Americans React: Top 10 Most Important Moments In British History

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In this video, we delve into the most important moments in British history. Join us as we explore pivotal events that have profoundly shaped modern Britain. From the suffragette movement and historic signing of the Magna Carta to the pivotal end of World War 2 and many more, each moment has left its mark in British history.
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• Top 10 Most Important ...

[@stephengreen3801]

Hi Steve, I'm afraid you got King John and Magna Carta totally wrong. King John didn't create Magna Carta, he was forced to agree to and sign the charter. In fact, King John is widely regarded as one of the most evil monarchs in English history.

[@sharonmartin4036]

I was just about to comment the same thing, you beat me to it! Lol. King John was allegedly given only one option: Sign or plunge the entire country into civil war and be physically deposed regardless of the outcome. He signed because 1) he wanted to live, and also 2) to continue as King, albeit with much reduced power.

[@stirlingmoss4621]

except that John couldnt write so his Seal was applied to the Charter.

[@sharonmartin4036]

@@stirlingmoss4621 No. He didn't sign it because he didn't sign anything. No medieval monarchs did. He put the royal seal on it. That was the way monarchs gave their assent to documents. And no, John was certainly not illiterate. It was an age in which literacy was rare, of course, but not among aristocrats and certainly not among royals. That Eleanor of Aquitaine’s son would be illiterate is absurd on the face of it. He is known to have kept a large library, and he had received a good education.

[@lynjones2461]

I was just about to say the same xx

[@LockStoppageSandwich]

Yanks………tooooo funny 😂😂😂

[@Alan_Clark]

I think the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 should be included. It meant that the Royal Navy was unchallenged globally for over a hundred years and Britain became the World's first superpower, a period known as the Pax Britannica. As a result, the British empire grew into the biggest empire ever, slavery was ended and piracy suppressed. In addition to maintaining peace on the oceans, the Navy also mapped the oceans and created tide tables which they provided to other people, all of which which facilitated trade.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Yeah, I'm sure there were quite a few important ones that weren't included! Not even sure how you could narrow it down to just 10.

[@harryjohnson9215]

There are so many many that could have been added to this But i to don't know how you get it down to 10

[@B-A-L]

​@@reactingtomyrootsThe Battle of Trafalgar was so important it has the most famous square in London named after it with the most famous monument in it named after the Admiral responsible for the victory so it should most definitely be in the top ten!

[@digidol52]

King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta by his Barons, not his idea at all.

[@sddsddean]

He didn't sign it (he couldn't write!)...he sealed it.

[@no-oneinparticular7264]

​@@sddsddean sorry, thats wrong, King john was an educated man, and could both read and write. He both signed and sealed the magna carta in 1215.

[@no-oneinparticular7264]

King john was an educated man, he both signed and sealed the magna carta in 1215. I can't believe someone said he could not write 😂

[@grog159]

@@sddsddean Most people could read and write back then, complete myth that they couldn't. The myth stems from the fact that most peasants couldn't read or write LATIN which monarchs could do.

[@sddsddean]

@@grog159 suitably admonished!!🤔

[@Dee-wd2nz]

I'm surprised the industrial revolution wasn't there as that was kind of huge

[@cookeymonster83]

For literally the history of the world too.

[@Dee-wd2nz]

@@cookeymonster83 I guess with so much history here it's difficult to fit everything in

[@martinwoollett8468]

you can't but a date on the industrial revolution like the other events.

[@atiminthailand4531]

And the invention of the internet

[@russellfrancis6294]

That’s a good point.

[@chelliebellie4443]

Re the NHS, it was a thank you for the sacrifices that the nation made in the war. Of course the same as in the US, many doctors protested as it meant they would lose their high salaries, but thanks to the Labour government of the time they were overruled. Now, Brits can't imagine NOT having the NHS

[@c_n_b]

Shame Labour no longer stand for the working man, but instead prefer illegal migrants who wish to do us harm.

[@martinwebb1681]

The Labour government that rebuilt Britain after the war were probably the most visionary government this country has ever had.

[@bridiesmith5110]

That could be the reason nothings changed.

[@chelliebellie4443]

@@bridiesmith5110 do you mean not changing in the US? If so, yes, doctors, the drug and insurance companies would lose a lot.

[@raystewart3648]

That's if we can get a GP appointment. Which is very hard at least here in the SW of the country. I made a appointment for ASAP but its now 4 weeks and I still do not have one made for me, even after 8 phone calls. The NHS is really getting slow and underfunded, not to mention that most doctors have left to work in Germany and other countries as they get paid better there.

[@madcyclist58]

I can't agree that these are the ten most important moments In British history. I think we all have our own list depending on our outlook.

[@mattsmith5421]

It's watch mojo nonsense, should just be labeled 10 events we picked in 10 seconds.

[@jernaugurgeh8110]

I think we could all have our own personal list. If only we knew how some of these events actually happened . Not the account of some scruffy monk( few people could read or Write for most of history)…..

[@nealgrimes4382]

They didn't even mention the invention of Hob Nobs.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Absolutely!

[@memkiii]

@@jernaugurgeh8110 Oh boy. Some scruffy monk.... Bede? Did you not grasp that this list only went back as far as 1066? I'm pretty sure that there was more than a scruffy monk writing down events. EG The Domesday book. Pretty Comprehensive record imo. The middle ages was up to it's knees in red tape, legal documents & accounts of events - whether or not a peasant could read or not - and those that couldn't employed someone who could (in court cases for example). You generally know that something happened because you check the veracity, and more than one account if available. Historians don't just google something, watch KZbin, or read Wikipedia.

[@alfiekelly5914]

As a Scotsman, It breaks my heart to hear Great Britain being referred to as England. It goes on to this day. I love my English counterparts (I spend half of my life in England), but I find that very few know a great deal about Scotland apart from the percieved stereotypes. There is a comedian, Russell Howard who constantly refers to England as an Island. It isn't.

[@MrBulky992]

As an Englishman, I can say it is very annoying too. If we're going to include England-only events, it should surely mean that Scotland-only ones should be included too. I would have thought that the Battle of Bannockburn was every bit as important as the Battle of Agincourt. It affected the history of England which had to wait 3 centuries for Great Britain to be created as a unified state.

[@dee2251]

Yes I agree. It’s very ignorant.

[@claregale9011]

100% agree I have close ties to Scotland as my nan was from your beautiful country . 😊

[@memkiii]

It is on an Island though, last time I looked.

[@alfiekelly5914]

@@memkiii So is Ryde. But Ryde isn't the Isle of Wight. There are hundreds of islands in the UK and Ireland being the British Isles. British Isles include the protectorates as well as The Republic of Ireland. Great Britain, the largest Island, is so named after The Brittany coast. Grande Bretagne.

[@kevinthorpe8561]

We have an original Magna Carta here in Lincoln Castle. The Domesday book was a nationwide tax audit done by William the Conqeror. He wanted to know how much his new kingdom was worth. His inspectors would rock up to your village and take stock of all you owned and therefore what tax you paid. The kicker here was if you didn’t declare it, you didn’t own it so they took it. It was also around this time that the first anti-slavery legislation was recorded

[@hendy643]

The original Domesday book excluded huge swathes of Northern England. Thanks in part to William's Harrying of the North there was nothing to inventory.

