1978: Do the BRITISH PUBLIC want KILOMETRES? | Nationwide | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Nationwide takes to the streets of London, to gauge the public's enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for a potential switch from miles - Britain's existing imperial measurement unit - to kilometres.
Originally broadcast 3 February, 1978.
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[@NoPlanDann]

This video gives me hope for the future. People aren't getting dumber.. they always were dumb!

[@zaftra]

like the last man that fought in the war so you could make these comments.

[@Hackney_Boy-DoesntReadReplies]

@@zaftra so future generations aren't allowed to change anything? That was not what ww2 was about.

[@zaftra]

@@Hackney_Boy-DoesntReadReplies Apparently not according to remoaners.

[@aidenwinter1117]

@@zaftra If humans had been clever enough to not fight each other so that they could be the ultimate big man of the world there would have been no war

[@tedf1471]

"Dumb, Dangerous, Panicky animals, and you know it!" (MIB)

[@albertbatfinder5240]

The only reason Hitler didn’t invade Britain was because his panzer tank divisions could only travel kilometres, not miles. Also, they were unsure if they could refill in Dover with gallons of fuel in tanks designed for litres.

[@ntyrprblm6254]

🤣🤣 this is quite good lol

[@gllphoto8399]

Also because they had to drive on the left hand side of the road and that was confusing and dangerous.

[@Robert-cu9bm]

But they would have gotten better efficiency when they arrive.

[@gabrieleguerrisi4335]

Some of this people's thought reminds me about and old italian joke. A journalist at the petrol station asks to a man: "petrol has reach 2€/L. What do you think about it?" The man "I don't care. I take always 10 liters. As always"😂😂😂

[@albertbatfinder5240]

@@gabrieleguerrisi4335 Strange, because the line I used for 15 years is sort of the inverse. “Petrol going up? How so? I always put $20 worth in.”

[@edss]

A man walked into pizza shop and ordered a 12 inch pizza. The staff asked how many slices he wants it cut into. The man said: "just 6 I don't think I can finish 8".

[@carultch]

That pretty much sums up the first lady's point.

[@moonlightcocktail]

I think it's different, although it's the same mass the psyching yourself to eat 6 things in a row is easier than 8 things

[@mariatheresavonhabsburg]

@@moonlightcocktail Not necessarily, smaller portions usually means eating slower and therefore being able to eat more.

[@PraxisPeabody]

I think that was yogi Berra

[@Simqer]

@@mariatheresavonhabsburg When you eat slower, you give your body time to realize it is full and stop you from eating more. You can eat more when you eat faster.

[@hughjarrse]

The thing that shocked me was a mobility scooter in 1978

[@Jafmanz]

wait till you find out when the first electric car was made...

[@hughjarrse]

@@Jafmanz well they had electric milk floats in the mid 30s there must have been hundreds of thousands of them in the uk, I think the Yanks had an "electric carriage" type thing at the turn of last century, what surprised me was I was around in 78, but I can't remember any mobility scooters 🙂

[@hughjarrse]

@Ed she ain't hitting 88mph in that 😁

[@huub1989]

She was a rich old thing.....could afford it back then.

[@ACKWV]

@@huub1989 yep, clearly rich.

[@jaybenton7716]

I've watched the first woman about 50 times now, absolute comedy gold.

[@sonyaross946]

Kilomilemetres

[@jaybenton7716]

@@sonyaross946 That's how I'm going to pronounce it from now on.

[@sonyaross946]

@@jaybenton7716 Quite clever that she combined them really 😄 'You don't get as much mileage to the...TO IT.'

[@-_James_-]

She’s Michael Caine in drag.

[@theram4320]

As someone here has said, the first lady is possibly from the Elephant and Castle, like Mr Caine!

[@richardsawyer5428]

Thank goodness that I'm not going abroad this year. Diesel is expensive enough but at least my car is more efficient when the road is measured in miles not kilometres. 🤣🤣🤣

[@georgesotiriou7051]

Hear, hear.

[@jKDC1987]

😂

[@fionaalsofiona2835]

Surely it is more efficient in kilometres. One gets far more kilometres to the gallon. Though of course those bloody foreigners will insist on selling it in litres.

[@lkrnpk]

kilomilemetres

[@georgesotiriou7051]

@@lkrnpk Shockingly there are plans of the Deep State to posthumously change the name of Miles Davis to Kilometres Davis.

[@Starpommm]

Actually 6 metric years of WW2 equals 10 imperial years

[@saxongreen78]

...no wonder Adolf topped 'imself!

[@bensims7501]

🤣🤣🤣

[@DanielsPolitics1]

To be fair, he may well have served 10 years. There was extensive demobilisation in 1945, but we retained a large army of occupation that turned into the BAOR. We also had troops in some pretty sticky situations in various Empire and Mandate and so on territories such as Palestine.

[@steve08717]

@@DanielsPolitics1 no mobilization contracts where for duration of war and 1 day so men who joined in 1939 where home by 1945 some lucky ones called up in 1945 didnt even finish training before being released even as a regular 10 years is odd contracts where 3 6 or 12 years national service was 2 or 3 years and that didnt start to 1948 even then we had walts

[@vorynrosethorn903]

There were plenty of troops who stayed around, whether they signed up early or reenlisted when things started getting sticky there was plenty for that chap to have been involved in. Both the malayan emergency and Korean war saw mass reenlistment and shortly after the war they had to occupy various places like the retaken colonies, Japan and Germany and old troops were kept around for it, their were quite a lot of duties to go around with clean up and Britain took quite a while to demobilise. The end of the war didn't mean an end of commitments, believe it or not Britain had a global empire and was a global power even if the post-war government made short work of both.

[@dragons123ism]

The way the last bloke drew the link from a measuring system to Chamberlain and the Battle of Britain is remarkable.

[@MetalheadAndNerd]

It's the only success they had in the last 100 years.

[@matthew8184]

@@MetalheadAndNerd Falklands makes 2!

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Because they were asking if a foreign measurement system should be imposed and he as a man who had fought in the war and had seen the imposition of many things without the say of the British public felt umbrage at it, and like his service had counted for nothing.

