Americans React To - Interesting Facts About England That Even English Don't Know
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- In this video we check out intresting facts about Britain that even Brits may not know! Comment down below if you didn't know any of these
If you enjoyed this, please Like, Subscribe, and Comment your thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment on any future content that you would like me to react to.
Join the Discord family!
/ discord
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
#americanreacts #england #britain
Never have even as many as 5 percent of the people of England spoken French. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, French replaced Old English as the official language, and the ruling classes spoke it among themselves, but it was never the language of ordinary folk. More people understood some Latin, from hearing it in church, than understood French.
Surrender monkeys.......🤭
And the upper class speaking French while everyone else spoke Anglo-Saxon/English is the reason English has the word "beef" for the food and "cow" for the animal, and so on. The words for the food are French, while the animals have names with Anglo-Saxon origins.
Technically they spoke Anglo-Norman after the invasion... and did for nearly 300 years which actually had more in common with Old-French than any "English". Of course the Normans would of arrived speaking old-French/Norman however.
Also old-French has less in common with modern French than Old English has with Modern English (just for a little trivia).
But the reality is... back then there was no single language and ANY language would of simply slowly evolved over centuries... i mean, as Carr said... "If you think we are picking up a foreign language in under 100 years you clearly don't know the English."
I feel the subject is extremely silly to be honest, because back then we were simply creating languages and at no point did we ever really speak any single language. I think the more accurate saying is, England or UK speaks European... as it contains and is a amalgam of pretty much every language found in Europe combined... which is a little ironic if you think about it.
@@babalonkie “would have” is English; ‘would of’ is not a verb.
You can have something but you cannot of something.
@@AlBarzUK I bet you are the lifeblood of a party...
Whilst "Would of" is in fact grammatically incorrect... it's more popular in vocabulary than "Would have", especially in England, to every philologist's absolute despair and disbelief. But hey... that's how languages and literature are formed.
Also for for such a stickler for grammar, the actual wording should've been "would've"... being that long sentences are to be shortened where applicable in common usage. Normally I don't bother, especially when the sticklers who point it out always forget to correctly do so... making for a satisfying and typical reply... 😁
I'm sure that although for a time the official language may have been French, only the aristocracy spoke French daily, the commoners would have just spoken their own English dialect
That is why the meat from cows is called beef, from pigs is pork and from sheep is mutton. QED.
@@archiebald4717 and the poor ate carrots and swede which comes from the German karotte and schwede.
The invading Normans tried to make the local population speak French but they kept speaking Anglo Saxon instead.
@@tonybaker55no wonder Blackadder was so careful around Baldrick.
French was the language of the English court up to the time it fell so far behind that spoken in France they were mocked so they reverted to English.
5:52 It was the ruling class that spoke French between those dates, not the ordinary English people.
You haven't been able to own slaves in England for almost a 1000 years, what happened in the 1800s was to do with the international slave trade. What happened in 2010 was a bit of legally tidying up, if I recall correctly because of modern day people trafficking making it necessary.
I realise there are some holes in what I'm saying but I'm being brief.
I'm pretty sure that the main speakers of Norman French were the hierarchy, not the rest of us plums.
Aristocracy?
I don’t think I will bother watching this video because I looked at the comments first, the amount of errors pointed out is quite a lot.
So many little mistakes.
The British Library, not National is in London it’s not the library in this video.
All English people didn’t speak French, it was the official language of the Court was French used by Royalty and Nobles. But peasants kept on speaking Old English.
. All royal weddings aren’t holidays, only those declared as holidays. The King sends a letter on your 100th birthday, but if you get to 105 you can get another letter.
Slavery was abolished in England by William the Conquerer in the 11th Century. In 2010 a law was passed to recognise Anti-Slavery Day, a day to recognise those still held in slavery around the world, human trafficking into the sex trade etc.
Actually, slavery was NOT declared illegal in England until 2010.
@@sameebahactually William the Conqueror did outlaw slavery
@@sameebahIt was outlawed, it just wasn’t ‘officially’ written down till 2010.
Once u read into many of the UK’s laws, ull realise a lot of them aren’t ‘officially’ written down but r still enforced.