[@memkiii]

@@hendy643 Bloody Vikings! Spam, Spam, Spam & more Spam.

[@Mark_Bickerton]

Most important years... 1066 Norman Conquest, 1215 Magna Carta, 1415 Battle of Agincourt, 1588 Spanish Armarda, 1605 Gunpower Plot, (5th Novermber - Guy Fawkes night), 1666 Great fire of London, 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, 1815 Waterloo, 1940 Battle of Britain. Finally 1963... year I was born :)

[@geoffpoole483]

I'd nominate the Reformation.

[@terricollins8450]

Good year to be born, so was I 😂

[@samsby14]

You forgot 66, won the world cup 😂

[@Mark_Bickerton]

@@samsby14 You're right... but to be fair I was only 2 and half... I dont think I can remember anything from that age, in fact now I struggle to recall what I did last week lol.

[@samsby14]

@@Mark_Bickerton wish i could at least say i was alive when we won one 🤣

[@vinnyganzano1930]

I can honestly say I'm not a fan of WatchMojo top ten lists, especially if they involve history they never get things right, or at least they perpetuate common misconceptions.

[@TheGarryq]

I use their lists to help increase my low blood pressure

[@AlexByth]

@@TheGarryq I use them to increase my already high blood pressure to potentially fatal levels.

[@vinnyganzano1930]

@@AlexByth I've already had one heart attack, I don't need another.

[@TanyaRando]

I really wish they'd had this in date order. I love history, so am trying not to comment on every point this guy is making. King John didn't WANT to sign the Magna Carta but signed it, after pressure from the barons, it was originally only intended for them, not the common people. It was meant to stop the king exploiting his power and protected their rights. Loved history in school enough that it's fuelled a lifelong interest and lots of self learning.

[@catgladwell5684]

"That good for nothin' John" as Disney's Robin Hood has it (largely incorrectly).

[@jacquelinepearson2288]

I agree. When it comes to history, it would have been far better to put everything in date order, rather than trying to score the events from 10-1.

[@user-ld6fr5tk9h]

I was surprised that the Abolition of the Atlantic slave trade wasn't mentioned.

[@chrisholland7367]

The Royal Navy was instrumental in bringing that to an end .

[@ceeenus]

Because the leftist media doesn’t want people to know we was the first society to abolish slavery nearly 200 years ago where as it’s still practiced in some countries to this day

[@danmayberry1185]

In Canadian schools we learned that Count Binface secured 24,260 votes in the London mayoral election, beating Britain First candidate Nick Scanlon.

[@bridiesmith5110]

He would have got my vote too. 😂😂😂

[@LockStoppageSandwich]

Nice 👌

[@Bakers_Doesnt]

I presume he was on the ticket for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, the most famous party member (and founder) being Screaming Lord Sutch (3rd Earl of Harrow). In 1968 Lord Sutch moved to USA and was promptly shot being mugged, prompting him to move back to the UK.

[@TheGarryq]

@@Bakers_Doesnt No brackets in his stage name

[@Bakers_Doesnt]

@@TheGarryq But as additional information unrelated to his stage name it is entirely appropriate. David Sutch 3rd Earl of Harrow does not need parentheses.

[@christopherlogan2903]

To me this is just a list of English things. The fact James the 6th of Scotland became James the first of England. This was the beginning of the creation of the UK. Then we have the act of union in 1707, and from a Scottish perspective we have the highland clearances a few years later in 1750.

[@tamielizabethallaway2413]

Good Morning 🌞 The Great Fire of London 1666 started in Pudding Lane. A baker had put a batch of loaves into the oven to slowly bake, and fell asleep. The oven caught fire, and the houses, being either directly attached to each other, or with only a narrow walkway in between, soon had whole rows of houses ablaze. Most people ran for their lives to avoid falling timbers and of course the fire service was very limited. It burned for days, until eventually the only way to end it was to cause fire breaks. They would choose houses further down the blazing rows, and use long handled tools to pull the chosen house down and clear the debris out of the way. They had no choice but to watch most buildings burn, and the only way to preserve some was by creating these breaks where they could safely have time to do so. It's where the nursery rhyme comes from: London's Burning, London's Burning, Fetch the engines, fetch the engines, Fire fire, fire fire, Pour on water, pour on water. Incidentally, this is why we largely avoid building with wood following this tragedy. The "fetch the engines" part would not have applied during the time of the fire, these types of rhymes were typically taught during Victorian times to teach something to children about historic events, in an easier way to remember. ....................... Very impressed Steve! Slightly wrong tune...almost right though. I'm 'enery the eighth I am, 'enery the eighth I am, I am. I got married to the widow next door, She's been married seven times before, Now everyone was an 'enery, she wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam, I'm her eighth old man named 'enery, I'm 'enery the eighth I am! It's sung in a cockney accent, hence the "ENERY" sound, as Cockneys tend to skip some letters, but over-emphasise ones that don't exist, almost as a way to sound better spoken - while actually doing the opposite. For example, Cockneys will say 'orses, 'ooks, 'owse, 'appy, 'ere instead of horses, hooks, house, happy or here. (Yes I put a w in 'owse because that's also the way they pronounce it) Even though they skip all the first letter H sounds, if you asked them to spell their surname for example, (or any word with a H in) let's say: Smith, they will say: Ess, Em, Eye, Tee, Haitch ... Instead of Aitch which is what it should be. So they miss sounds, but then add others. That's why it's 'ENERY (3 syllables) instead of HENRY (2 syllables). Obviously it's not a song about the real Henry VIII. It's a joke, a play on words. If some poor bloke said to you I'm the real Henry VIII, you'd tell him he's lying. However, if he married a seven-times widow, all of whose previous husbands had been called Henry, then he'd be the eighth Henry....to her anyway. Cockney songs tend to be loud, a bit corny (Dad joke level humour), a bit raucous, coarse, or historic. BTW London Bridge is Falling down is also from The Great Fire of London. 😁 .................... Ring, a ring of roses, Pocketful of posies, Atishoo atishoo, We all fall down. This is about the Bubonic Plague (also called the Black Death or Black Plague) The Bubonic Plague symptoms include giant Buboes, hence the name. Buboes are jumbo boil looking swellings, that are actually swollen lymph nodes. The lymph nodes swell when the body is experiencing widespread disease (also cancer) in the bloodstream, showing extreme strain on the immune system close to failing completely. The fluid filled Buboes are full of white blood cells, that the body produces more of to fight infection. Lymph nodes are in the groin, armpits, and also the neck, so a person infected with the Bubonic Plague would develop big boil looking lumps in their groin, armpits and neck...however, onlookers would likely only see the neck area (for obvious reasons! 😳) The lumps circling the neck are *The ring, a ring of roses* In the past people believed in "miasma" which is a medieval medical theory that "bad smells" in the air caused illness. They weren't exactly entirely wrong, in that many illnesses do spread via airborne particles, but it would take them a few centuries to figure out that it needs more than a foul stench in the air to spread disease! At the time however, "pleasant fragrances were the medically advised counter-measure remedy for walking through villages where people slung their buckets of human waste out on the street! 🤢 To avoid smelling the stench of shite, people, particularly the wealthy, would carry a "nosegay". Gay at the time referring to "gaiety" "fun" "joy" so a nosegay was literally something to make the nose happy. It could be a fragranced handkerchief that they would pull out and sniff, to block out the stench of turd soup flowing down the roads, or a small tight little bundle of highly fragrant flowers. The nosegay is the *pocketful of posies* The *atishoo atishoo, we all fall down* is pretty self explanatory. Coughing, sneezing, another one bites the dust! 💀 The dead were dragged through the streets to the edges of town, where giant pits were dug to throw them all in at once, as there were too many for proper funerals and burial. Incidentally, The Great Fire of London did *NOT* kill off the Bubonic Plague at all! The fire ravaged about a quarter of London's tightly packed and largely slum-like homes. It probably did wonders for burning off the overwhelming foul stench however, so perhaps the idea was, now it was less smelly, illness rates reduced, as per the miasma theory of the time. But it's not true. The Plague continued to kill many people after the fire. In fact it still kills people today if they leave it too long to seek treatment. But of course today it only survives in very small pockets of areas. Typically Africa or South America have a few cases here and there. And on that note I shall give you a break! I don't know how my brain holds this much at times honestly! I'm no genius by any stretch of the imagination nor overly educated! But I am extremely inquisitive and curious and want to know "WHY?" about literally anything and everything. So I'm constantly reading or looking up things. I have to have pen and paper near me at all times to jot down the never ending enquiries that go through my brain 24-7! It's exhausting honestly! Sometimes it drives me mental. I think I was a squirrel in a previous life, storing nuts away all day long and remembering where I put them, though I don't why I'm able to! I genuinely can't switch the questions off in my head! My web search history would be enough to have me committed to the psych ward! 🤪 Sorry for dumping it all on you. But as always, it is dumped with lots of love! ......and at least my public dumping doesn't require a nosegay! 🤣 😘😘😘 xxxxx