[@linearmemories]

@@vorynrosethorn903 It’s objectively a better system. He’s scared of a measurement system simply because it’s different.

[@koenvandiepen7651]

What is even more remarkable that he fought for 10 years in a war that lasted 6. Must be the conversion rare. Years in Miles are obviously longer

[@overseastom]

Bloody hell, that first lady doesn't even understand that physical distance doesn't change just because the units used to express that distance does. She must be related to Nigel "These Go To 11" Tufnel.

[@MikkelKjrJensen]

Also, a mile is longer than a kilometer - so her statement makes no sense in any form.

[@Channel567-7]

She’s a typical part of a nicer generation of Britain, didn’t quite understand some things but had a heart of gold.

[@meh3247]

@@Channel567-7 How the hell would YOU know? You wouldn't, so sit down and stop being an embarrassing fool.

[@sevenwatson5854]

Due to her age she didn't benefit from the welfare reforms of the late 1940s so elderly people are exempt as education was different before WWII.

[@stuartwray6175]

@@MikkelKjrJensen Leaving aside the logic of her argument, she knows that a mile is longer than a kilometre.

[@uktravel8341]

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." -- Winston Churchill, Manchester. 1938.

[@stephenspence1192]

There is no other fair system.

[@bobsmith3291]

Big Tory tosser Churchill

[@biggles1222]

Churchill never said this, but I agree with the statement

[@bobsmith3291]

@@biggles1222 the one that he’s a big Tory nonce?

[@tommykarate9397]

Nowadays 1 minute conversation is more than enough to arrive to the same conclusion

[@endreszatmari2302]

"We once ruled the world and now, we're part of a community, I don't agree with that at all" - my thoughts exactly when I was put in kindergarten and later elementary school.

[@thekaiser4333]

I like you.

[@user-te1fn8cj5r]

From senior elementary to junior high school as well.

[@ELFanatic]

Yikes!

[@Halebopp97]

Only the “community” isn’t a community at all and instead a federal Europe. He was right and thankfully we got out.

[@tomorrowneverdies567]

@@Halebopp97 and are politics in the UK different now than in any EU country?

[@youreworthyourweightinavoc7189]

0:50 "and now we're just being part of a community, i don't agree with it at all" lol England, you haven't changed much 😂

[@Palpad100]

Thats brexit right there.

[@slowburgundyy574]

"We won a war to keep doing our own thing" No you won a war because a Fascist empire was threatening half the population of Europe and your prime minister couldn't use the threat of the USSR to ignore it any more, hell the Russians ended up doing most of the work anyway.

[@parametr]

tbf, at least he is sincere about his reasons: "we used to be an Empire and invade the world (for all their riches); I don't like not being an Empire". Spanish, French, Ottoman, Austrohungarian, Russian, ... forgetting quite a few other Empires there

[@frenchguitarguy1091]

I just loved how his argument was basically "we used to force people to be part of our community, and now I don't want to be part of a community- by measuring things in decimals"

[@whitewhale9131]

you just know that guy was alive in 2016 and voted out

[@dGeOrG15]

I love how the old man was wandering around in the back every single frame

[@ACKWV]

I thought that too, he was always ready to throw his opinion in.

[@jonathaniyere3203]

hes the only one who was right

[@justaguy4081]

I like to imagine that he started an argument with every person who didn’t like kilometers.

[@martind2520]

@@justaguy4081 He clearly did.

[@SanjayMerchant]

I love that they basically gave the woman in the scooter a full on mic drop moment.

[@BEAN.MACHINE]

😂

[@chrisVNZ]

💯%

[@gentlepersuader]

That first lady - also a staunch opponent of daylight saving, with it fading the curtains and the cows not knowing when to come in for milking.

[@rin_etoware_2989]

to be fair, daylight saving sucks

[@OLBastholm]

@@rin_etoware_2989 It's the only reason I'm not even more depressed during the winter.

[@RichTapestry]

@@OLBastholm It works the other way for me!

[@Robert-cu9bm]

@@OLBastholm Daylight savings is in summer.

[@MonkOrMan]

but you don't get the same amount o' daylight what yer used to

[@thl205]

People were also mad that in 1971, the pound was decimalised so £1 = 100 pennies. Imagine if these geezers resisted that change, and we were still dealing with 12 shillings of 20 pence per £1. Tourists would just turn back around at Heathrow.

[@UdumbaraMusic]

I guess people really hate change, regardless of how much sense it makes...

[@LewisGuilfy]

@@UdumbaraMusic thats why i dont carry change with me anymore

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Idk 12 is mathematically superior. We should covert to base-12 or base-60 to do away with problems of ratios involving 3. The 20, add the division of five. (As for anything else, like miles, or pounds in a stone yeh feel free.)

[@UdumbaraMusic]

@Dave? How was it a neoliberal scam?

[@UdumbaraMusic]

@Dave? Yea I know what neoliberalism is, I mean why couldn't they have done that without decimalisation? I don't see the link.

[@ergleburgle8882]

"You're not doing that! You're not gonna do the mileage what they say you're gonna do, because their kilo-mileo-meters are not the same as the mileage. It's shorter!" I'm going to quote that to anyone who says that people who are as dumb as toast are a new phenomenon in this country.

[@mreese8764]

Let's fight climate change by using megamiles for car and planes. Problems solved.

[@Romiman1]

It reminds me also on videos, in which american youngsters are asked for the current president or the 2 neighbour-countries of the US, and they can't answer...

[@DandyDNA]

respect to the man who fought for miles and ounces

[@politesociety]

F

[@NorthEastTrailRunner]

Especially seeing as he fought for ten years in a war that lasted six years.

[@energetically1]

@@NorthEastTrailRunner He went the extra mile

[@smithywerbenjaggermanjense3909]

Man is dressed like Sherlock Holmes and just starts talking about WWII when being asked about the metric system 😂 God bless the British

[@cambs0181]

I did ten years in the war, (Didn't notice that everyone had gone home for the last four).