I'm pretty sure the library shown is the library of Trinity College in Dublin.
@@susansmiles2242 Not really, what he did do was outlaw the sale of slaves outside of England on pain of a fine, this resulted in slavery mostly disappearing within 10 years. The 1807 Act of Abolition of the Slave trade extended the situation to the colonies but there was judicial precedence that slavery is illegal in England well before that (1770s).
The library in Oxford is The Bodleian Library attached to the University and is the Second Biggest.
Stonehenge isn’t in Salisbury. It’s ten miles from Salisbury, it’s in the county of Wiltshire.
To be fair 10 miles in the USA is considered local and this video was obviously done for the American viewers, you can tell that by the bad AI voice and the inaccuracies.
Stonehenge is on Salisbury Plain. Not in Salisbury town. Big difference.
@@JonathanReynolds1 I know that because I live in Salisbury.
@@JonathanReynolds1 I'm well aware of that, however this was done by Americans for American viewers so from their perspective 10 miles is just down the road, apart from that without naming the nearest famous town it would mean nothing to them location wise.
@@luvstellauk New Jersey. New York. Same difference.
Would have been a video worth reacting to if it got more of its facts right, and knew the difference between England and the UK
This is the most valid comment here.
The reason that the British Library is so big is that it automatically receives a copy of each newly published book and that has been going on since the early 17th century. The process is called 'legal deposit' and goes on all over the world but we have been doing it for longer than anyone else.
Yes. However, the Library of Congress in Washington is catching up - and has more visitors and a lot more staff.
The King/Queen sends you a birthday card on your 100th birthday and every year thereafter, not 105th. Couple of wrong facts in this. Knew that would be the case when I heard the narraters voice
But robots are always right!
I am English (British). Only 3 of the more obscure "facts" I didn't know. Most of these are well known to my generation anyway. The amount of languages spoken was higher than I would have thought and the slavery one is not strictly true in the sense most people would think. Didn't know the one about professors either but I can live with that. A couple of the "facts" are wrong. Great video. Mike.
The Monarch sends you a card on your 100 birthday and every year after that.
It's not every year now after your 100th birthday you only get a card every 5 years these days
But, the family has to apply for it, the Monarch won't know every 100 year old's birthday unless informed of it first!!😊
If you request it and include evidence of your birth date.
The Monarch also sends cards for Diamond (60th) wedding anniversaries if a request is submitted to Buckingham Palace.
@@brigidsingleton1596 very true.
The thing about the stamp is not true. The reason you want it the right way up is automatic sorting won't work and it'll be slower.
No, that's nonsense. The stamp has no effect on automatic sorting.
@@rikmoran3963 according to the Royal Mail website the phosphor tagging on the stamp allows the sorting machine to orientate the envelope properly
5:24 The narrator was saying that the U.K. postage stamps do not bear the name of the country unlike every other country's stamps, not that there had to be a return address on a letter.
Who needs a name of the country when we had the only stamps.
The ruling class spoke French as William the Conqueror invaded in 1066 and deposed the Anglo-Saxons, the clue that we didn't all speak French is in the fact the Aristocrats eventually decided they'd rather speak the same language as the rest of us.
It took them 300 years, goes to show some things never change, the French are stubborn and the English are useless at learning other languages.
The monarch's birthday is not a holiday, nor are royal weddings. Elizabeth Tower, not St. Stephen's Tower.
It was st stephens tower but renamed in 2022 for the jubilee
I used to work for Royal mail and we had time off for the Queens birthday.
@@susansmiles2242 It wasn't renamed in 2022...
@@danielgardecki1046 sorry it’s 2012
@@susansmiles2242it was never St Stephen’s Tower, that is a common misconception just like the whole Big Ben thing, St Stephen’s Tower is the smaller tower that is over the public entrance to parliament
I’ll have to go and watch the Greggs documentary now 😊 well done! England has a national day St George’s day.
Not a bank holiday though.
When did _"my dad's bigger than your dad"_ become _"my library is bigger than your library"_
The National Library is in several places.