[@offal]

and pudding lane is still there, I came across it last year in London, my family were asking me where I was going, So I had to explain it to them lol.

[@mathewdunstan4142]

It Started in Pudding Lane and ended at Pie Corner, which is in Fetter Lane the Monument is a stone column designed by Christopher Wren and is 202 feet high which represents the distance from its base to the point where the fire started. Following the great fire there was an implementation of an ordinance that ensured that new buildings should be of stone rather than timber, I think it also ensured that wooden window frames were set well back into the stone to prevent the spread of fire.

[@tamielizabethallaway2413]

​@@offalyes it bears a plaque on the wall near where the bakery once stood. 🤗

[@offal]

@@mathewdunstan4142 does the monument look like an Obelisk? i`m sure I was looking at that as it looks so random, but I was thinking it must have meaning.

[@tamielizabethallaway2413]

​​@@mathewdunstan4142 Interesting. I didn't know about the height of the Monument representing distance! There's another nugget of info to stash in my brain! Thank you for sharing that! 😁

[@markharding44]

The Viking invasion of England in 793 and Alfred the Great. The unification of the separate Anglo Saxon kingdoms into one kingdom of England by King Æthelstan in 927

[@timegan1884]

Steve, needs to react to Horrible Histories. I think he would love it and enjoy the humour and the songs.

[@leahthomas1831]

I agree, my granddaughter loved it, she can still name every King and Queen from William I, but only if she sings the Monarchs Song! 😂 I’m sure Sophia would enjoy it too.

[@lynnblaircurrens9097]

Kids and adults love it and it fun easy way to learn history as through the sketches and song u find yourself retaining more than just watching a documentary or small video on a subject

[@blah......4970]

That was a very England - specific list. It didn't mention England conquering and annexing Wales, or the Union of the Crowns between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain for the first time. It didn't mention the Industrial Revolution, either, or the Scottish Enlightenment and the impact that had on culture and technology. The founding of the British East India Company, the founding and dissolution of the empire, etc.

[@MrBulky992]

I think the independence of the American colonies was an important date in American History but a much less important one in British history. It's akin to England's sole victory in the World Cup (in 1966): a victory which means a lot to football fans in England but is insignificant and unmemorable to Germans (who have themselves won the Cup on many more other occasions).

[@tonys1636]

The Crowns of Scotland and England became a union when James VI of Scotland inherited the English Crown and became James I of England and James VI of Scotland. The union was not approved by the Parliament at Westminster until 200 years later, mainly because Scotland was predominantly Catholic then. The Gunpowder Plot was part of the protests at the time. The Scots wanted to put a wholly Scottish Catholic King back on the Throne.

[@MrBulky992]

​​​@@tonys1636The union between England and Scotland was 100 years later than the union of the crowns and it was approved by both parliaments (Edinburgh and Westminster). The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had nothing at all to do with Scotland and there was never a catholic government in independent Scotland at any time between the Reformation and the Acts of Union of 1706/7. The authorities in Scotland were extremely upset when the English Parliament executed their king without any consultation with Scotland and fought a war against Cromwell which they lost. Far from Scotland being too catholic for England's liking, it was their more austere calvinistic version of protestantism which the King and his ministers disliked: they wanted the church to be run on espiscopalian lines with established forms of worship and elaborate vestments (much more like the catholics) and Charles I imposed this on tge Church of Scotland leading to the Covenanters and the Bishops' Wars against England. At his restoration, his son Charles II reimposed these same religious governances there and, let us not forget, that he converted to catholicism on his deathbed, his brother already having previously adopted the catholic faith. The Scots did not want to put a catholic on the throne of Scotland: some did but many did not and those who did were not all catholics - many were episcopalians and other non-jurors who, having sworn an oath to James VII and his legal successors, refused on moral grounds to abjure it, just as many did in England (including the Archbishop of Canterbury who declined to crown William and Mary in 1689). Scots fought on the Hanoverian side at the Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellions were a civil war, not a war between two nations.

[@MiningForPies]

@@tonys1636the gunpowder plot was a plan to put a catholic on the throne, they wanted the pope to be the ultimate power.

[@kevs4252]

King John didn't want to sign( technically it's sealing) the Magna Carta, he was forced. Also, the American Constitution is based,to a point, on the Magna Carta.

[@andybaker2456]

That 'Henry VIII' song was originally an old music hall song from the early 20th century. It was never a nursery rhyme. But a version of it sung by British band Herman's Hermits became a surprising number one hit in the US in 1965. Interestingly, it was never a chart hit here in the UK! It also featured in the film Ghost in 1990.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

I think Joe Brown and the Bruvvers did a version too in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

[@andybaker2456]

@@lynnejamieson2063 Yes, I think Joe Brown's version came out in 1962. Herman's Hermits had already had a hit in the US with 'Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter' so were already known to an American audience, which is probably why their version was released there.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

@@andybaker2456 it might be too that Herman’s Hermits came to fame at a time when the British Invasion was underway where Joe Brown could kind of be seen as a part of the established UK music scene by then, so almost being seen as too old or past it for the same level of publicity in the US. I mean, if Joe Brown’s version was in 1962, that’s a year or two before The Beatles even had their first US tour. Actually, I was just looking up when Joe Brown released his first single (in 1959 in case you too had become curious) and saw that his version of I’m Henery the 8th I Am, was a B side and released in 1961, so it was further ahead of the British Invasion than I though…and sadly, I don’t think any of those UK Rock and a roll pioneers had any real success in the US.