[@Ribeirasacra]

he was in The Great Metric War. Everything in units of 10s.😄

[@microfarming8583]

Many soldiers were ordered to continue on abroad serving in duty even after the war was officially over. Snowflake like you laugh at heroes like this and don't even realise you only enjoy freedoms and the life you love because of them. Entitled brat

[@the_lichemaster]

May have served in Berlin afterwards

[@TheColonialGamer131]

After the war the allies still needed to garrison the occupied territories so some poor souls had their conscriptions extended.

[@zaftra]

ever thought he could have been in the army for 10 years

[@NickDixon]

I love that first woman for inventing "kilomileometres" - it's shorter.

[@Tomalak]

Amazing performance by Michael Caine at the start there.

[@AlisonBryen]

I was looking for this comment...

[@brandonbinder5572]

Someone claiming that the almost gave their life for a unit of measure…. That’s a stretch.

[@alpacamale2909]

a 1 mile stretch, mind you.

[@summerrr1]

It’s what it represents

[@barryboom717]

If that first lady was in a pizzeria and was asked whether she wanted her pizza cut into 6 or 8 slices she'd say 8 thinking she was getting 2 additional slices.

[@Tykeonabike]

Yes Barry 😂🙏👌

[@darrenowen3338]

The irony of you thinking you're more knowledgeable than her!

[@barryboom717]

@@darrenowen3338 apologies for saying such insulting things about your granny Darren.

[@lewiswatkin392]

She is getting 2 more slices... just the same quantity of pizza

[@sikerslalatm3147]

@@darrenowen3338 she kind of is though

[@SvenMolhuijsen1]

This video just shows that nothing has changed: people were and still are stupid

[@krashd]

@Ed Ho ho ho, I bet you wrote that one down in your diary as a keeper!

[@pinkdiamond1847]

I'm sending this to the next person who complains about "kids these days"

[@savannahglebe5165]

@@krashd Seeing as though people today have information at their fingertips at the speed of lightning then yes it was a stupid comment. Who’s to say he was joking?

[@Georgiahulse]

I’ve watched a lot of these and I’ve spent a lot of time in archives. People today are without a doubt more distracted, and less articulated and educated than the general population of say 50 years ago.

[@1inchPunchBowl]

@@savannahglebe5165 What has accessing information have to do with the average intelligence?

[@kaysmith8992]

The thing is metric isn't even 'European'. All European countries used to have their own measurements before adopting metric to make things easier. Can you imagine the hell of travelling around Europe today if every country still had its own unique measurements.

[@cheydinal5401]

Right, so it is European though. Really it's Napoleonic even, French

[@danieleyre8913]

@@cheydinal5401 Napoleonic how? The origins of the metric system are with the pre-Napoleonic French Revolution. And many of its advocates and expanders were British such as James Clerk Maxwell.

[@cheydinal5401]

@@danieleyre8913 Well, if he hadn't conquered almost all of continental Europe, Europe would have been much less likely to adopt it. If the Brit James Clerk Maxwell's support did so much to advance the cause, why didn't Britain adopt the metric system at the time then?

[@danieleyre8913]

@@cheydinal5401 Wrong. The world would’ve adopted Metric over the older system anyway, *because it’s a better system.* That’s why almost every nation eventually did that without anything to do with Napoleon. Do you honestly think that in the aftermath of the wars; nations rebuilding couldn’t have reverted? The British empire foolishly neglected to adopt it, against the advice of its own scientific and engineering communities, due to the size of its empire and administrative difficulties. But since the end of empire: Almost the entire British commonwealth has adopted it. The UK is holding out due to the sort of idiotic ignorant attitudes as seen in this video.

[@redfire20003]

The Internation System of Units (SI) was rolled out from 1960.

[@Jordan-tx6kv]

man sacrificed his life for pounds and ounces 😂

[@alpacamale2909]

and kidney stones

[@thePronto]

Self-evidently, he didn't. As Bertrand Russell one said: "Most people would sooner die than think, in fact, they do."

[@fidelcatsro6948]

1.40 Wow an electric personal mobility device operating in 1978!!

[@meh3247]

Well this is going to blow your tiny mind: "In August 1967, the UK Electric Vehicle Association put out a press release stating that Britain had more battery-electric vehicles on its roads than the rest of the world combined. It is not clear what research the association had undertaken into the quantity of electric vehicles of other countries, but closer inspection disclosed that almost all of the battery-driven vehicles licensed for UK road use were milk floats"

[@davidbull7210]

And given the speed it was obviously running on average British brain power.

[@Pixiedust8399]

The first cars made were electric, the batteries weren't very efficient though.

[@rustshoo5068]

R2D2 and C3PO were built in Britain

[@davidbull7210]

@@rustshoo5068 What in the name of Bonaparte's balls has that got to do with anything?

[@K1lostream]

Oh that first woman was priceless! Love her! Your car won't be able to go as far because kilometres are shorter than miles! I wish I'd been there to say 'ah, but you'll get there faster, because the speed limits are higher'! Made my day!

[@marioluigi9599]

To be fair, she's got a point. Psychologically it kilometres feel cheaper than miles. And you end up having to buy more petrol all the time if you're used to miles. In the end you're likely to spend more on petrol overall because you're used to spending more frequently. It's like when there's inflation in the money supply. It makes the money itself feel cheaper, but everything else becomes more expensive

[@penitent2401]

@@marioluigi9599 how? the car still burns the same amount of fuel to go the same distance. the distance between two places does not change. a car that runs 30 miles per gallon of fuel will do 48km per gallon, so psychologically if you look at it from that angle you may think you are getting more distance for same tank of gas if you are used to miles.

[@marioluigi9599]

@@penitent2401 no you're not getting more distance because AS YOU DRIVE, the numbers scroll past faster over less distance. That's what cheapens it

[@penitent2401]

@@marioluigi9599 I said you get the same distance and mileage. you are not going to buy any more or less fuel. psychologically you may THINK you are getting more or less depending on the angle you look at it, but in reality it's no difference.

[@koenvandiepen7651]

@@marioluigi9599 Do you often go for petrol when your tank is full? Cause there is literally no way to burn more fuel psychologically. The car really does not care what you think about it.