I was going to comment on this video, but it seems as everyone has pointed out the things I were going to say, and beat me to it. Lol. But I'll say this. don't be too hard on the 'Commentator' as he's just an AI voiceover, and not a real person at all. His mistakes are really the mistakes of whoever typed the script. 😃
The British library is in London, the one in Oxford is called the Bodleian library.
the Queen would have sent a postcard on your 100th year not 105th wtf
This is almost as factual as WatchMojo videos and that’s saying something, lol
So not all English people spoke French between whatever dates he gave, an official language and a language that is actually spoken are two different things. French was the official language but most people would not have spoken French, it would only have been the elites, the Lords etc that would have spoken French.
Also the tower in which Big Ben is situated, the clock tower, is not St Stephen’s Tower, it’s the Elizabeth Tower, previously just The Clock Tower, St Stephen’s Tower is another, smaller tower that is situated over the public entrance to parliament.
England does have a national day, it’s St George’s Day
According to the 2021 Census about 40% of Londoners were born outside of the UK
The Queen (now King) first sends you a personalised birthday card on your 100th Birthday then on your 105th Birthday and subsequent birthdays after that
The origin of Champagne is the Champagne region in France, hence the name and Champagne can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region in the same way that a pasty can only be called a Cornish Pasty if it is made in Cornwall as well as other examples of products that have protected status and can only be named that name if they are made in that region from which they are named.
Royal weddings are not declared a public holiday, it’s at the discretion of those in charge, they can call a special one off public holiday for numerous reasons and has been done numerous times for a Royal Wedding. Many Royal Weddings have not been public holidays though, it’s not a given.
There might be more errors those are just the ones I know are false
The Champagne double fermentation process was perfected in England. Our glass was stronger. Latin was the legal language until quite recently (100 years or so). Still used for legal terms.
I shall add one more error to the list... Hardly the most world-shaking of things but I had this particular fact squat in my brain many years ago so I may as well take advantage of the only time in my life so far that this has been in any way useful :p The tower at the north end was simply the Clock Tower before being renamed Elizabeth Tower, and St Stephen's tower is the one above the public entrance is on the west side of the palace (ie off Abingdon Street) which goes into St Stephens hall. It's too small to even be easily see in most pics which are taken typically of the east façade where the big 3 are the most obvious (Victoria at the south end, the Central Tower over the Lobby, and Elizabeth at the north end). There's the twin turrets of the Chancellors tower at the south end of the terrace (left side of those typical pics), and likewise the Speakers tower at the north end. There are others too but I don't know their names, if they even have any.
Victoria Tower is the big one; then Elizabeth Tower; then the spire of the Central Lobby. The ventilation towers above the two Houses were next, originally the same height, until the HC was bombed in WW2.
@@neuralwarpIndeed so. The difference between Victoria and Elizabeth is small (just a few feet) but Victoria being so massive, it seems so much taller than it is especially close up. Ironic really, given Elizabeth was about 5'3" whereas Victoria was 5'1" but being similarly the more massive of the 2, appeared to people _shorter_ than she was!
The British Library is in London.
I give up!! This video is so WRONG on so many facts that it's almost far ical!! Perhaps such fims should be left to the British people themselves to produce?! I score it 4/10 (because I'm feeling generous).
When the title says "facts that even English people don't know" is complete rubbish. Whoever produced this tripe should be ashamed of themselves.
Basically just recycling Wikipedia information is just plain wrong.
The fact about the Queen sending cards is true but they got the age wrong, its 100 not 105!
This video is completely useless and known to virtually all UK citizens.
I like your reactions, but sadly BrainDump is one those terrible AI-channels.
The video you saw was not of the British Library, which is a very modern building. It has never been illegal to stick a stamp upside-down. When French was the official language, that only applied to documents and the language used at Court and in court. English peasants spoke English. William I outlawed slavery in England in the 11th century, and the UK outlawed the slave trade in 1807.
Some of these facts are far from facts as they are clearly incorrect.
Cards are sent to those celebrating their 100th and 105th birthday and every year thereafter. Their Majesties' congratulatory messages consist of a card containing a personalised message and are sent via Royal Mail.
So they may receive them by their 101st and 106th birthday.
You both come over really well and are so pleasant to watch and listen to. I'm not surprised that you had a 'clip' on Netflix 😊. Heartfelt love and best wishes to you and your family ❤.
