1975: COMPETITIVE LEEK GROWING scene in Durham | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

"In Durham it's Derby Day, cup final and The Ashes, all rolled into one" - Luke Casey
In Durham, they take their giant vegetable growing seriously. Very seriously. Luke Casey reports from the Charlaw Inn in Edmondsley, ahead of the much-anticipated Leek Show of 1975. This year, superstar leek growers like reigning champion Dennis Curtin, talented upstart Nickel Robson and seasoned veteran Sid Bunn will be joined in the competition for the first time by women growers - though nobody seriously expects a woman to win in this most masculine of pursuits.
Fair play will be ensured, as the contest is to be judged by the non-partizan duo of Joe Edwards and Dick Edridge - from the next village - who know all the nefarious tricks and dark arts of the leek game. Strap yourself in for a wild ride, this is shaping up to be a leek show for the ages.
Originally broadcast 26 September, 1975.
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[@Tacsmoker]

"the diabolical brew he's fed his leeks on" brilliant line

[@gallitron7803]

I was recently made redundant from my job at the Greengrocers. They gave me a months Celery, and four leeks in lieu of notice.

[@jackduxbury1632]

👏👏👏👏

[@Rust_in_Time]

Well, vegetables are worth their weight in gold these days... Did they give you 'the sack' because there wasn't mushroom for you?

[@fidelcatsro6948]

it will probably save your life, rich in anti oxidants and nutrients, just avoid grains and sugar you will appear in this channel in 2045 as a 120yrs old man!

[@Zlervo]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jasonayres]

Lettuce pray that something crops up soon.

[@ScottZ370]

The way he laughed at the idea of eating them 🤣

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

This really happened. Particularly like the next village along being impartial judges. Because folk never traveled that far to bribe them.

[@martywild6359]

If I could recreate England as I remember it, this would surely be part.

[@RAGING_MIRAGE]

Great to see the old lads & lasses of Durham. I was born in Durham 2 years after this.

[@philipwilkinson988]

How can you interfere with a leek😂😂😂comedy gold.

[@melissarainchild]

That presentation is pure poetry...a forgotten art, it seems...

[@garryleeks4848]

Your right there

[@123teasy]

my grandfather was a leek judge

[@un-_-known688]

Thank you

[@seltzerwater7894]

1,250 would be a big help even now, apparently that's around 13k in today's money!

[@catherinegraves4344]

Yer divent mess with with a County Durham lass - nevermind the lionesses victory it all started all those years ago at the village leek show 😂

[@johnryan2193]

The great old days , brilliant .

[@heythisisminenotyours]

Over a grand in 70s money is madness

[@glamourdazeshorts]

I think of Max Boyce when I think of leeks

[@liamkatt6434]

Charlaw Inn sadly a private residence now.

[@Oscartherescuedog]

The good old days.

[@michaelroberts7374]

Top leeks, whatever y'all say!!

[@pattskatoey3139]

I wonder if they still have this tradition up in Durham?

[@sarahfender8400]

Yes, I live in Durham and the bloke across the road from me has a huge leek trench

[@pattskatoey3139]

@@sarahfender8400 that’s good to hear that the tradition is still going up there.

[@garryleeks4848]

It is , I was named after them 😬😬😬

[@andieatgoodmorningfromthes7741]

Yep, still regular leek shows in pubs across west Durham and a leek trench is still a familiar sight. The Agricultural Show in Weardale and Teesdale) St John’s, Wolsingham, Stanhope, Eggleston and Langdon Beck all still have leek and onion classes.

[@pattskatoey3139]

@@andieatgoodmorningfromthes7741 that’s good to hear. It’s good to preserve old traditions.

[@foppo100]

Leeks are for eating.Growing them a silly size makes no sense.

[@RealBradMiller]

At least with Sapporo giant cabbage the things stay sweet and tender to their enormous size. I'm -growing- babying some in a grow tent like a cannabis grower.😂

[@misslaracroft]

I'll announce the winner of the competition. Right after I've taken a leek. 😉

[@garryleeks4848]

Good one 👍

[@credenza1]

While this is a valuable historical record, the patronizing BBC commentary is unmistakable. Working class culture is relegated to the "quaint and amusing" category. The BBC has always been the enemy of the working class, depicting them as bumpkins and rubes. The workmanship, attention to detail and dedicated expertise of these people is what made Britain the great nation it was. The growing of leeks is a cultural triumph, with the generational passing of knowledge and the community cohesion that is built around such rituals.

[@eemoogee160]

"No one expects a woman to win." Was this tongue in cheek snark regarding the patriarchy?

[@user-ei4gs6lo2z]

It was a tongue and cheek comment from the commentator, obviously new the result when narrating the show after the fact

[@bide7603]

Boomers: back in my day leaks were 40ft long,3 farthings and fed a family of 40. Even in this video women were only just allowed to compete and weren’t expected to win 😂. And you all call this the good old days?

[@Jason-wm5qe]

Careful comparing then and now 😂 Today we can’t even agree what a woman is! The people who included women to compete for the first time had better values than the chaotic, asinine values of today.

[@mysticgeneie4668]

Millennials thinking the clown World today is great an tha lot. 🤤

[@Nick-X]

Local, tightknit communities engaged in eccentric jovialities & traditional gender roles - What a nightmare! I can't even! Give me uber eats, tinder, the latest iPhone, hyper-consumerism, a compulsion to sit in front of a screen all day & people with little else in common besides economic precarity and the need to breathe oxygen. Good luck pal.

[@bide7603]

Can’t beat a bit of boomer baiting

[@Nick-X]

@@bide7603 Yeh I bet you bate a lot.

[@lordsneed9418]

This is what Britain used to be like . Full of British people passing on British culture who trusted each other. The mass immigration that ramped up during Tony Blair's rule has been a terrible thing.

[@foppo100]

Yes when you colonise many countries for their wealth it backfires one day.What comes round goes round

[@lordsneed9418]

@@foppo100 Every nation , ethnicity and tribe in the world has conquered others and been conquered by others. If you think people should be punished for what their ancestors did then start with yourself . Your reply just reveals that immigrants like you carry hatred and resentment in their heart against Britain, so you're just providing more justification for why British people wouldn't want to continue importing people like you.

[@Konoronn]

Can we just have a British comments section where people don't say this? It's depressing.

[@lordsneed9418]

@@Konoronn People losing control of their ancestral homeland is what's depressing. That doesn't normally work out well for any people it happens to.

[@geospark6435]

Let's ban all foreign vegetables including potatoes and tomatoes and everyone will be queuing up to toil the fields like the serfs we are.

[@PolytronikDigital]

the beginning of the end.