Great British Road Journeys - Bedfordshire - Luton to Leighton Buzzard Ep. 10

[@martinbcooper]

Thank you John for visiting Luton so that we don't have to. Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated.

[@AidanMacgregor-Personal]

"That's not a bus, That's a lorry, don't think your supposed to be here... Good Luck!" hahaha

[@cirian75]

suspect he'll be getting a ticket for that.

[@BethzeidaJohnson]

The sat nav told the driver its OK

[@TheTezz100]

😄 love John's puns & funny thing's he comes out with, in part's of his video. But kinda realy funny when random things like this dose the job for him😄

[@33andy33gmail]

“Don’t you know how hard our job is, delivering food to millions of families? People need to stop criticising us”

[@dwaynealexander9413]

i also found it funny it had L plates and was foreign. That's some messed up driving lesson haha!

[@southcalder]

As I discovered about Luton two years ago when i had to stay there for the few nights, you can get a train out of the place at 3am. So there’s a positive. Escape is easy.

[@DavidShepheard]

John getting "photobombed" by a truck that should not be travelling along the guided bus-way was very funny.

[@GreenJimll]

Ah, Dunstable - my home for the first 18 years of my life. The great thing about living in a town next to Luton is no matter how shit your town becomes, it still isn't Luton.

[@xr6lad]

Dunstable became a hole a long time ago.

[@josephmarch6850]

I live in dunstable myself. Nice to see my hometown featured

[@andyrbush]

This channel is turning into a fascinating tour of parts of the UK. Really superb.

[@antonycharnock2993]

Parts of the UK other channels don't reach. For a reason.

[@andyrbush]

@@antonycharnock2993 what do you mean?

[@dangerousandy]

04:44 a great example of Norman solar panel installation.

[@David_Crayford]

Well done, Norman!

[@t.fahrmann9757]

The airport 🛫: The easiest way to get away as quickly as possible 🤭🤣, poor Luton 😣🤭😅😂🤣

[@buddy19134]

and yet totaly deserved.

[@GaryB007]

I lived there for 10 years - he's spot on 🙂

[@molegripeu]

Plus it's got 3 train stations and 3 motorway junctions, it's a great place to go somewhere else from

[@pauldevenish]

I did have to laugh at that

[@craigreilly2603]

i like this and have pressed the button specifically for this.

[@curiousmatt]

I've been for a "fish and chip ride" on the Leighton Buzzard narrow gauge railway. Quite surreal sitting on a little train with open carriages scoffing fish and chips whilst trundling through housing estates, then you stop whilst someone opens a gate across the track and tootle off in to the coutry side.

[@chrisblay]

A lorry going down a bus lane. Happens every day.

[@jfv65]

Funny. I suppose some clevet sneaky truckers discovered that it is a faster route?

[@robturner3065]

That's not a bus, it's a Romanian....

[@brianartillery]

I saw another truck of the same company make a complete mucking fuddle of a roundabout a few months back. Their staff are obviously highly trained.

[@simocreations]

Can’t find this?

[@NotALot-xm6gz]

If the truck is full of illegals, does that make it a bus?

[@jasonali4122]

Sad that Lorraine Chase wasn't given a mention. She has to be the most important chapter in the history of Luton Airport.

[@whyyoulidl]

Cinzano?

[@stephenwhite345]

You could be wafted in from paradise to luton airport if you're unlucky

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

​@@whyyoulidl Campari

[@Phuc_Yhou]

And The Cat's Luton Airport single reaching the giddy heights of number 22 in the UK charts 😉

[@Calum_S]

​@stephenwhite345 🤣🤣

[@Scotticus25]

Bro's hatred for Luton warms my heart.

[@Sustainable_Engineer]

What's wrong with Luton?

[@robturner3065]

@@Sustainable_Engineer 🤣

[@theyarenthere]

​@@Sustainable_Engineerhas been voted the worst town in the UK for at least the last 5 years, local residents describe it as a "nothing town"

[@ChickenNugget-dk9hp]

Everything@@Sustainable_Engineer

[@gavincampbell2862]

@@Sustainable_Engineer what is right with it?