Slavery in the UK was not illegal because it was never legal in the first place in the UK, it was only legal overseas. The anti-modern-slavery laws were introduced to sort out modern crimes.
3. LONDON has the biggest library in the world. How did you miss that?!?
There should be a special place in hell for those who add AI narration to videos.
Did you know that the UK foundry that created Big Ben also created the Liberty Bell?
I don't know where he got the figure of 105 from, the Royal messages begin when you reach 100. Royal weddings or anniiversaries of them are not public holidays, also, the reason you're not allowed to die in Parliament is because any one who does, has to have a state funeral, and it wouldn't apply to the Monarch because they're not allowed into Parliament with-out permission. That's why, when the Kings messenger, Black Rod, is sent to summon MPs to the State Opening of Parliament, the door is ceremonially slammed in his face.
'Big Ben' - the bell - atop the Elizabeth Tower - was cast in Whitechapel, East London, and the _same_ foundry also cast America's Liberty Bell - and both bells have cracks in them which affect the timbre of their "gongs"!!
Sadly the foundry closed recently.
Bradford City Hall and the almost identical Manchester Town Hall, are built out of the same stone from Bolton Woods Quarry in Bradford.
They looked even more similar around 100-120 years ago, as the Titus Salt Memorial (which is now in Lister Park) was located in front of Bradford City Hall, just like how the similar Albert Memorial is located in front of Manchester Town Hall today.
@@davidmarsden9800
Yes, I thought so too, but it doesn't change the facts that Big Ben & the Liberty Bell were both cast there, and both 'split' (for want of a more accurate term!) during their casting processes, resulting in the changes to their now famous timbres.
@@brigidsingleton1596 Indeed it doesn't, and I never said or implied that it did. It went back to the 1500's I seem to remember, but certainly the oldest we had.
@@danielgardecki1046 Manchester Arndale Centre is built on the site and probably more of the surrounding area where the Georgian brick Manor house of John Marsden stood. I only found out due to my uncle's genology hobby which led to a painting of it in 1712. I'm not sure of this history as I only know that the Lord's of the Manor of Manchester were the Mosely family, the most famous being Sir Oswald Mosely, the leader of the 1930s British League of Fascists. If anyone can provide any further information on this manor house or ownership that would be gratefully received. Sorry it's a bit off topic for you but there must be a connection between Bradford and Manchester to this and the connection to the city halls is something I wasn't aware of, so thanks for that
Yes, I think it's true that the majority of us aren't aware of the connection between the year 2010 and slavery, however, slavery was abolished and declared to be illegall some two hundred years before 2010. Anti-Slavery Day was established by Parliamentary law in 2010 as a reminder that although slavery is illegal, modern-day slavery still exists around the world.
The British people are not all enthusiastic about the Royal Family with a population of 68 million, with 27 million households with at least one TV only 12.8 million watched the Coronation. A crime drama called Happy Valley was watched by 11.9 million.
The nobility actually spoke Anglo Norman after 1066 a verdon of French. However, most people spoke Anglo Saxon or a Celtic Language
I see an opening for a gritty crime drama involving the murder of a prince at a royal wedding.
Yet still, people think that British dramas and comedies which get less than 5 million viewers are automatically good shows, even more so when they win industry awards picked by judges, and start being distributed by companies like HBO and Netflix outside of the UK.
The last time I used BARB (before they ruined it) was to check the viewing figures of a British show which Americans were raving about. It had 9 episodes, and each episode was repeated at least 3 times...
...Yet the viewing figures for all 27 of those broadcasts put together, still got fewer viewers than a single episode of the 10 most watched British dramas in the UK.
Most of the best British dramas and comedies get ignored outside of the UK.
Happy Valley is a rare exception, as it deserves all the praise it gets.
The 'modern slavery act' (2015) was new legislation to cover new problems like sex trafficking. Slavery was outlawed in the colonies and territories by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, though a court ruling deemed that slavery within England was prohibited since 1569.
The creator of the original video is clearly not a native english speaker as they have loads of mistakes in the written script.
Also they are using an AI voice.