[@davidbull7210]

"I don't want to know" sums up the mindset completely.

[@paddy1437]

FFS. different era you smug git

[@Hcam]

And it's bloody great 👍

[@stephenspence1192]

She was an elderly lady coming to the end of her life. Why should she want to know?

[@davidbull7210]

@@stephenspence1192 Not referring to her particularly.

[@metalswifty23]

I made it 22 seconds into the video before having to stop. Glad to see the British public really hasn't changed all that much in 44 years after all (even just based on those 22 seconds)!

[@gave2haze]

The first 27 seconds are the worst part of the video

[@jesselivermore2291]

kilomileameters 🤣

[@annierosha5946]

I was raised using the imperial system but now live where we use the metric system. Honestly the metric system is a lot easier to work with but I sometimes still think in imperial units and have to convert in my head. I like them both.

[@dougoneill7266]

Imperial and number twelve is a far better system than ten. ten is divisible by 1, 2, 5 and itself. it's impossible to get 1/3 of ten. Twelve, however, can be divided by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and itself. Tell how ten is superior?

[@ratupmyass]

@@dougoneill7266 because our number system is base 10 and units in tens are easier to remember and convert? 1 mi = 1,760 yds = 5,280 ft = 63,360 in 1 km = 1000 m = 100000 cm = 1000000 mm

[@dougoneill7266]

@@ratupmyass Whatever you're happy with.

[@krashd]

@@dougoneill7266 If you think the 12 times table is easier to remember than the 10 times table then you are a fool. Almost everything in the world uses base 10.

[@Neil070]

@@dougoneill7266Because it's far simpler. No feet and inches. No rods, poles, perches or furlongs. Literally all you do is move the decimal point. No need to divide by 2,3,4 and then convert to a randomly named unit with a random value dreamed up by the Babylonians, exported to Rome, and imposed on Britain by the Norman French. Just divide by ten. How much more simple can it be?

[@SoFarSoGoodSoWhat14]

Nice to know that people have always been thick and it's not just a modern thing

[@MichaelGeorge161]

It's insane how good quality this is, I feel like I could just jump into the picture

[@TheJevonjames]

Film is just magical to look at isn’t it, unlike digital video which just looks sterile

[@chrisogrady28]

@@TheJevonjames you are literally watching a digtal video

[@TheJevonjames]

It’s film that’s been converted to digital video. If you listen to a Beatles song that was recorded on analog tape it doesn’t automatically make it a song created with computers just because you listen to it digitally on Spotify.

[@cboy0394]

@@TheJevonjames It’s a video that was remastered digitally.

[@TheJevonjames]

@@cboy0394 I am talking about the medium at which this footage was captured. Recorded on film. A physical non digital medium. The beauty and identifying feel of this footage is unparalleled by digital video. Whatever happened after scanning and digitizing and remastering and whatever else is contrary to the original point of my comment.

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

That soldier is correct. He fought for an emglamd that now they want to chamge. Wonderful man.

[@jackdubz4247]

Your spelling is atrocious. Were you educated in England?

[@dominicus9891]

I like how everyone after (and before) they get interviewed just wanders around the person currently being interviewed. It's like they're part of the club now.

[@pgpete]

When everything is conveted to metric it will be a new milestone in measurement systems.

[@pgpete]

I mean kilometre-stone.....

[@stephenlee5929]

@@pgpete Kilometre-Kilogram...

[@ethelmini]

@@pgpete mille = 1000

[@peterfireflylund]

Britain is slowly inching towards metric.

[@accountreality1988]

@@peterfireflylund only where is it needed. i prefer the mile system to kilometre system especially in cars to measured speed. inches are a load of crap though. mm system far more logical there. i prefer Celsius to fahrenheit to measure temperature.

[@-Burs]

The "4 miles an hour" lady was the best! And off she goes at about 6.5km/h..

[@BillyBronco73]

Kilomolimeteres is much harder to say than miles so I'm all for the imperial system.

[@samswift1718]

Thus to be short we can just say K it’s even easier than miles

[@jackthebassman1]

Pillock 😜

[@PhilMoskowitz]

The shorter word miles makes up for the longer distance.

[@pqrstzxerty1296]

Kiloinches it should be.

[@krashd]

That's because kilomolimeteres is a made up word, Bill.

[@trevcam6892]

We buy fuel in litres, measure consumption in miles per gallon, drive miles, the little markers at the side of the motorway are in kilometres, our Ordnance Survey maps are based on kilometre squares. What's the problem?

[@moodyb2]

That German who was all for it and later appears smirking in the background as the Brit laments all he fought for in the War.....🤬😱😝

[@nicksss1843]

🤣🤣

[@alainprostbis]

It reminds me of a song from the kinks...all the wars that were won or lost, somehow don't seem to matter very much any more...

[@jonathangarrison]

It's interesting for me to see that the lack of critical thinking exhibited, especially by the first person interviewed in this video, is not a strictly American phenomenon. I say this as an American, often exasperated by some of my fellow Americans. To be clear, I do love America, and I love Britain.

[@overseastom]

I love the human race, but we're definitely a bunch of daft c*nts half the time.

[@sevenwatson5854]

This lady was unfortunately not able to experience a good school education in Britain as she was old and born before the welfare reforms of the late 1940s which benefited the poorer classes, so she is exempt.

[@Johnnii360]

Funfact: The USA was build of European people also of British and Irish ones. But don't worry it's meanwhile also in Germany. The plandemic injection makes many more stupid.

[@stephenspence1192]

@@sevenwatson5854 Both of my parents were educated before ww2 and there was nothing wrong with their mental capabilities.

[@PhilMoskowitz]

We do that a lot. For instance it infuriates me when movies that came out decades apart have their box office gross compared, without adjusting for inflation.

[@aidan1585]

1:25 Little did this Irish woman know, 26 years, 11 months, 17 days (January 20th, 2005) after that was broadcast, the Republic of Ireland started using Kilometres (Metric system) on the roads.

