💛
LOL! Whats wrong with Ancient Aliens!?!?
I love it when you find a really great, entertaining, educational youtube account you've never heard of before that you can immerse yourself in their back catalogue. Im flying through these videos.
I can't remember gow i stumbled upon you, but I'm so glad i did. I love history and you make English history so enchanting 😊
Such a fine storyteller and presenter. This is my first experience without your shining eyes and it was lovely as well!
You’re a doll, and a national treasure. Thank you so much for sharing Britains wonderful history and culture. I’m sharing you with everyone I can think of.
02:26 - omg, J., I don't know if you'd read this, but just know that I'm so thankful that someone actually genuinely addressed this type of anxiety. Thank you for sharing this with your viewers. Whenever I try to talk about this, people just shrug it off, as if "stop comparing", "it was a different time" and etc. And actually hearing one of my favorite RUclipsrs, sharing the similar experience is so wholesome. Thank You once again🙏
Oh wow - what a brilliant video - I had no idea about the South Ken link!
Thanks!
I only discovered your channel recently but have loved your content. I particularly liked this one. When my children were small, in the 80s this was a favourite Sunday walk and my mother told of seeing the glow in the sky when it burned down from mid Kent.
I've heard most of this story before, but you still gave me goosebumps.
You might be interested to know that on the Albert memorial, opposite the Albert Hall, Prince Albert is holding a catalogue for the Great Exhibition.
Really stunning video. I've read a deal about the palace, but nothing really prepared me for how remarkable it was. Your writing, images, editing, and delivery gave the subject an immediacy and excitement I'm sure the actual thing did, but which I'd never understood or felt before.
Thank you SO MUCH for this.
I'm subscribing... and probably going to binge everything you've done.
As an American, my first introduction to Crystal Palace was it's namesake football team. I loved learning more about the actual building. This was a fascinating video, as always.
I learn so much from your videos! This is very interesting to see the origin of the idea for the Worlds Fair! Your listing the exhibits gives a sense of the experience of overwhelm of trying to see them all!! So well done!
not just one of the best history channels on youtube, but just one of the best channels of any subject, and obviously doesn't have the subs and views it deserves, greetings from Colombia in southamerica, and If I may make a suggestion to the lovely jenny, you should do collabs with other history channels, that adds to the exposure and views
What a great video! It's a pity that the second version of the Crystal Palace burned down but it's nice to know that the offsprings of the original version still stand in Kensington
The Crystal Palace at Sydenham before it was burned down was home to some of the pioneering development work of television by JohnLogie Baird and of course nowadays is the site of the tall tower broadcasting modern TV transmissions across London.
I had heard a few obscure mentions of this before. This video was charming and wonderfully inspiring. Thank you for your work and bringing very interesting history back to life.
A pure delight !
Sara, Your Gardener
-Salem, MA
I never knew the whole history of Crystal Palace. Amazing. Could something like this be created today? Possibly. Although I am not sure we have anything now that captivates the public like this did. Thank you for a most excellent presentation.
Oh, how I wish I could have seen the Crystal Palace!
I'll bet it was a wonder to behold as it originally was. Think of how many people saw exhibits of countries and things they'd never heard of before. This would have amazed even many of the well educated, and some of the well traveled, never mind those who were of lesser means. 😊
The Sydenham site was a prominent location all throughout my youth, hosting school trips, family days out, and well into my teens Saturday morning fishing trips. Thank you for bringing back some long forgotten memories.
If I ever get the keys to a time machine, the Great Exhibition is definitely on my to-do list!
Mine too!! But let's not forget to bring a nice packed lunch!
Fantastic video! I work at Chatsworth and we all love to talk about Joseph Paxton with visitors, so this was super interesting and insightful. Thank you so much 😊
I love the cadence of the commentary
If I could go back in time and experience anything, it would be this. Sometimes even just thinking about it moves me to tears. All the culture, all the innovation and inventiveness. Really wish I could have experienced it. Anyway, I’ve watched probably every video on RUclips having to do with the Great Exhibition and this is my favorite one. Awesome job covering a massive topic.
Interesting subject with an eloquent, knowledgeable and captivating orator.
Very good storytelling! Liked and subscribed!
I’ve been listening to so many Victorian and Regency books lately that there’s soo many things I’m curious about!
Thanks for being here!
Wow just found your channel and I absolutely love it! Love all the history and the stories.
There was a very similar building called The Garden Palace built in Sydney,Australia in 1879 for an international exhibition. Obviously inspired by it and probably grander as it had a huge dome! Burnt down as well a couple of decades later. I have always wondered how a predominantly glass and steel building could burn so easily creating a vast conflagration but I suppose it's the flammable things inside!
Apparently New York, Munich and Montreal also had their own structures built inspired by it that all ended up burning down as well.
The one in New York in particular seem to have only survived for 5 years.
Damn, business was booming for arsonists and insurance companies back then!
I have a contemporary guidebook called "London as it is today" published for people coming to the exhibition. It has a map of London and notes on all sorts of places of interest. Madame Tussead's is mentioned and the lady herself is lamented as only recently having died.
Excellent! I’ve read about the amazing Crystal Palace recently. Your review, the illustrations, and photos made come alive.
What a wonderful video on the Crystal Palace, thank you!