Seems like someone asked ChatGPT to give "facts that british people wont know about britain"
Also the monarch isnt allowed to enter the house of commons. Hence why they have to go into the house of lords for the opening of parliament. The black rod is an interesting role.
Interesting video - I feel like I knew all of those facts appart from the last one about slavery not been officially outlawed until 2010 as we were the first country to ban slavery so maybe we all just assumed that meant illegal haha We love a Royal wedding bank holiday :-)
Slavery was outlawed. However, until April 2010, there were no laws that said it was illegal to own a slave in the UK until anti-human trafficking legislation was introduced.
Any person who sets foot on Britian is automatically a freeman.
What about Somerset v Stewart 1772 at the Court of the King's Bench or the edict of William the Conquerer?
"Interesting Facts About England.."*
(*Facts not included)
Like many of these Facts-style videos, some are inaccurate and some are just plain wrong.
05:51 No no no, the aristocracy spoke French... since they were French (Well Norman French) but the peasantry still spoke English... If this had not been the case, we would ALL still be speaking French now!"
The First Infor,ation it gives you about JK Rowling is inaccurate. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith. She has given a lot of money to Charity and She co-founded the charity Lumos and established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother. Rowling's charitable giving centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. People who are Jealous of Her made up Lies about her.
Impressive that yet another video (NOT you Guys, the video you're reacting to) uses England and UK as synonyms. No wonder the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are constantly pissed off!
Always like your posts. But when you showed clip of a library the was the library used for Harry Potter BUT it is in Trinity College in Dublin which is not UK or England or Oxford. That pic you showed is in the Republic of Ireland Éire.
Ordinary people spoke English or Cornish. And Wales, Scotland, and Ireland were separate countries.
Hi Folks, I would always be aware of the facts of any video like this made by an American. My experience of watching them is that they are regularly inaccurate.
Laws to ban slavery began in the 1000s.
In 1102 it was reinforced by the church at Westminster.
In 1762, before the USA war of independance, these laws were used at a trial to confirm that a slave is free the moment he sets foot on English soil, and the air of England is too rich for any slave to breathe.
In 1807, we began to tell the world that slavery is wrong and began stopping slave ships taking slaves from Africa.
The Royal Navy enforced this.
The USA was the first country to assist the UK in these patrols, agreeing to do so at the treaty of Ghent on Xmas eve of 1814, so thanks for your support.
(Sorry about burning down the white house but we were upset)
The UK is always looked on as the bad guy when it comes to slavery as few people in the world are taught this history.
Low subs because it's AI generated by the look of random visuals and clunky voice. Also the wrong library.
Once again, as with most of these clips narrated by a US person, "The blind leading the blind" springs to mind. These two are quite educated in British affairs, but most USA citizens are certainly not. By the way Ethan, please speak a little bit slower, I know you are excited, but I can't keep up with you sometimes and I have been speaking English for a long time.
Royalty can't die in the House of Commons because thy aren't allowed inside. However they are allowed in the House of Lords for the state opening of parliament
England does have a national day - 23 April. Many people have already mentioned that the info about the monarch sending you a birthday card is also erroneous. I thought champagne was invented by a French monk called Dom Perignon. Slavery in England was effectively abolished under common law in 1772 as a result of the Somerset case, meaning there was no need to legislate against it. So many assertions made by this video are at best questionable.
When the movie industry approached JK Rowling for the rights for Harry potter she kept refusing, they kept upping the money and she kept refusing, it turned out she wanted to have control over her characters, thats why it was set in the UK closely following her books and not being Americanised.
The eauto-voiceover channels are generally a load of rubbish. French was the official language but not everyone spoke it.
Slavery was band in England since William the Bastard invaded and conquered it (they changed his name to William the Conquerer) In the proclamation book at that time I believe he ordered something like “let no slave step foot on English soil under financial penalty to the King! But was not put on the modern list of crimes until 200- and something but in the 17 or 1800s someone brought a slave into the country. He escaped and when he was recaptured and when his OWNER tried to take him back to the Caribbean, a lawyer took up his cause and the whole country seemingly sent money to fight his cause. The lawyer won the case and this win was documented and placed on the official records as a president to “no slaves allowed on British soil”.
Sorry guys but you paused and talked over this video so much I couldn’t watch it all.