[@User78931]

I'm English. I grew up in Australia from the age of 7 and now at 24 I've been back in England for three years. Australia uses the metric system exclusively and let me tell you, it's so much better. A lot of people give me funny looks when I describe distances/measurements in in metric units because it's just my go-to. I love both countries, but if I could change something about England it would be to use the metric system exclusively like Australia/Europe/the majority of the world.

[@rustshoo5068]

Whereas in the past, in Australia, everything was several hundred miles down the road, now everything is even further away. Indeed thousands, even tens of thousands of kilometres, and tens of syllables, up the road. I would have thought Australia would stick with the mile.

[@TRPGpilot]

I agree with you 100%. Time to ditch that useless mile.

[@Robert-cu9bm]

@@rustshoo5068 That's why the fuel is so cheap there, to make up for the efficiency loss.

[@obsoleteworlds]

Sad how little has changed in 2022. Instead of a guy who thinks he fought a war to stop miles becoming kilometres we have people who think their great grandfathers did the same.

[@charleshowie2074]

If that is why this guy fought the war, surely his grandson is right to say that is why he fought it?

[@obsoleteworlds]

@@charleshowie2074 this is objectively not the reason that anybody ever fought a war. Perpetuating other people's ignorance doesn't make anybody right.

[@charleshowie2074]

@@obsoleteworlds Do you not count this as a primary source? Why not?

[@frenchguitarguy1091]

@@charleshowie2074 explain why they'd have a right then? I have grandparents and great grandparents who fought and died for the French and British, I don't feel entitled to say why they fought in it, nor should it justify decisions we made today. They lived in a different world, one that clinging onto will do us no good.

[@charleshowie2074]

@@frenchguitarguy1091 Who would have a right to what?

[@Moses_VII]

I like kilometres. I like comparing speeds of trains and other vehicles acrosd the world. What's more important is that nautical miles are different from normal miles, but kilometres are the same everywhere. We don't use normal miles, but nautical miles, for flying and sailing. But we use kilometres for those too.

[@Max-lf4br]

the guy who was for it just walking around behind everyone who's interviewed after him make me laugh

[@bossnian5615]

“People fear what they don’t understand, hate what they cant conquer”

[@RollaArtis]

The first woman here is like 1752 when the calendar changed from Julian to Gregorian and some thought they had lost 11 days of their life. There were riots....

[@Dazsvintagestuff]

Thanks for uploading this it's pure gold, I'm going to be chuckling all afternoon.

[@patrickhall4787]

The arguments they put forward can be summed up as: "my feelings"

[@NotDuncan]

I feel as though the USA would have already switched to the metric system if we called it a kill-o-metre

[@eyzmin]

we did all the way back in 1866 with the metric act of 1866 and the metric conversion act of 1975, first one made english defined by their metric equivalent (english standards were destroyed in the london tower fire, thats why Imperial was made in 1824, which is a different system, with some diff measurements, 1 us gallon =/= 1 imp gallon), and made Metric an official system of the US. The second on in 1975 dropped english (US customary Units officially) as a system and went with metric only, but left the option for manufacturers to but english measurements if they wanted, which they all do. English was kept as a supplementary system but is not official in the US anymore, want proof, go buy liquor in english, you legally cant, all is in metric with no english equivalent

[@WarriorOfWriters]

"Now we're being part of a community, I don't agree with it at all." - Brexit voters right there

[@davedogge2280]

Those folk peddling the metric system to us all ... you give them an inch ... they take a mile !!

[@onlyme219]

Very good :)

[@anonUK]

1.609 kilometres, you mean.

[@BillOweninOttawa]

Good one!

[@Akoonah]

I wouldn't touch the Imperial system with a 3.048 metre barge pole

[@onlyme219]

@@Akoonah funny af :)

[@billder2655]

this is the most chaotic video i’ve ever seen 😂 hahahaha best thing i’ve seen in ages

[@lmn6023]

I feel for the war guy. He must have often dreamed of home during that time. Coming back and seeing that things have changed and that the home you'd dreamed of for ten years does not exist anymore and never will again, that must be hard.

[@a9ev]

and his 10 years were someone elses 12

[@malfactor1]

Agreed, I see a disturbing lack of sympathy for some of these older folks in the comments here. They'll say "well of course, its easier to divide by tens than threes and fours", but it's orthogonal to the context of these interviews

[@portcullis5622]

I can see where the inspiration for Monty Python's 'Pepperpot' women came from!🤣

[@joaovitormatos8147]

Is the last guy really saying he fought WWII against kilometers?

[@1220b]

19th century lady driving around a small electric car. 1978 rocked... .

[@greenpoloboy]

These are such precious recordings :)

[@parametr]

Glad to see things haven't changed in over 40 years. 6 out 8 English people love their ignorance and feel offended when they need to understand anything.

[@TRPGpilot]

So very true!

[@scaredyfish]

The only man to have fought in WW2 for ten years!

[@StevieCooper]

LOL!

[@Channel567-7]

Oddly, I see his point. You see many did actually serve much longer than after the war ended. My Father was in WW2 sent at 19 years of age to Burma, to fight the Japanese. He ended up staying within the army and in India.

[@moodyb2]

? Many British soldiers remained abroad, in the defeated countries as part of the occupying forces and it is entirely understandable if they regarded it all as part of the same enterprise.

[@Channel567-7]

@@moodyb2 I think you mean liberated not occupying the country.

[@darryljones3009]

Hiroo Onoda: Wow! Just ten?

[@harryturner8701]

1:46 great saying, really snappy and to the point 🙃🙃🙃

[@eyzmin]

Just a PSA for the people in this comment section who think the US (english) system and the Imperial system are the same, they are not, the US does not and never has used Imperial. imperial was invented in 1824, almost 50 years after the US became a country, they are slightly different, mainly volumes. 1 us gallon=/= 1 imperial gallon, but 1 us mile = 1 imperial mile

[@jakkuwolfinsomnia8058]

I love the Irish woman “why don’t ya leave everything alone what wit ye kilometres and “

[@ApfelFlix]

I love the lady at 1:33. She’s so lovely and lighthearted.

[@80PercentScottish]

I love the way she rolls off and they just film it 😂.

