The Recent Past

[Pertinax]

I wasnt quite sure where to place this post. British members ,of a certain age, will remember the very long running rural life series "Out of Town" which flourished from 1959 till the early 80s. It was presented by one man alone throughout its rustic and deeply laid-back existence , Jack Hargreaves , everybodys pipe smoking country uncle.

I thought the whole thing had been lost but quite a number of later episodes have been saved, I have just watched an item (vol 8, episode 23, Trammel nets/coachbuilder) which showed the continuity in construction technique of wooden wheels from Roman chariot to the very first Rolls Royce motor vehicles. Certainly the sequence of woods used in each wheel (oak, ash , elm) has a long historical pedigree but I didnt realise the technique was two millenia old.

Amazon have the dvd in the UK but I am not aware of an American release.

I suppose Industrial Archaeology applies to some of the items, nostalgia to others.

 

 

 

AD note -an excellent item on farmyard cider making same volume, episode 22-which is only 25 years old but looks like a century ago.

Lost Warrior note -some wonderful horsemanship (vol 4 episodes 11 and 12) .

Pantagathus-iron working ,belgic ponds in the Kentish weald built by continental colonists (vol 3 episode 8) to spark the clearence of the great woodlands by production of axes,and push the Britons back into their hilltop forts .

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...2221771-4444724

Edited March 31, 2006 by Pertinax

[Pantagathus]

Pantagathus-iron working ,belgic ponds in the Kentish weald built by continental colonists (vol 3 episode 8) to spark the clearence of the great woodlands by production of axes,and push the Britons back into their hilltop forts.

 

I'd love to see it. Usually the hillforts are completely oversimplified as a general Celtic phenomenon but it's important to look at where they were built, when & how to understand how complex the interaction was between indigenies and pre-Roman continental arrivals.