We do indeed have a written constitution just not all in one book
I think you'll find the law accepts that conventions and customs are also part of the British constitution. For instance, it is not written anywhere that a new monarch gains office through acclamation.
0:55 *Greggs: How Do They Really Do It?* (2021) and *Greggs: Secrets of Their Best Bakes* (2023) (aka *Greggs: What's Really in It?* on Netflix, and *Inside Greggs: 24/7* on Apple TV) have nothing to do with the *BBC.*
They are both *Channel 5* shows.
that's the documentary I should look for the MWA?
@@Simbu. Edited to add a second documentary, which like the first is also by *Channel 5.*
@@danielgardecki1046 thank you!
You actually get a card from the reigning Monarch when you reach 100 not 105, but you have to write in and ask for it. And you'll get one every year until their death.
The UK does have a written constitution, it is just not on one document. It's a collection of laws created I've a thousand years.
We have precident and statute law, where do you think you got yours from?
*Constitution*
_a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed_
Can't watch this anymore bot doing my head in😢😢
The British Library in London near St Pancras and Kings Cross stations is the library with over 170 million books.
The complete book collection is now too large to be held at the site in London, so most of it has for some years been held at their site at Boston Spa in Yorkshire.
Let me tell you now, the only reason we love a royal wedding is because it's a day of work! We will all be too pissed to watch it.
The Library this video is referring to is in London.
*a day OFF work.
Shame it was an AI generated video.
We do have a written Constitution, but it is three documents, not one. They are Magna Carta, the Articles of Religion and the Declaration of Rights. It's also not illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
The courts recognise conventions and customs as constituting part of the constitution too. Our constitution is not wholly written.
Interesting mix. I was born twenty miles from Stonehenge, which, incidentally, is only partly older than the pyramids - it was not all built at the same time. What is more remarkable is the much wider landscape which contains an extraordinary number of prehistoric sites. I am also, coincidentally, a member of the British Library and when I have taken visitors to see the place, they are seriously impressed by some of the displays there. Including documents dating back huge amounts of time (not all British!).
The monarch sends birthday cards to people reaching their 100th birthday. Red Lion and many other similarly named public houses were named with political affiliations in mind - usually recognising an element of the coat of arms of the person they are acknowledging.
It is an urban myth that putting a stamp upside down is treason - it is not a crime of any sort!
One thing I already knew was that US narrators cannot pronounce Salisbury. It isn’t ’Sallsbury’ it’s ‘Saulsbury’. And Stonehenge is IN Salisbury? I really didn’t know that!
'A herd of starlings' wot the flock ?
The first King of England to speak English as a first language was Henry IV and he was born in 1367
Aethelstan (924-939) is accepted as being the first King of all England. He certainly spoke Old English. So did his successors: Edmund I, Eldred, Edwy, Edgar, Edward II, Aethelred II, Edmund II, Edward III, and Harold II.
Stonehenge was gifted to the nation in 1918, not 1970.
The shortest point between England and France is 33.3km, not 37km.
The more chickens stat is a stupid comparison, considering there are 6 billion raised each year, in the US.
The sheep population in the UK, is about one third of the human population. So not more.
The 2010 slavery claim is utter drivel. The Slavery Abolition Act was passed in1833.
I have a bridge to sell you.
I knew all of these
The reason why England is the originator of Champaign like wines is the monks hundreds of years ago before Henry VIII destroyed most of the Catholic Monastery’s and churches (didn’t check on the dates) made glass bottles strong enough to take the pressure build up of the gas produced by the “in-bottle” fermentation of the wine. So any sparkling wine has its roots in a monastery in England somewhere!!
Cheers people, happy new year!
Most of these are fairly common mmon knowledge here.... There were quite a few inaccuracies here. He didn't really do his research properly.
Thankfully the term "British subject" has not been in use since 1981 since the British Nationality Act was passed and we are all "British citizens" now. Enjoying these videos, keep them coming.