Just one very small correction, on the off-chance you are still reading these comments: Paxton probably had little or nothing to do with the dinosaur sculptures. Those were made by natural history artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins,. He was commissioned by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company and consulted with famed palaeontologist Richard Owen (who had coined the word "dinosaur" in the first place) and other scientists. The formal study of dinosaur fossils was still quite new, and they were working from the best interpretations of dinosaur fossils available at the time. Hawkins created large molds into which to pour the concrete out of which the dinosaurs were made -- indeed, the mold for the Iguanodon was so huge that he hosted a small dinner party inside it as publicity for the new and improved Crystal Palace. The biography of this artist are, btw, worth looking up, even if only on a _Wikipedia_ level -- a fascinating life story.
Absolutely delightful! I subscribed immediately after watching. Your presentation more that satisfied my curiosity about this signal event. Well done!
Fantastic story telling and video making, what a wonderful teacher you would make : )
Oh my word, I love J Draper’s stuff on all platforms. She’s so clever and informative, whilst keeping it clear and (deceptively) simple. Thank you
Excellent really enjoyed this and some very good pictures and plates from the time
Oh my god, look at the sketch of the opening just imagine standing there in the crowd my god
Fantastic video I have been watching quite a few of your presentations recently and they are all fantastic. Can I add that you can still see the remains of the aquarium, the first indoor aquarium in the country, if you go to the far right hand side of the Sydenham site. After the fire The Girl Guides were permitted to collect the lumps of melted glass to sell to raise funds.
This was amazing! I knew nothing about the story of the Crystal Palace, and now I am utterly enthralled. Thank you for making this video.
i already knew a lot about the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace, but I still learned something new.
I wonder if there might be a movement to rebuild/replace the glass building for the bicentenary in a few years time.
Thank you so much. My mother - who was born in 1901 - told about how she used to go to the Crystal Palace to play in its gardens wearing a gouvered dress.
Thank you very much for this well-researched, engagingly edited and brilliantly narrated video. I look forward to having a look at some of your other videos on YT. Definitely one of the better history documentaries that I've come across on here recently!
You have excellent story telling skills!. I was captivated by the history of the crystal palace the entire video :)
Brilliant video thanks so much
Wow! This is just fascinating! Seriously so.
And well narrated/presented.
I'm forwarding the link to people I know who would appreciate it.
Subscribed and liked.
Thank you for posting this and I can't wait to look through the rest of your postings. Cheers!
I live right by it and grew up playing in its shaodws and still walk my dog through it's echos and it still breaks my heart to think of what we lost that fatefuil night.... Great Video !!
That was a really fantastic video! Thanks for making it - even though I've been down many a Wikipedia rabbit-hole that has lead me to learning more about the Crystal Palace, it seems there's always more to know :)
Loved this - great video! Keep up the good work
What a splendid lesson in history. Thoroughly enjoyable. Itching to visit London again
Fantastic video, beautiful, evocative images and all so well told.
Brilliant video. The Palace site is still an amazing place and well worth a visit. I would so like to be able to go back in time and see the building and the Exhibition.
Loved this! Big fan of World's Fair, and many of us count this as the first!
With love it’s wild to just slip in a portrait made of hair into that long list of actual inventions 😂
I love how you explain history!❤
Brilliant - perky informative comprehensive understandable 👏🏻
Thank you so much for this. I knew about this amazing building, but not what happened to it. Sad demise for such a glorious accomplishment.
I got worried when I noticed all the visuals were paintings and black and white photographs. I was like don't you do it don't tell me it's gone! That's really sad it sounds like it really was a sight to behold. I can just imagine how many historians and scientists of all varieties were inspired by that building.
A most excellent piece of investigative journalism combined with truly engaging naration and imagery to boot. I often think of the Crystal palace (in both iterations) and the sad, I'll fated demise as the land based equivalent of the HMS Titanic. Both glorious examples of Victorian engineering splendour, forever lost but never forgotten. 🇬🇧
A wonderful video which I enjoyed immensely. Thank you very much for your work. It's much appreciated.
I’ve just stumbled across your channel and think it’s great. Thanks very much for this video and your ‘shorts’ as well. My dad worked on the Crystal Palace in the early 1930’s and told a story about coming out of a cinema to see the CP on fire.
A brilliant video about an incredible project The statistics you quoted were amazing.
Truly delightful, you've encapsulated the amazing Palace I've always wondered about since my first brief visit to Hyde Park 50 years ago. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, this was very well produced and entertaining. You have talent! Your channel makes me really want to visit London...
Lived in Crystal Palace in the 90’s, . Wonderful park to spend those rare summer days.
What a wondrous sight it would have been! Great video!
Thank you for making such a wonderful video; I learnt so much and you connected different parts of London and the story so well. I've been wanting to go to Crystal Palace for a long time and haven't been yet; now I have a fantastic video to show my neices that will set the foundation to seeing a park with dinosaurs... And imaging all that was there before. Thank you.
Such a great piece. Have always wanted to know more about the Crystal Palace! Well done.
I've been getting into history more lately (hated it in school but now gaining an appreciation. This is one of the best historical videos I've ever seen
This video was amazing, I doubt that I ever would have learned about this amazing bit of history without you. So thanks again. New subscriber 😁👍
Excellent presentation, well written and well paced. Thanks for your effort. Ronn
Nicely done, wonderful story, brought you in to an amazing achievement, why it mattered.
What an exciting video. I have never heard of it until now. It was a lovely and informative, well-done video. Thank you, Miss Draper.
Absolutely fantastic! Loved hearing about this! I remember when I was a little kid....my next door neighbour telling me that he had visited the Crystal Palace that same day and how shocked he was when it caught fire...