[@ltsecomedy2985]

Also, importantly it was not about the Historical character King Henry VIII. It was a joke song about a man marrying a widow, who just happened to be her 8th husband, all of whom had been called Henry. ( I guess she had a thing for the name)

[@andybaker2456]

@@ltsecomedy2985 Yes, hence "I'm her eighth old man named 'Enery, 'Enery the eighth I am"! 😄

[@85stace85]

The village that helped stopped the plague was Eyam, (pronounced 'eem' ) in Derbyshire. A few miles from my home town. Worth a visit if anyone's ever about that way.

[@hendy643]

Is that the one where they quarantined themselves and traded by putting coins in vinegar at the outskirts so no direct contact was made? Learned about a village that did that when I was a kid.

[@85stace85]

@@hendy643 yes that's the one.

[@setara-beth6678]

I love very close to Eyam, we go quite often and it never gets less emotional.

[@weejackrussell]

I live quite close to Eyam too and have managed to place some of those who were there at the time on my family tree, thanks to DNA matches.

[@weejackrussell]

A lot of silly people descended on Eyam at the beginning of the Covid Pandemic too and it seemed they didn't see the contradiction of going to that village at such a time! It was really insensitive of them to go there and many caused a mess when they did leaving litter and heaven knows what else behind!

[@WarrenOKeefe]

The Domesday Book was part census, part tax audit, part management survey. It was a record of the state of the nation, including the names of all settlements, land holdings, how many serfs each member of the aristocracy held, how many men they could field to the army, and other such valuable information. Compiled for William the Conqueror, if memory serves, so he could get a handle on the administrative and fiscal aspects of his new kingdom. Many settlements, including the village I grew up in, can trace their existence back to 1086, thanks to the Domesday Book

[@mrfill9999]

The Domesday Book was compiled to allow William to grant land to his favoured followers. That is why a lot of British aristocrats with massive properties and land holdings have French names.

[@cookeymonster83]

How was the American Revolution one of the most important things to happen in British History? It had next to no affect on our nation. Literally any other fight for independence from the Empire had more impact. Hell, giving away Hong Kong had more impact.

[@luluk3340]

I know I don't get how that has made it in. So many other more important events for Britain have been left out This original video was clearly done for an American audience.

[@grantjohnston7972]

We were finally rid of them 😂

[@B-A-L]

Gotta get the Yanks to watch somehow!

[@richardharrison284]

Steve to answer your question... Oldest part of human London was discovered a few years ago. The Vauxhall Timbers in the mud on the banks of the river Thames were put in place 6,500 years ago in front of what is now the MI6 building. Either part of a bridge or stilts for homes which were often built over water back then. Much newer is around 2000 year old pieces of the city wall built around Londinium that still sticks out the ground in places. Most of what you see today is from around 1066 after the invasion and then only parts built with stone. The fire of 1666 destroyed so much as the majority was timber framed buildings with thatch roof. German bombing in WW2 and property developers over the centuries have also destroyed a lot.

[@MrBulky992]

It destroyed many mainly stone buildings too, a great many of them being churches, the most notable being St Paul's Cathedral.

[@alexhamilton4084]

When I was at school, history started at the time of the ancient Britons and went through to the Crimean War. Kid’s history lessons today start at the Second World War. How is that history? It’s like last week in the scheme of things.

[@cookeymonster83]

Don't know when you went to school but I am 41 and when I was at school British history began with the age of the dinosaurs.

[@linnettsamuel5026]

It was expected by schools,that pupils learn the key dates and events of the U.K plus who ruled. ( covering 2000 years) almost by heart by the age of 13. It shocks me that Americans struggle to learn just 200 years.

[@PLuMUK54]

Things must have changed a lot since I retired. Then, Primary Schools covered up to the Vikings, and Secondary Schools covered 1066 to the 1950s. Admittedly, Primary Schools also did work on the SWW, but only the Home Front, which allowed for lots of recreations and dressing up.

[@jessieb7290]

We learnt all kinds of history Aztecs, Egyptians, Tudors, Fire of London, WW2. My sister learnt cowboys and American history and she was a year younger then me.

[@alexhamilton4084]

@@jessieb7290 we only learned English history because we were in England.

[@helenwood8482]

The Barons forced John to set his seal on the Magna Carta. He immediately tried to wriggle out of it.

[@andyp5899]

The song "I'm Henry the eight" was a music hall song

[@kevs4252]

You must find out about British Nursery Rhymes, they all have a true and disturbing story behind them. Totally fascinating.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Great idea for a video! :)

[@missharry5727]

The National Health Service began on 5 July 1948 two days after I was born slightly early. My parents were furious.

[@suefinnegan6185]

There was a rhyme to remember the fate of Henry’s wives. divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

[@geekexmachina]

The Tudors and Stuarts are often taught as a syllabus usually starting at the war of the roses finishing at the great fire and plague, this period is often regarded as important and when done out of order can look confusing as its like a chainof dominoes. Not mentioned here is the Black Death of the 1300s was also accompanied by the mini iceage

[@ninajaiherm4315]

My mother went to Cardiff after WW2 and met Annourey Bevin and worked with him to bring in The NHS.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

*Aneurin* (?) Bevan (pronounced 'Ann_eye_rin' - I _think_ it's a Welsh name)

[@tonijones8646]

Aneurin Bevan

[@lailachopperchops9290]

The Bayeux Tapestry at the end , check that out

[@michaelisles4756]

Great fire started in a bakers shop on pudding lane

[@no-oneinparticular7264]

NHS started in 1948. I retired from NHS nursing in 2013, and the service today is unlike anything I experienced working for it. Shortages of staff, parking fees for employees, waiting times for operations, amount of patients, and delays in treatment all affect it.

[@gail9299]

And an explosion of what they now treat too compared to when it was first established. The treatments available and the demand, not the same service apart from its still free on need, still worth its weight in gold. Shall we mention 'managers' excessive salaries? I agree 100% with you about parking charges for staff - disgusting!

[@no-oneinparticular7264]

​​@@gail9299 thankyou, yes , too many managers, too big salaries. Nurses were leaving in droves to work abroad, when I left too.

[@sharonmartin4036]

Ring-a-ring-of rosies was a song made up by the children during the black plague and depicts the events and circumstances of the disease. Rosy splotches would appear on the skin, the "ring of rosies". People carried flowers (posies) in their pockets to ward off the putrid smell of the plague sores and of course the rotting corpses, "A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down" was because the final symptoms were like influenza with sneezing and coughing and terrible weakness. At that stage it was certain death to follow. Baa Baa Black Sheep is about the medieval wool tax, imposed in the 13th Century by King Edward I. Under the new rules, a third of the cost of a sack of wool went to him, another went to the church and the last to the farmer. Mary had a little lamb was based on a real incident in the early 1800s involving a girl named Mary Sawyer. After finding a sickly young lamb in her family's Massachusetts farm, she not only nursed it back to life - but saw it lovingly follow her every step for years after.

[@grahamtravers4522]

I think you mean The Black Death, which reached England in June 1348, rather than the many other instances of plague which occurred.