[@DrWhoFanJ]

6:14 And was the second of many examples of _Doctor Who_ using a quarry to represent another planet! _(The Macra Terror,_ 1967)

[@BabyGonzo5]

I’m still bemused by how much I enjoy this channel. I waste every minute watching this and enjoy every one of them. So weird. Well done John, you could sell onions to the French.

[@jordie8396]

Episode 10 and it still jars me when he ends with "See you next time for another Great British Road Journey" For Some reason, I still always expect "for another exciting episode of secrets of the motorways" ... I wonder how many times Jon has accidentally almost said the wrong outro out of habit so far 🤔

[@TheOracle65]

Great episode John! The depth of subtle dry humour peppered with full-on sarcasm and combined with excellent, well presented information is an absolute winner. The top notch editing, visuals and comedic timing make this a must-watch, like and subscribe edition to any UK motoring YT enjoyer.

[@theonlywoody2shoes]

I’m most impressed with your expanded budget, allowing you to charter aircraft to appear as directed in your videos - well that, or you have a LOT of patience! Amazing content as always, I used the button specifically to show my appreciation for it thank you.

[@melondasher]

(you can also use certain websites to track the flights and just time it properly! :D )

[@haggielady]

When has a flight ever taken off at the stated time, especially from Luton?

[@01mememememe]

That plane intro and the sound hitting the microphone at the perfect moment must have taken a lot of setting up

[@jonh6585]

I was going to comment that it was greatest set up since James Burke launched that rocket in Connections

[@fwstrust2844]

@@jonh6585was about to write the same.

[@RichTapestry]

Tom Scott level timing

[@stephenwhite345]

It was done in the studio

[@nathanw9770]

Pretty cool that Dunstable decided to reuse their old railway not only for passenger use but for freight too. The enthusiasts will love that no doubt.

[@stuartwilks1621]

These videos get better and better. The humour is fantastic. 😂

[@luxorjr]

The Rules of Luton was an episode of Space1999 (1976). This exotic planet being named after Luton because the imported American producer/writer (Fred Freiberger) saw the name on a road sign. A choice much to the amusement of series creator Gerry Anderson and the rest of the crew.

[@xvii9055]

Bro you are the perfect example of English humour. Love these videos and by far the funniest creator on this platform. Thank you

[@spitfire1962]

Definitely morphing into train shenanigans Jon.

[@brantnuttall]

you made me laugh just talking about the A505. Nice!

[@davidcronan4072]

One should not forget that the driver of the train involved in the robbery was badly injured and never made a full recovery.

[@davidjohnson00001]

In fact, he died from his injuries.

[@EdwardKane-pb5rj]

Thanks for mentioning this. Folk heroes or f***ing scum who coshed a bloke going about his job ultimately causing his death? It'll probably have to be the former because the reality doesn't make for cosy Phil Collins films or fit with rebellious sneering punks....

[@garethaethwy]

The train driver was one of the people that they never actually caught...

[@davidcronan8698]

I meant the actual BR train driver, not the one who drove the train for the robbers. @@garethaethwy

[@garethaethwy]

@@davidcronan8698 yes, I know, my comment may not have been quite as clear as I thought it was when typing, sorry x

[@aixtom979]

Ah, nice. Spent some summer holidays in Luton with my aunt and uncle back in the 1980s. My uncle used to work at Vauxhall, and one time we went to see the Concorde visiting Luton Airport for display.

[@sr6424]

Luton Airport - should be a nightmare for me but wasn’t. I left my car n the car park,last October. The car park burnt down with my car. I received a brilliant insurance payout got a great new car!

[@theredestbull]

timing your intro to a plane landing.... oh Jon, you magnificent wizard

[@jamessnowdon9370]

I am guessing this series could go on forever. ....most excellent!

[@MacBob]

Oh, the memories! Worked for EDS in Luton from 97 until 2002 before transferring to Milton Keynes then central London. Luton is absolutely a shithole. We used to joke that the best things about it were the M1, railway and airport as they let you get far away quickly! Thanks for confirming that John 😅

[@MrSimonfoz]

Loving the dry humour brilliant lol😂

[@MartinPiper6502]

Wicked, sweet, awesome.