Every book that's printed one of them ends up in the British library from lots of recipe books from the 13th 14th 15th 16 th centuries with recipes of apple and meat pies to chips, crisps from the time of Henry the 8th ,and other potatoes recipes and for the steam train that was reinvented from a middle eastern king who had track and a working train that pulled up and him down a track about a mile long some 500/600 years before Jusus was born it didn't have reverse on his steam train and the Greeks had steam toys 2800 years ago
Love mum
England DOES have a written constitution. Written in the1688. Slavery was made unlawful in England (and Wales) in 1066..
I doubt if there are any Brits that didn't know these things. Let me guess, this was put together by an American. The channel tunnel does not start in Dover (Folkestone with Coquelles).
Stone henge we know about,
We know about the monarch not having a passport
We know about the stamps, the penny black was the first stamp
Yes its the Elizabeth tower now,
So far thers nothing we as Brits dont know in this
England dose have a national day, it's Saint George's day, so now it's a case of the English know more than the people making that vodeo
The monarchy sends you a telegram on your 100th birthday too but you have to request it from the palace it's not automatic
6:14 all English people did NOT speak French. Ever! The period of 1066 -1362 English people spoke Old English (A Germanic language). Only the aristocracy spoke French. Modern English is a blend of these two languages.
French wasn't the "official language", but it was the language of the nobility.
The language spoken by William the Conqueror was a pre-French, pre-France existed, he was born in the Duchy of Normandy Viking/Norman, Richard II was the first to be styled duke of Normandy (the ducal title became established between 987-1006) so it was an English run Duchy.
I don't know where the person who compiled that video got the idea that English people didn't know these things (apart from the ones where he was incorrect). They are pretty much well known.
A few points however :
"Fact 1" Salisbury is pronounced "Sauls burry" or "Salsbree" depending on where you come from
"Fact 4" No, most people really don't give a damn about royal weddings, but it's nice to have an extra day off work.
"Fact 5" No, it's NOT treason.
"Fact 6" No, the English did NOT all speak French. Only the Nobility in the wake of the Norman Conquest.
"Fact 8" As you confirmed in the video, the clock tower was renamed in 2012.
Subsequent mentions :
England DOES have a 'National Day' - St. George's Day. It simply isn't recognised as a Public Holiday.
You can receive a CARD from the monarch on your 100th birthday - also on your 60th wedding anniversary, but they have to be *requested* (as was the case for my parents).
The Anglo-Norman royals and aristocracy spoke their dialect of French until around 1400. The English peasantry assimilated a lot of French words into their vocabulary during this time - such as words for various meat products(pork, beef, venison...) that the gentry ate, but not the animals (pig, cow, deer..) that the peasants tended. About 29% of modern English words derive from French as a result. Another 29% come from church Latin and about 26% descend from Anglo-Saxon, Norse, Danish and other Germanic languages. Roughly 6% are Greek in origin and the remaining 10% stem from various other world languages. Only a handful of English words derive from Welsh, which might suggest that the cultural assimilation in what became England after the migration of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians to these shores was mostly one way.
Cecil Chubb bought the site that Stonehenge is on for £6,600 (£668,000 in 2024) and gave it to the nation three years later, with certain conditions attached. Although it has been speculated that he purchased it at the suggestion of - or even as a present for - his wife, in fact he bought it on a whim, as he believed a local man should be the new owner.
@Midwest Americans - There are some dubious points claimed in the video you watched.
1) Stonehenge is older than the Great Pyramids. Well bits of it are and there are older Neolithic sites than Stonehenge in the UK.
2) The Queen (and now the King) is the Queen of the UK, not the Queen of England. There hasn't been a King or Queen of just England since 1707, when Scottish King James VI took over the English throne and Unified the Kingdoms under one Crown.
3) The biggest library in the world is based in London but a large volume of it's books and other records are kept in massive climate controlled warehouses in other parts of the country.
4) Only Senior royal weddings (those directly in line to the Throne) get a public holiday and again that holiday os for the UK, not just the English bit.
5) The UK (again, not just England) does not have its name on it's postage stamps. The story about it being treason to put a stamp on upside down is just a Myth.
6) The video is talking about dialects, not languages and there are over 600 dialects in England alone. Most of the population still spoke old versions of English, following the Norman invasion. only the nobility and those that dealt directly with them spoke French, so it might have been 1% of the country that spoke French.