[@sharonmartin4036]

@@grahamtravers4522 Meant to say Black Death, not Black Plague. Sorry!

[@grahamtravers4522]

@@sharonmartin4036 No big deal, but may as well get it right.

[@cl0udbear]

There's no evidence that Ring a Ring o' Roses comes from the Black Death or any of the instances of the bubonic plague hitting Britain. It's earliest attestation is from the United States in the mid-19th Century in New England and a German rhyme "Ringel ringel reihen" from the turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

[@petestaley7903]

1:53 Don't forget. The Roman Empire is just a Footnote of Our History. We took that idea and ran with it. The world had never seen an Empire so big. Until UN/WEF

[@helenbailey8419]

Pretty in pink Lindsey,gorgeous with your skin tone.Love watching you two.The harmony and interaction between you makes viewing relaxing and interesting.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Glad you enjoy the dynamic, Helen! We appreciate you :)

[@margaretknight8690]

‘Cromwell’ is a great film which explains the history well. You saw extracts from it in the video.

[@johnp8131]

Really? There are quite a few discrepancies, especially in the earier parts of the film. For instance the film insinuates Cromwell's name was on the list of those to be arrested, along with Pymm, when Charles enters the Commons. This is just rubbish. He was a bit of a non-entity at first, probably only becoming noticed after raising a "troop of horse" for the 'Eastern Association' in 1642. Even then he was a mere Captain? However, I will admit the film itself is very good and still probably still more accurate than anything by Mel Gibson?

[@kevingray3550]

@@johnp8131 Its a great historical misconception even among English people that Cromwell led Parliament's revolt and then its war against Charles I . Cromwell began to come a to prominence shortly before the execution of Charles when hostilities in England (but not Scotland or Ireland) were largely at an end.

[@boothy201]

Herman's Hermits had a big hit with "I'm Henry the eighth, I am" back in the 60's. It was, however, a fun little music hall song originally.

[@TonyWalsh-li4oh]

It was Joe brown and the bruvvers

[@boothy201]

@@TonyWalsh-li4oh Yes, Joe released it on his 1st album, But it was HH's version a few years later that reached Number 1 in the US charts.

[@robpearce7891]

I'd add in Battle of Waterloo (fyi Waterloo is actually a town in Belgium) 1815 finishing the Napoleonic war. We named a train station and a bridge after it in London.

[@martinwebb1681]

Three train stations actually, Waterloo underground station, London Waterloo station, and London Waterloo East station.

[@crs9796]

Watch the video. 13:03

[@suzysharpe2141]

Emmeline Pankhurst in 1904 actually opened the primary school building where I attended in the late 1950s / early 1960s !

[@MiningForPies]

Emmeline was a disgusting human being, demanding young men (who didn’t have the vote) die for her in WW1. Her daughter Sylvia was a 1000x better person.

[@davethatcher4954]

After the fire there was a push to lay the streets out like Paris, but on rebuilding they basically kept to the old street layouts.

[@MrBulky992]

That was a result of the complexities of the land ownership, I think. If they had tried to straighten everything out into a grid pattern, it would have taken years to sort out the legal disputes and the paperwork. It's a bit like planning permission today. Wren put a lot of work into plans for long straight boulevards and squares and it was all to no avail. Hitler would have ruined it in the end anyway.

[@SteveBagnall-gh1fu]

Hi, guys London Bridge is falling down, refers to when houses were built on the Bridge across the Thames, fire weakened it and the weight of bricks and wattle and daub, caused it to collapse.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

I would add: 1. Romans arrive in Britain. They weren't welcome but they did come with a lot of great innovations. 2. Romans leave Britain. You can out stay you're welcome, although when they left Britain did entered a dark period. 3. The opening of the world's first railway 4. The industrial revolution.

[@andrewwestgate2415]

You could also include the mid 5th to mid 6th centuries, when the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians arrived bringing with them the proto English language.

[@TanyaRando]

Great fire of London started in a bakery, and spread very quickly. Lots of the houses were built jam packed next to each other, with overhanging roofs, and very overcrowded,not well built, and made of inferior materials.

[@lloydcollins6337]

Mainly made of wooden beams, and "Wattle and Daub", which is a combination of woven wooden panels insulated with mud/manure to block out the wind/weather. When dried, this is all highly flammable.

[@nikibee237]

I only know the Henry VIII song from the film Ghost - Patrick Swayze's character Sam sings it over and over to Oda Mae Brown played by Whoopie Goldberg 😁

[@andybaker2456]

It was a US number 1 hit in 1965 for British band Herman's Hermits.

[@nikibee237]

@@andybaker2456 ahhh, I know some of their songs, but not that one - they were a little before my time, and looking online they didn't release it here in the UK

[@TheGarryq]

I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am was originally is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston covered by Hermans Hermits in the 1960s

[@cenedra2143]

You think its confusing now, the more you know the more people called Thomas, Richard, Henry and William you'll meet 😂 Thats when it gets fun 😊

[@BikersDoItSittingDown]

Hi folks, I would like to pat Steve on the back. This video shows his times reacting to these UK culture videos has not been wasted. UK history is such a huge subject that it takes a while to learn even the basics.

[@sharonmartin4036]

And the "Henry VIII" song he was singing was a hit for Herman's Hermits way back in 1965. The lyrics go "I'm Hen-e- ry the 8th I am, Hen-e-ry the 8th I am, I am. I got married to the widow next door. She'd been married 7 times before and every one was an Hen-e-ry, she wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam. I'm her 8th old man named Hen-e-ry, so Hen-e-ry the 8th I am."

[@geoffpoole483]

The Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede, near Windsor. There are videos on this topic that are of particular significance to Americans.

[@MisterBurtonshaw]

The arrival of the German's and Jutes(aka the English) in the C6th certainly changed these Islands, as did the arrival of the French Norsemen who took over the "English" easily enough but were forced to build dozens of castles in Wales to get a foothold, were important times. Ordinary people getting suffrage in the early C20th changed things a lot, previously the rich really were the only people who could afford to sit as MPs. The founding of the NHS in 1948 was the greatest achievement in social history, so that's another high point!

[@lloydcollins6337]

10:22 Nursery Rhymes were used in times before it was common for most people to learn to read and write and they were an invaluable way of passing on history and culture to children, which is why they're used in many cultures around the world. The "London Bridge" nursery rhyme specifically is most likely derived from events in the 1200s when the Queen (wife of the King in this case, not a monarch in her own right) was given the toll revenues from the sole crossing of the Thames in London, London Bridge. Rather than spend the money on keeping the bridge in good working order, she instead took the money for herself, and the bridge fell into disrepair. So she is the "fair lady" referenced in the rhyme. The passage about building it up with "sticks and stones" probably relates to the bridge piers (the bits which go into the water and support the structure on a traditional stone bridge) which were surrounded below and just above the water with what were called "starlings", made up of timbers pounded into the river bed to form a "dam", which was then packed with rocks and earth between the timbers and the bridge stonework. This would need constant maintenance to keep from washing away so that the starlings could prevent the bridge piers from damage by water erosion or being hit by things flowing down the river or hit by boats etc. In fact, on the old London Bridge, the piers were so numerous and close together that the water level at low tide would be up to 6 feet different between each side of the bridge as it caused a damming effect. This led to the Thames above the bridge slowing down, and this let it freeze in winter on occasion (about once every 10-15 years) to the extent that people would have "frost fairs" on the ice (essentially markets crossed with a circus funfair) and they even got coaches and horses on the ice to move people around. The last frost fair was held in the early 1800s from memory which is when the original London Bridge (dating from 1176 (finished in 1209)) was finally demolished after being replaced with the one which now sits in Lake Havasu, Arizona, having itself been replaced in the 1950s/60s

[@AC-um2mk]

That Henry the 8th song was used in the movie Ghost where Patrick Swayze was harrassing Whoopi Goldberg until she agreed to help hiim 🤣

[@brigidsingleton1596]

And apparently _before_ that, to get his gf to go out with him / marry him... (😊). R.I.P. Patrick Swayze.