[@bladeofzorro1932]

It just gets better and better.

[@FinnDeacon]

Thanks

[@JoFreddieRevDr]

Saturday Night beneath The Plastic palm Trees?

[@davidchristopher9475]

Dancing to the rhythm of the guns of navarone

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Dunstable Priory another beautiful building. The Lorry driving down the guided busway 😂😂😂 Jon's Deadpan expression then "thats not a bus that's a Lorry!!" Another excellent and informative Video Jon.

[@KnugenMooMoo]

What's the odd of that you catching a truck on the guided bus route 😂 pure gold

[@sonadagothalus]

20 seconds in and already smirking with the emphasis on "Luton" when describing where you are starting.

[@Digitalpiracy]

lovely flashback to my long-missed grandfather's house on Vandyke Rd, near the crossing - thanks John

[@tonys1636]

Market Crosses are generally taken as the centre of a town or village from which distances to and from are measured. The market was held around them and often in a market hall close by for auction of produce other than livestock. Always/were a few pubs close by.

[@InTheBeginningTheUniverseWas]

As a previous resident of Dunstable for many years, I can tell you that bus way is fantastic. You can save half the time going from Dunstable to Luton station, all the better to get on a train and go very very far away, as quickly a possible!

[@simonsparaguay]

Growing up in Dunstable you could always feel good about the place by remembering it wasn't Luton

[@geoffreylee5199]

Was through there in 1964!

[@pbsquilz]

yayy finally my town! i know we're all secretly excited waiting until he visits our towns on the road journey!!

[@Theoriginalramjammer]

“We are still in Bedfordshire, and as if that wasn’t bad enough we start in Luton”😂 Blimey, going for a punch in the guts and the Jugular in one sentence mate!

[@robertshaw4213]

Except I'm fairly sure he's actually standing in a field in Hertfordshire. The county boundary is where the road is, on the other side of the hedge to his right!

[@MrJohnRWells]

Born and live in Luton and I can say it's not as bad as you think. Its worse. Though I've never been threatened on the streets in Luton. Can't say the same for Liverpool, though...

[@LUNATIC75]

I moved to Leighton Buzzard about 12 years and I can safely say, you were far too complimentary about the hole's known as Luton, Dunstable and (to an extent) Leighton! And they say it's grim up 'Norf... As for the proposal at 5:52. Please don't. On a lighter not... In the drone shot of Leighton Buzzard, I saw my home! If I'd have known you were there, I would pestered you for some loose change.

[@valentine75]

Your Saab is basically a fancy Vauxhall Vectra thanks to General motors buying out Saab all those years ago

[@dartskipper3170]

General Motors wanted the SAAB 2.0 litre diesel engine because their own 2.2 litre lump didn't attract favourable tax benefits for business drivers.

[@bkam9794]

6:00 I didn't know that that line still did freight services.

[@neilharbott8394]

Dunstable Priory, a fine example of Norman architecture, complete with solar panels?! Who knew the Normans were so advanced!!

[@RobinCapper]

Been catching up with your series over the past few weeks. Been fun, Thanks!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, that's really kind of you! :)

[@alantheskinhead]

The Sugar Loaf Hotel used to have a massive sugar loaf on it's porch roof up until recently. I can remember flying to Tunisia in the early 1980's from Luton when it very basic and not much more that a large shed. We flew with the long gone Monarch Airways and my mother's claim to fame is that she sat next to Pete Murray who at the time was a famous Radio 2 DJ. We as children never got over this and even to this day at the age of 91 my mother still goes on about it! Dunstable is not that bad as old things go, famous for the priory and it's many hidden old buildings. It was a marching post for Roman soldiers travelling from St Alban's (Verulanium) to Towcester (Lactodurum) via Dunstable (Durocobrivae). Alas the A5 is now been downgraded to the A505 & A5183 due to the new M1 link road that goes past a horrible new estate. There does appear to a quarry theme going on in that area as you have Sandy, Woburn Sands, Little and Great Brickhill, etc.

[@sandycheeks7865]

Yes, a big white hat. I wonder why, after 30-40 years they got rid of it.