[@rrbh]

"Petrol prices keep going up and up and up - but I will keep putting 20 pounds worth into my tank - nobody can change me... They can increase the price but I will only spend 20 pounds - I will be the winner and there's nothing they can do ! "

[@jfluffydog2110]

Whats wrong with that logic?

[@rrbh]

@@jfluffydog2110 Less and less miles per gallon for the twenty pounds - obviously.

[@jfluffydog2110]

@@rrbh I know that, but if can't afford to spend more then they aren't going to get more money out of you. Also, its fewer not less.

[@rrbh]

@@jfluffydog2110 Correct ! Go to the top of the class... and jump off ! (c) Spike Milligan.

[@JoanHolloway1931]

‘Britain used to rule the world’ All your former colonies are using metric 😂

[@327legoman]

They also spend years learning English, one of the most complicated languages in the world, And this guy can't even be arsed learning a superior measurement system from fellow colonist France. 😂

[@bluedick321]

'Cept the good old U.S of A

[@Andrew36597]

I actually think the whole nationalism over miles is a bit ridiculous, especially post-Brexit, I think this nonsense over wanting to be special in every single way compared to the rest of Europe just comes across as petty and insecure

[@mydogeatspuke]

Have you ever met another person? humans are petty and insecure. Objectively speaking, we are a terrible species.

[@PUSB_96]

This is from 1970s 🤡

[@bg4928]

@@PUSB_96 Yes but people today still harbour this mentality and its just backward and embarassing

[@jaymercer4692]

@@bg4928 The reason people find this video so fascinating and hilarious is because most of us don’t think this way. Even the elderly generations understand metric is simpler and there wouldn’t be a good reason to switch back to a more complicated system for no practical reason.

[@roro-mm7cc]

@@jaymercer4692 “switch back”.. but we still use miles not km. All the road signs are in miles and speedometers read mph in cars.

[@davidpanton3192]

AHH, the Great British Public. Just as toe-curling 44 years ago as they are today.

[@onlyme219]

Are you British?

[@AA-hi6os]

@@onlyme219 just you, apparently.

[@anonUK]

Many times more so.

[@atmywitsend1984]

I am trying to figure out if that is meant as a compliment or an insult. In my mind it is an insult,as toe curling means the same as cringable. I am proud of being British,not so proud of our useless government though. As they attempt to globalise us. No one asked us if we want this. " we will own nothing and be happy" translation: "we will have nothing including free will,and the elites will be happy"

[@Jason-wm5qe]

Notice that David sees himself above “they”, the ordinary public. David is a better, more civilised individual who cringes at the ordinary folk.

[@mattabouttrails]

If they did this street survey again in 2022, I'm sure they would get the same kind of responses. The British are still reluctant to use Km's even when it makes so much sense.

[@antman5474]

But we think in miles.

[@Markcain268]

That's because all the road signs are in miles and yards

[@moodyb2]

? How does it "make more sense"? The Imperial units systems were second nature to those who were raised in them. Even today I've never heard any Brit, of any age, express their weight in anything other than stones and pounds, or describe any distance in kilometres.

[@antman5474]

@@moodyb2 We use both. Food, fuel and temperature tend to be metric and most people know their weight in kilos. Metric is also favoured in the workplace. Measurement's can go either way though, we use both metric and imperial but beer and motoring are imperial. I buy my fuel in liters but measure my vehicle's fuel consumption using imperial.

[@mattabouttrails]

Being consistent makes sense. Almost every country uses the metric system.

[@Garcwyn]

A dimensional portal to this time and space opened in 2016. Unfortunately is only one way

[@davidtexmex1616]

All the characters of Pygmalion turned up for this here video governor.

[@deanstanley5799]

Don’t believe she travelled abroad a lot 😂😂😂

[@BillOweninOttawa]

Maybe to Bromley on the weekends.

[@deanstanley5799]

@@BillOweninOttawa 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@PurityVendetta]

I think she once went to the Isle of Wight 😆

[@overseastom]

She probably thought she traveled vast distances because someone told her far she'd gone in feet instead of miles :P

[@davidbull7210]

She is a broad (an older one)

[@crochetomania]

And so many years later people still ask me how much 1kg is despite buying all of their groceries by kg…

[@TRPGpilot]

Tell them is stone instead ha ha, boggles the mind.

[@nordlandskaka]

Michael Caine's finest performance., that first character there.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

We still have signs in miles on the roads. When you buy wood they sell it in inches thick and metres in length. I know my height, waist and inside leg in inches and think most British people do. This is how clothes are sold even today. So we have a weird mix even today.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

How many "stones" do you weigh?? 🤪😜🤪👌

[@DenkyManner]

And Boris wants to "bring it back" to appeal to the morons who don't realise it never went away as they are too dumb to even know what it is in first place

[@coolmacatrain9434]

@@fidelcatsro6948 We still use "Stones" in Ireland for a variety of things

[@richardsawyer5428]

Watching a video about a Stinger missile where imperial and metric (millimetres and feet) were said in the same sentence and it made perfect sense. I navigate by foot on metres and kilometres but drive using yards and miles. I can only weigh stuff in kilos as I can easily visualise that; 1kilo = 1litre of water.

[@Channel567-7]

@@fidelcatsro6948 15, my weighing scale is older. I can’t even bother with effing kilos.

[@judgeberry6071]

The guy at the end had a very good point.

[@multienergico9299]

No he didn't

[@dark108x]

This was broadcast when I was only a few weeks old. Crazy that the UK is still stuck on the old imperial system I never learned at school.

[@Sikke_Kok]

Imagine thinking WW2 was about miles, feet and inches

[@stephenspence1192]

I would have thought he meant the right to choose. Not everyone can express themselves to a high degree of articulation. The vox pop format of interview is designed to make fun of members of the public and provide entertainment for people who enjoy watching others struggle to articulate their thoughts and feelings.

[@politicalpolit6409]

@@stephenspence1192 still a bigot.

[@zaftra]

no, it was about sovereignty and not having a foreign power dictate what you have to should so, sounds familiar doesn't it.