[@reactingtomyroots]

That's probably where I remember it from 😂

[@wallythewondercorncake8657]

The Glorious Revolution should be on this list

[@peterwaddington7469]

I have had a fascination with history since I first starting learning about it in school back in the 1950's. Everything about History just grabs me and keeps me coming back for more, it's just a never ending adventure/love/war/scientific discovery story all rolled into one. Whatever type of subject interests you, history has it - and it's all still happening everyday!

[@lloydcollins6337]

12:45 The "Domesday" book was ordered by William the Conqueror in 1086. He wanted a list of what he had conquered 20 years before in 1066 so he could seize/redistribute/tax it. To summarise grossly, William wanted England for two reaons - power and money. Once he had taken control he spent 20 years sending his nobles and his knights around (he came out himself occasionally but spent a lot of his time in Normandy running that too and fighting with his neighbours on the continent) suppressing rebellions, building castles, and generally looting everything of worth as much as possible and then handing over the land to his mates and knights (basically as payment for their services in fighting for him). In 1086 he realised that his income stream was slowing dow a little bit (now that he'd killed thousands of peasants, mutilated hundreds more, killed loads of livestock, burned crops, and looted everything not nailed down) so he wanted an accurate picture of what existed in 1065 (so he knew what was there before he invaded) and what was there now, who owned it, and how much it was worth, so he could find where to focus his efforts with a nail puller to take everything which was nailed down (since that was all that was left). So the Domesday book was written up by thousands of clerks and scribes travelling the land, interviewing people, and forcing them to disclose everything of value. Now, it gives us a really good window into a point in time, a snapshot of how England looked back then, and how the economy was doing, and because it compares before the invasion with afterwards, we can really see what changed over those 20 years and it gives historians a reference point for how to interpret the relative values of things for a good period in either direction based on cross-referencing the Domesday book with other sources and information.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

You 'forgot' to say that, though spelt "Domesday" the book's name is pronounced 'Doomsday' - which has confused a few people, including some American Reactors, who _had_ (like Steve) heard of it, but upon seeing it written down, were confused by the spelling ...as with quite a few of our English🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 / British🇬🇧 words, and many of our place-names, too of course. (As am I, regarding a fair few Welsh🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 / Scottish🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 / Irish🇮🇪 names!!)😔

[@sddsddean]

Your 'Henry the 8th' song was a comic song written in 1910, but revived many times over the years...nothing to do with Henry VIII!!! However, two mnemonics to help you out. "Divorced, beheaded,died; divorced,beheaded, survived" tells you what happened to the wives in order. Do this in conjunction with this one to work out what happened to who. Able Bodied Seamen Chase Hairy Pirates = catharine of Aragon, anne Boleyn, jane Seymour, anne of Cleves, catharine Howard, catharine Parr. Hopefully this will help you out in local quizzes, if nothing else!!

[@andytopley314]

You should definitely look up The Tolpuddle Martyrs, as Americans you should find it fascinating and it was a VERY important point in British and world history.

[@davidsmith8279]

Battle Of The Boyne, 1690. Still has a MASSIVE impact on our nation today.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

There is a great history series for children called Horrible Histories, that you might enjoy along with Sophia…it also has some great songs. But it’s done in the style of a Sketch Show, so it’s funny, informative and factually correct. One of the actors from it was actually the presenter for a programme called The King in the Car Park which was the filming of the discovery of Richard III’s remains and is also very much worth a watch.

[@Thegeordievegan666]

totally agree horrible histories is the best learnt more from that than i ever did at school

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Please don't be confused, as it is easy to do so. There were two very important Cromwells in British history. Oliver Cromwell was guilty of regicide and ruled as a dictator for five years. He is also the only person to be executed two years after his death! His Great-great-grand uncle, Thomas Cromwell, was Henry VIII's chief minister. The latter is featured in the tv series Wolf Hall (based on the book by Hilary Mantel).

[@kaspianepps7946]

I was aware of both Oliver and Thomas Cromwell, but I never realised they were actually related.

[@MrBulky992]

There was also a third Cromwell you don't get to hear about much these days: Ralph Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell. He was a member of the regency council in 1422, ruling England in Henry VI's stead during the King's minority and held other high office including Lord High Treasurer of England.

[@wulfgold]

Ring around the roses is about the Black Death/plague + I just about remember that from school. You should check out some Al Murray - standup comedian, all in Character as an old fashioned pub landlord. H'es got an History Degree from Oxord University and I highly recommend "Name a country, we have defeated them" routine where he takes requests from the audience.

[@cookeymonster83]

Allegedly. There is no consensus on what that nursery rhyme is actually about and not enough historical evidence to make a concrete conclusion.

[@wulfgold]

@@cookeymonster83 it's been a long, long time since I was in school 🤣

[@brigidsingleton1596]

*"Ring-a-Ring of Roses" "Ring-a-Ring of Roses, A pocket full of posies A-Tishoo, A-Tishoo, We all fall down" ...

[@helenbailey8419]

The Hermits sang,"I'm Henry the eighth I am".A British group with lots of other hits..worth listening to.Peter Noon,the lead singer has livedvin America for years

[@Jinty92]

You were right about the kids songs. Ring a ring a rosies is written about black death. The rosies was red marks all over the faces and skin. We say atishoo, atishoo, all fall down. People sneezed and were affected and died. In the American version Ring around the rosie, the marked skin is the same. The Ashes, ashes was apparently because sufferers had ashes placed on them and then died.

[@sarahclapp505]

Great fire 2nd September 1666,.it was Baker in Pudding Lane there is a Monument you can go see it.

[@wolfadd5909]

I’d say the true formation of Britain should have been on this list too, the transition from heptarchy to monarchy under Alfred the great

[@MrBulky992]

What you are describing was the formation of *England* rather than Britain but you are right. Perhaps the similar event for Scotland should be included too - Kenneth MacAlpin's conquest of the Picts and the work of his successors, otherwise we still wouldn't have had a kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.

[@Jawa1604]

There are still some older buildings in London that pre-date the 17th Century, such as the Tower of London and there are even bits of Roman Wall that can still be seen. Sadly, it wasn't just the Great Fire that destroyed buildings but the Blitz during WWII. The Magna Carta was imposed upon John but he reneged on it as soon as he could. It was re-issued a number of times during John's Son and Grandson's reign. There are 4 copies of that 1215 charter that still exist; Two are at the British Library, one at Lincoln Cathedral and one at Salisbury Cathedral. There are actually 2 important Cromwells. The other one was at Henry VIII's court and was heavily involved with the reformation.