7) Given that we can see the shores of France without any visual aides, from the shores of England, means that we know how close France is.
8) Angela is correct. Big Ben is the largest bell in the clock tower and the tower has been called 'Elizabeth Tower' since the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (60 Years as Queen).
I'm Scottish and I knew all of these, I'm sure that most people in England also know them too.
Wow on Netflix (Yes saw you on it) can I have your autograph 😂
Yes knew about Stonehenge.
Every book printed sends a book to the British library. Stamps upside down is rubbish. If the do about the Queen owning all swans that's rubbish too it's just a bit of the Thames.
Queen/King sends it on your 100th birthday then 105th year.
Ah, the problem with that video is that some of the facts it presents aren't.
Stonehenge (at least, the stones themselves) is no older than 3100 BC, and the stones themselves were put in place between 2600BC to 2200BC. Approximately. The Great Pyramid at Giza was constructed between 2580BC and 2560BC, and is not even the first pyramid the Egyptians built.
Pretty sure the monarch does not send you a personalised 100th or 105th birthday card. Buckingham Palace will, but you have to apply (and pay, I think) for it!
There is a written constitution - it's just that it's the totality of all law. Constitutions are there to be the fundamental ground rules with which all other law must be compatible with. In the UK, all law is kept self consistent / compatible (or at least, that is the intent; some crusty old laws occasionally get cleared out), so it is essentially all a "Constitution"...
This is a poor video, incorrect in places. 1. Some of the stone rings of Stonehenge [e.g. the blue stones] do NOT reach up to 5 metres ("each of which"). 2. The British Library is not solely located in London. It has sites elsewhere too. 3. "All English people" did not speak French. They spoke English. 4. The Channel Tunnel does NOT connect Dover and Calais. It starts at Folkestone in Kent, and emerges at Coquelles in France. 5. The tower housing Big Ben is not St. Stephen's Tower, but The Elizabeth Tower.
The Queen sent you a letter on your 100th BIRTHDAY. The English people never spoke or was forced French as their first language, but some French words crept in over hundreds of years. William was famous when he took the crown in 1066 that he did'nt interfere with the English people's daily lives 👍✌
Apparently, (quick Google search) there are more John Smiths in the US (48,571). Smith is still the most common last name in the US.
As far as the laws about slavery, in the early 1700s court cases were freeing slaves on the basis that slavery was an unknown state of being in England. Slaves brought here going to court would be freed.
You don't need laws to stop something that wasn't happening... That why slavery laws were so late in the UK. In 1088 William the Conqueror effectively ended English slavery by decree.
Sorry not all English people spoke french,the aristocracy spoke french about .05 percent of the population...the rest spoke old English...when these two combined English as we know it was formed
Stonehenge is in Wiltshire not Salisbury
The British library is not the one shown and that one also was not in Harry Potter. The British Library was rehomed many years ago in a modern building in Euston London
Royal Weddings are not necessarily Public Holidays
We do not have to put return addresses on post
The official language was French, the majority of the population did not!
Big Ben is in Elizabeth Tower, it has not been called Stephen’s tower for a long time
The English National day is St George’s day-Wales St David’s day, Scotland St Andrew( though Burn’s night, is more celebrated ) and Ireland St Patrick.
This is what happens when people get their info off you tube rather than doing research!
Technically, the English court spoke a dialect of Old French. The Normans had adopted Old French as their court language but smatterings of Old Norse still subsisted, especially amongst the commoners and lower-ranked nobility. Old French is as unintelligible to Modern French speakers as Old English is to Modern English speakers.
How many of these are so wrong? We didn’t speak French unless you were wealthy, you get the card from the king on your 100th birthday,slavery was abolished in the 19th century, and St George’s day is our national day! Pointless video.
"All English people spoke French" is, politely, absolute shite. It was the official language of the court, meaning it was what was spoken in the royal court. The aristocracy, looking to impress the royal court, spoke it a lot too whilst in public and at official functions, but there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest the main population of England just stopped and learned a new language. This "fact" has been widely debunked and has no real basis in history whatsoever. The inclusion in this video really undermines the whole thing.
St Georges Day. 23rd of April. This is recognised as England's national day. It's literally on our Government website.