[@bt3743]

@@zaftra yeah it would if that was what was happening at all. The uk started metrification a decade before we joined the EU

[@kaysmith8992]

On a similar note, imagine thinking miles, feet and inches are all about Europe. Brits seem to think only Britain had feet/inches/miles, but all European states had something similar before they decided to make things simpler for everyone.

[@elisa7881]

The first lady, LOL Where abroad did she travel? Wales?

[@meh3247]

Isle of Man - THIS IS A LOCAL SHOP, FOR LOCAL PEOPLE.

[@wanderingfool6312]

When you struggle to help elderly relatives who never wanted anything to do with this modern, flash in the pan, computer nonsense.

[@danieleyre8913]

I had an elderly relative who couldn’t imagine what anyone could possibly eat at one of those Indian curry places.

[@qy9MC]

0:22 Kilomolometers are indeed shorter and better for standards across countries.

[@fuckfannyfiddlefart]

This could have predicted Brexshit "We ruled the world now we want to be part of a community" We are doomed.

[@PlanetImo]

They weren't too keen, then. I was three in 1978. Oh well, we're still using miles so they didn't have to get too disgruntled after all.

[@bbybanshee539]

i love these people! all so unique

[@sageen]

God I love this video❤ I come back way to often to watch this

[@Littletime839]

The interviewer cherry picks people that highlight the context they want to convey and usually has 1 or 2 opposing views 'for balance'. It's done to this day. I only realised the extent of this after having watched two Panorama episodes that were on subjects I knew very well. I stopped watching Panorama after that as no longer believed them.

[@andlinux]

Controlled media.

[@annother3350]

Yes, remember they were exposed with their pants down in Panodrama

[@original.dwornboy]

It's not the interviewer cherry picking..... He will talk to everyone.... Final say what Auntie will show is the editor back a Broadcasting House.

[@moodyb2]

There was one producer, in the past few years, I can't say it was Panorama, who was reported to have boasted back at the office that it had taken him all day to find ONE person on a London estate who had anything positive to say about immigration, and THAT was the only opinion he used in his clip....

[@Littletime839]

@@moodyb2 I laughed at this but then it struck me that it isn't actually funny, it's sinister!

[@PhillipParr]

I think a lot of commentators are not quite understanding the situation of the first lady; she's on camera and a little flustered. I think it's obvious what she actually means - e.g. that in France they will say a car can do "300" but here it'll only get you "186", where 300 is km and 186 is miles. It's not so much a lack of brain power, but a demonstration of the resistance to change. Many people do not like to change the way they've always done things because they fear they will be taken advantage of. 1 pint of milk may be a certain amount, but 568ml of milk may be charged at a different amount because companies like to take advantage of confusion. And the problem with that statement is, it's absolutely right. Capitalism exists to make money, not to pity your ignorance. Marketing will break that pit of ignorance wide open; Will you pay more for a shiny box of Nurofen rather than Tesco's own Ibuprofen, even though Nurofen is 10x the price but literally the same product? You will. Because you don't know any better. Where else are you being diddled in life?

[@SwazerSwazers]

Give it a rest eh.

[@MotorGoblin]

I agree that it was an understandable failure of communication but it's still absolutely hilarious.

[@80PercentScottish]

When she was a girl she would have had a very subpar education as well. It's not her fault.

[@PhillipParr]

@@SwazerSwazers calm down, dear!

[@davidthedeaf]

You are the smartest on here. All those who were calling her names and boasting as if they were smart have no idea they are among the lower end of the spectrum too.

[@Cave_Monster]

The first woman is the grandmother of that girl who can't understand pizza slices...

[@enorazza]

Ok. This is epic. In every possible meaning.

[@joemama2499]

The man at the end sacrificed so much in the great measurement war 😔😢😞 Only for Metric to take over after he came back. Horrible. God bless him 😇👼🙏

[@ian_b]

To be fair; he is reacting, like the earlier young man, to the perception that everything was being changed around him, deliberately, and that metric measurements were to him emblematic of that. Imagine what he's say now in our land where immigrants tear down statues and white people are asked to kneel to them.

[@linalmeemow]

@@ian_b "immigrants tear down statues and white people are asked to kneel to them". None of this is true. It must be terrifying living in your head, making up this nonsense.

[@NorthEastTrailRunner]

Well, he did spend 10 years fighting in a war that lasted 6 years. 😂

[@PhilMoskowitz]

They started to teach us the metric system in the early to mid 1970s, as the U.S. was changing to the metric system. That never happened as Americans were even more stubborn than the British.

[@stephenspence1192]

Good for them!

[@marknewbold2583]

Even thicker you mean

[@TheRip72]

The US officially went metric many years ago, but nobody uses it. I can't work that one out either.

[@327legoman]

As I like to say to confuse Japanese or American friends, Britain is the only country where we go to a supermarket, buy our food in grams, buy our milk in pints, fill up our cars in litres, then drive them home to miles per gallon. We consider ordering a 12 inch pizza, but choose a 7 inch because we're 1 stone over weight and we're trying to cut a down just few centimetres off our waist to fit into a new dress.

[@baileyharrison1030]

At least America has the economy to back up their stubbornness. The UK depends heavily on imports from Europe as they're a shell of their former selves.

[@paulknightley]

The second character is clearly Morgana Robinson! Classic stuff!