[@daveloboda1769]

The list is quite a good one but, as many will say, there is so much depth to our history that many things worthy of mention are omitted. I am always full of admiration for your efforts to learn as much as you can. Your videos are always quite informative, keep up the good work.

[@cookeymonster83]

First entry already jumped ahead of the most important prerequisite event that made it possible and that is the the refusal of King Charles I into the city of Kingston upon Hull in April 1642 which was the first official act of defiance against the Monarchy leading up to the English Civil War.

[@MrBulky992]

Was it the first in Britain though? Remember this is Great Britain we are talking about, not England. What about the Bishops' Wars of 1639 and 1640? The Scots refused to implement the King's religious changes (bishops, the prayer book, vestments etc.) and went to war. That sounds pretty defiant to me. At the Battle of Newburn Ford, the Scots' army of Covenanters defeated the King's army and captured Newcastle and the whole of Northumberland and Durham, forcing the King to agree to their demands: "The October 1640 Treaty of Ripon agreed the Covenanter army could occupy large parts of northern England, while receiving £850 per day to cover their costs. The Scots insisted Charles *recall [the English] Parliament to ratify the peace settlement* ; he did so in November 1640, a key element in the events leading to the First English Civil War in August 1642."

[@StephanieMaireFaith]

Henry the 8th song was in the movie Ghost

[@helenbailey8419]

It was and made me laugh that it used in the film.

[@philipmorris9154]

When you visit the UK' Magna Carter was signed at a place called Runny Mead which is very close to Windsor Castle' so you can fit both in very easily! Plus the nursery song "Ring-around-a-Rosey" Comes from the Plague' emphasising the sneezing of individuals and passing on the plague to others hence the term 'We all fall down" as for the Magna Carter = Only four original copies of Magna Carta survive. Two are kept in the British Library (one of which was badly damaged by fire in 1731), one in Salisbury cathedral, and one in Lincoln castle. Good work overall, Best Regards.

[@duncanward1718]

The Great Fire of London started in a bakers in Pudding Lane. The baker hadn't properly contained the fire in his bread oven overnight.

[@bobsteele9581]

The great fire of London started in a bakery in Pudding Lane, and has often been cited as wiping out the "Black Death" in London. Edit. The Henry the Eighth song is an old Victorian music hall song - not about the king of the same name, although that association is the "joke" of the song.

[@TheGarryq]

The Black Death was several hundred years before the Great Plague of London in 1665

[@russellfrancis6294]

The children's nursery rhyme ring around the roses was born out of the great plague of 1665. victims would develop rings on their skin start to smell, which would necessitate the sprinkling of posies on their deathbed to neutralise the smell. And then they would sadly die. ruddy awful. I was into history at school, and ( US. Math) ( UK.Maths) maths, the latter subject wasn't my favourite one in my early academic life. Your enthusiasm for my country brings me great joy Steve. Thanks again guys.

[@Welcometotherox]

There's actually not much historical evidence for the whole "ring around o'roses" theory having this link. People repeat it a lot, though.

[@cazzyuk8939]

Spot on Steve - it's 'I'm Henery the Eigth I am' - Hermans Hermits is the group that hit the charts with the song.

[@Bear_the_shepherd]

A spark from one of his ovens The Great Fire of London started in a bakery owned by Thomas Farriner, near Pudding Lane on the night of 2nd September, 1666. A spark from one of his ovens probably started the fire. The fire swept through London for four days, destroying 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and even St Paul’s Cathedral12.

[@AC-um2mk]

This video would be better if it listed the events in date order.

[@reactingtomyroots]

Agree with that!

[@jaysmith8199]

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived - the 6 wives of Henry 8th 😊

[@brigidsingleton1596]

Do _please_ correct me if / where I am in error: Catherine of Aragon (Divorced) Anne Boleyn (sp?) (Beheaded) Jane Seymour (Died) Anne of Cleves (Divorced) Katherine Howard (Beheaded) Catherine Parr. (Survived). ............................................ (Henry VIII 'seemed' to be - though probably / possibly merely _coincidentally_ - quite fond of the names 'Catherine' / 'Katherine' ...and 'Anne' ?!!) 🤔🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@jaysmith8199]

@brigidsingleton1596 Pretty sure that's correct 😊

[@user-xh2yz1zz9p]

The great fire of London started in a bakers shop in pudding lane.

[@Dave-wm2xg]

Hey, I was thinking about the Great Fire of London. Can you imagine how the baker who started it must have felt? I mean, burning your kitchen is bad enough, but an entire city? He probably lost his job, haha.😂

[@MrBulky992]

He definitely lost his job: there was no bakery to bake in after the fire! I wonder where they went immediately after the fire: it was a refugee situation, one imagines. No point in hanging around the smouldering ruins and, as houses had to be built of brick and stone rather than wood, where did they get the workforce with the new skills for the rebuild?

[@Dave-wm2xg]

@MrBulky992 good point, it must be somewhere in the history books, but I don't ever recall any account of the aftermath. It must have been an emergency situation of biblical proportions. About the baker who started it, I heard he eventually got fired. 😁 I'll get my coat. 😖

[@TanyaRando]

Women voting in USA was ratified in August 1920, well done Steve!

[@angelahawman4263]

And in Ireland the same year.

[@wessexdruid7598]

White women, only. Black women didn't get to vote in the USA until 1965.

[@nigelhyde279]

One thing to consider, the Great Fire of London destroyed much of what was the City of London also known as the Square Mile roughly speaking the same as the old Roman city. However places such as the City of Westminster or Southwark which are now parts of London weren’t. So St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London is 327 years old, Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster was founded in 959.

[@patriciacrangle8244]

1948 was the year the NHS started I started my nursing training 1950 retired 36 later I had 4 uncles Doctors & 4 aunts nurses so we had a lot to chat about pre & post NhS

[@AdamTaylor-RDL]

The cause of the Great Fire of London in 1666 is known. It started in a bakery, on a street called Pudding Lane. It's likely a flame or spark in the bakery. It spread quickly because London had a very dry and warm summer, that made the flammable mostly wooden buildings that little more flammable. The Domesday Book was a great survey of England and a lot of Wales from 1086. It listed the towns and their value, what each of them had that was relevant and of monetary value. Today it is often used as a reference to date how old a town or village was, if it appears in the book, it is at least from before 1086, you can also use it to see how the names of towns & cities changed over time. Another nursery rhyme from England, 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush' is thought to have started in the city I live in, possibly at the nearby Wakefield Prison, as there was a mulberry bush in the prison courtyard and inmates used to dance or exercise around in the moonlight.

[@chrisaris8756]

I’m very surprised that this doesn’t make any mention of the Norman invasion in 1066 when Harold lost to William of Normandie at the (somewhat misnamed!) Battle of Hastings. That was probably the most defining moment in British history since the Romans.

[@DGLUK1]

It did. That was number 1 on the list.

[@MrAlexBun]

Errr … it was number 1 on the list.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

Indeed, the battle was supposed to have taken place on Senlac Hill* , somewhere between seven to nine miles to the North of Hastings. William landed his armies at Pevensey Bay, just along the coast to the West of Hastings, (which afforded them easier shores upon which to land their boats). *The township of 'Battle' then built up from the area where the battle between King Harold and 'William the bastard', (Duke of Normandy), as he was known _before_ the epic battle, (later known as 'William the Conqueror') and William built an Abbey upon the spot (allegedly) where Harold was felled by one of William's archer's arrow (again, allegedly) to his eye. Harold was then partially dismembered and left to be buried by his wife, apparently. How sad an end to Harold... Our last Anglo-Saxon Monarch.😢

[@martinwebb1681]

@chrisasis8756 .... Someone obviously didn't watch till the end ... 😂 Or was it just that you wasn't paying attention? 😂

[@MrAlexBun]

I think this is a pretty decent top 10 list. I would probably add something to do with the Industrial Revolution, which single-handedly changed the face of rural England and in turn the rest of the Western world.

[@LoisPallisterCIY]

Amazed at how many people believe the Pudding Lane story for the Great Fire!

[@geeebee8512]

If I remember correctly, the great fire of London started in a bakery when a worker fell asleep. Houses were close together and made of wood. The particular weather conditions played a big part. The hot and dry weather had dried out the wood of the houses. Also, there was a breeze that added to the spreading of the fire. I also remember from school that a lot of the people who survived did so by cramming into boats on the river Thames. They thought they were literally in hell. Crazy to think it went on for nearly 5 days. Also, there has been more than one plague.

[@offal]

You 2 are part of British history, so it`s a great topic to react to. We class you as cousins in the UK, Our American cousins.

[@MarcusSchiavon]

Steve you're wrong again regarding the Magna Carta, you need to brush up on your British history and stop giving viewers wrong information in your videos. I can't believe you have the nerve to say that your wife knows very little about British history in general when it's actually you that knows sod all about it. How many times have you said in videos that your wife knows very little on certain topics?? I'm actually tired of hearing you say that, it's so disrespectful to say that to her. I watch your videos every day, mostly for Lynsey and Sophia because they're both funny, intelligent and enjoyable to watch. I wish i could say the same about you but i cant. You're an incessant talker, you're very serious and always seem really nervous in the videos, and if i'm observing this you can bet hundreds of others notice these traits about you as well. Your channel is nothing without your wife and daughter and i'm pretty sure that even you are aware of this. I can tell by watching the videos that your wife is highly educated and very intelligent so quit trying to put her down..

[@dee2251]

Oh just stop it. At least he’s trying to learn.

[@MarcusSchiavon]

@@dee2251 lol

[@davebeattie9573]

Oliver Cromwell. My Hero. We need another Cromwell moment. The British National Health Service (NHS) was established on July 5, 1948. It was created by the National Health Service Act of 1946, which came into effect on that date. The NHS was founded with the aim of providing healthcare services that are free at the point of use for everyone in the United Kingdom. Now it is the bottomless pit of UK politics. On a final note, I really don't think what is taught in school history classes can cover anything in great detail. For example, for me the entirety of World War Two was covered in just 5 one hour lessons, so thats five hours for a conflict that spanned the globe, and lasted more than 5 years. Lesson 1 was a brief overview of how it all started. Lesson 2 was the evacuation from Dunkirk. Lesson 3 was the Battle of Britain. Lesson 4 was D-day. Lesson 5 was a brief overview of how it all ended. We then had two lessons where axis war crimes were taught, which is really the only point at which the whole Pacific theatre came into it. And one non histroy class lesson covering the diary of Anne Frank. So that's 3 of 8 hours explaining how evil the axis powers were and 5 hours on the conflict itself. Nothing was mentioned about the Battle of the Atlantic except to say it was the longest running campaign in the war. Pity as one of my grandfathers was a gunner on AMCs (Armed Merchant Cruisers) and had two ships sunk from beneath him, one by Ju-88s and the other by U-Boat. The North African campaign got a brief mention to say that it was seen as a side show by all involved. Not how my other grandfather described it, but then again he only served in North Africa with the 8th Army. Had a granduncle in the RAF, navigator with bomber command, but that's a touchy subject, due to things like the fire bombing of Dresden, in which he took part, and operatoin Chastise, which he didn't take part, as both are debated about because of possible allied war crimes. Remember, 3 hours telling us how evil the axis were, can't have our little minds raising uncomfortable questions. Eastern front mentioned in an "oh the Russian were involved too" kinda way. Until the lesson on Japanese war crimes, the pacific theatre was like the eastern front, hand waved as "oh yes there was stuff going on there" but that was it until they want to tell us how horrible the Japanese were.

[@susanbearchell6436]

I'm a 66 year old londoner, when I was a kid we taught a rhyme IN 1666 LONDON BURNT TO STICKS. Another rhyme was about the order of Henry viii 6 wives and how they died

[@dataterminal]

In May 1772, a significant court judgement by Lord Mansfield in the case of James Somerset, an enslaved African, ruled that slaves could not be transported from England against their will. This helped established the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, by 1789, anti-slavery motions were introduce in Parliament. The UK declaration fir the abolition of slavery was a significant event in history passed by the British Parliament in 1831 as The Slavery Abolition Act. This act abolished slavery in British colonies and pathed the way for the British to go on a crusade that ended slavery, for everyone, around the world. The most important moment in British history, and one the British people only finished paying for a few years ago. Every adult in the UK that's alive today helped to pay off the debt that ended slavery around the world. A very good video is 'The British Crusade Against Slavery' that goes in to depth about it, it's one that Steve has already watched, but it would be it would be nice to see Lindsey react to it.

[@angeladormer6659]

When I lived at home, my parents downsized to a maisonette, just before my marriage. Our neighbours was a violin factory. This had been on the site since 1600s. A very famous English diarist, Samuel Pepys ( pronounced peeps) mentioned it in his diary when he also talked about the Great Fire of London. Also, when I was about 9/10 years old, the Doomsday Book travelled around England, and we were taken to see it as our area was mentioned. So the place I grew up had been there since before William invaded England. I think they have tried well to mention the most important things in history, but how can you do that in 10 points? I love history, it's what makes us who we are. ❤❤👵🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🌹🌹

[@brigidsingleton1596]

Although correctly _pronounced_ as 'The Doomsday Book', it's correctly _spelt_ "The Domesday Book" !! 🙂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@RogersRamblings]

At the time of the Great Fire of London, the city was still mostly contained within the Roman walls. Westminster was seperate with very few buildings between the two.

[@eleanorrichardson5262]

The fire of london started in a bakery, and because the buildings were so close together and flour is highly flammable it spread very very quickly

[@steve0500738]

The Domesday book was basically a country wide survey commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1066.

[@daffodil800]

The domesday book was basically the first census

[@susangarvey9415]

The fire started in a bakery in Pudding lane. There is a monument to the fire in the city. Richer people tried to escape the plague by packing up their things and getting out of London, bringing the fleas that carried the disease further.

[@kevintipcorn6787]

Americans would sing that Henry the 8th thing at me when I lived there. I had no idea what they were on about.

[@reactingtomyroots]

😂 I'm sorry this happened to you