[@billwilliamson1506]

Imperial/Standard units are good imo for household sizes. Inches, feet, cups, pints… they all work for usable sizes. That’s about the main redeeming quality for those systems. Now good luck trying to remember which one was bigger

[@rustshoo5068]

An interesting handful of characters. “It’s the treaty of Rome, as my husband would put it.” The posh-voiced young lady who says that at the trader’s stall may well be married to a much older, more knowledgeable, discerning gentleman. The tall, white-haired European gentleman with the Eastern European accent, in his light brown coat and next to the pugnacious Irish lady (husband and wife? Matching coat colours and easily at loggerheads) sounds exasperated by the imperial weights-and-measures system and cannot understand the inefficiency of, as well as the wilful self-harm, of the English. He hovers sinisterly around other interviewees, presaging the condescension of Brussels to come. Though I suspect he’s glad the British won the war, is indebted to Britain, but he just wants the eccentric old Brits to better protect themselves in the future. Was he an ex-Polish Army veteran of the war? (The Catholic marriage with that Irish lady, hence). And was he consumed by the need to get Britain back on its feet now that the Western Europeans were by then marching onwards and upwards? The Treaty Of Rome and all that! “I travel abroad a lot” declares grandiosely the first-lady interviewee, her lovely deep London accent ringing across the decades from the streets of Nineteen Seventy-eight. Her scarf, a signifier of a working-class background, she probably took to the Continent with her, to transform herself into a Audrey Hepburn type roaming the roads around the breezy Côte D’Azure or Rome, scarf and additional sunglasses to prevent too much intrusion from passersby spotting the smiles bursting from the open-top car (or was it when she was leaning out of the passenger-side window of a delivery truck driven by her man doing his seasonal Continental collections?) as she eats up the miles, spitting those dastardly, toxic, long-winded kilometres out of the exhaust. The difference today is that we can all claim to travel abroad a lot now. To reprise the grandiosity inherent in the tone the lady had had, one must airily say that one is going to Picchu Manchu or “Vegas”. As one often does, these days. So there’s no point in aping humility: at least our lady friend in scarf is too honest to do that! Anyway, look at the flakes of snow falling down around our beloved first interviewee: I recall that there was a lot of snow in both early 1978 and late seventy-eight. We either got six inches of snow, or a foot. Our first lady is of a generation that if told fifteen centimetres of snow was going to fall, would dismiss that as alarmism. “Sounds pitifully small. Centimetres are tiny, aren’t they?” But for the average Briton, six inches of snow is a good snowfall that would slow life right down. A foot of snow is bad and very concerning indeed. (Imagine trying to say thirty centimetres of snow or a third of a metre of snow to the old guard: the old guard would believe that conspirators are trying to undermine the nation. And I can understand that. It is so much easier and fun to say a foot of snow than thirty centimetres of snow: anything that lessens the fun and ease must be the first hints of authoritarianism). The WW2 vet who took ten years before he was demobbed sets out his stall in no uncertain terms: the fight against tyranny continues as it is now a fight against the tyranny of the metric system. Presumably the grand turn to decimalisation on 15th of February 1971 was, in that strapping veteran’s mind, … war by other means. To be fair to him, any major change in society hints at a tendency to forget the past and past sacrifices, and all he wants is, going by this old news piece, to take the opportunity yet again to remind young folk about Chamberlain and “the war”. A quick and snappy TV interview is reminding the punks in three-TV-channel Britain about the war - by other means. The lady in the electric pavement mobility vehicle (a Tesla today?) knows she can cover a lot of ground in an hour. Four miles did she say she could do? Her speedometer must be in miles per hour. Now if she took it on the actual road, she might floor it, and go an amazing speed. Speed in the UK is still associated with miles and not kilometres. Kilometres sounds too effeminate, not Top Gun enough. Too many syllables equals too much fussiness, too much thinking. In fact!

[@venmis137]

Are you a journalist?

[@rustshoo5068]

Lockdown did it. I just try to engage well. And see the funny side. Of things. Plus I read a fair few books; I got back into reading books. Various. A.A. Gill is a great writer.

[@327legoman]

I'm Impressed.

[@lisamarieashby2523]

Too many syllables applies to your eternal comment as well, imo.

[@callumc2061]

What an adventure

[@BillOweninOttawa]

Buddy thinks we fought WWII to preserve Imperial measurements!

[@stevehayward1854]

He fought for our culture and our way of life, that includes weights and measures. We don't need the inferior continental way.

[@nkt1]

@@stevehayward1854 If the metric system is inferior, why does virtually every country in the world use it?

[@S500-]

Nice , Funny

[@Garfie489]

@@stevehayward1854 they fought for your right to be stupid I take it? xD We have no "culture" in Units - just makes everything difficult for the sake of it rather than being efficient.

[@BillOweninOttawa]

@@stevehayward1854 You lost. Deal with it. You're American poodles now.

[@davecub]

The little boy "hello" at 1:43 🥺

[@inquisitivechimp5408]

1) With the system they already had, they were way ahead of most western nations in everything STEM and business. Hence, their resistance to change was logical given their background (their thinking was: why mess with what works?) 2) The Brits' same trust in their own ways saved them from joining the Euro back in 1997 - hence they maintained an independent monetary system and saved their sovereignty (unlike many Eurozone countries who now regret squeezing into the euro straitjacket) 3) Europeans are more ignorant of British ways, than Brits are of ours. 4) Many things work better in the UK (public sector, universities, the old NHS etc), but I didn't see many Europeans trying to adopt superior British ways.

[@gabrieleguerrisi4335]

To believe in a correlation between imperial system and english industrial revolution is like believing in the correlation between tea with milk and industrial revolution. And consider also that imperial system was born in 1824, when industrial revolution was already ongoing. And metric system was 30 years old at that point.

[@inquisitivechimp5408]

​@@gabrieleguerrisi4335 You seem to think that I said what you believe I said. I did not. I made no reference to the industrial revolution or any correlation whatsoever. All that is of your own making. A personal projection. What I said was that miles worked and still work fine for Brits and were not an obstacle for them. In fact they did very well despite their weird system. Why would they want to change something that wasn't a serious problem to them? I made the comment because the comments section is full of eurotrash talking in a negative manner about the people in the video ingoring their own ignorance. The fact that the Brits didn't impose their culture on the fascists (Germany, Italy etc) after the war shows their superiority of spirit. If you ask me, Italians should now be using the imperial system as punishment for their stance in WWII 🙂 Of course, the euro is probably enough punishment for them. The next three years will show why.

[@rorychivers8769]

Ahh, the Great British public opinion. Nothing on this green earth can make me recoil at the fact that I am British so quickly and effectively.

[@darrenowen3338]

Nor I that you are British, unable to see the context of this footage.

[@vorynrosethorn903]

That's just called being a snob.

[@unclecrusty5476]

Snob much

[@paradigm_conjecture]

Get over yourself

[@rorychivers8769]

@@paradigm_conjecture You first