[@alantheskinhead]

I suspect it needed replacing. But how do you nip out and buy a wooden sugar loaf?!

[@pontyexpat]

Now in my 5th decade in LU7, as always, informative and humorous, thanks. Fun fact: in a sort of "selling fridges to Eskimos" way, some of the better/right quality sand is exported to the Middle East for use in desalination plants - something to do eith grain size & shape. Not a lorra people know that. Keep up the good work, John!

[@jcooper_]

Will always have a soft spot for Dunstable - or Dunny - mainly for the Downs that nestle right against the town that made for a wonderful exploration as a child, and a quiet place to get drunk with mates as a teen 😃

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

The best stand up comic on TV ……. ooops …….. on KZbin. 👏👏👍😀

[@jimkats1]

What a great heist. And what a photobombing of an illegal lorry passage from busway :d.

[@arthome2441]

Wow! There's something I can visit. Thanks 😊

[@shaunburgess8471]

Born and bred in Leighton along time ago...changed totally unfortunately...Luton...Lousy Untidy Town outof Nowhere..and that's from back then !

[@srednivashtar5432]

You had me at ‘This week we’re still in Bedfordshire, and if that wasn’t bad enough…’

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

The feature on the Leighton Buzzard railway reminded me of when I travelled on it about 30 years ago. The journey is not especially interesting and the only thing to do at the end is to stay on the train and wait for it to come back to where you got on. Before we departed, a posh-talking middle-aged man with a monacle turned up with a guy in a chauffeur's uniform. The middle-aged guy asked staff members quite a few questions about the railway but, when asked to buy a ticket, said that he hadn't got time and the pair went back to the car park. I did wonder at the time whether it was just a couple of friends having a laugh but I never found out.

[@markjlewis]

Happy Easter egg day!

[@ShammityShamSham]

Woo! My hometown on a Shenanigans video! Leighton Buzzard is so much better now than it was even 20 years ago.

[@JimChampion]

At last the Great British Road Journeys have reached somewhere that I have (had?) a connection with. Family came from in and around Leighton Buzzard and my great aunt and uncle lived on Vandyke Road, with the narrow gauge railway opposite. All I can really remember (this was the 1980s) was that Leighton Buzzard had a Waitrose and a bakers called Geo. Ort. And then a Tesco opened. That’s it.

[@JimChampion]

Just googled it, and Geo. Ort was so successful in Leighton B that he expanded into Dunstable.

[@queeg6473]

A few years ago Luton decided it wanted to split away from Bedfordshire and become its own county. We wern't sorry to see it go...

[@PaulRooke-fj1hn]

Thanks - my week ends when I get your videos

[@barrieshepherd7694]

This series keeps on giving, awesome research and script writing and sharp editing makes it all perfect.

[@TheChiefSmeg69]

Glad you got the drone fixed John

[@cheesedoff-with4410]

I specifically liked this video and have pressed the button so that I can get on with whatever it is the devil I have to do next week. Rather good this channel. Don't stop. I think you're on to something.

[@TMCNJ]

5:59 as a former bus driver/now lorry driver, this made me laugh. You’re reaction was on point with mine “…good luck” 😂 I guess he wanted to identify as a freight train

[@gphunk1995]

Great video. Back in the late nineties I was a delivery driver in the Leighton Buzzard area for a while. Used to always deliver cases of wine to one B. Monkhouse. Never met him though.

[@andrewmurray5542]

I think Monkhouse lived in Eggington, not far out of Leighton Buzzard. I was told the house was called 'Claridges'. That's what I heard, anyway.

[@gphunk1995]

@@andrewmurray5542 that rings a below. A really nice old beamed place it was.

[@davekirk100]

Planes, trains and automobiles. Great stuff, thanks John

[@mrlister2000]

There's a guided busway in Leigh, Lancashire, and anything other than a bus going down it gets a fine courtesy of His Majesty's Post

[@Thoringer]

This is one of your best videos so far! Kudos to you! Always a pleasure to watch your videos.

[@dougmorris2134]

Ah! Luton, Campari and lemonade. “Were you truly wafted here from paradise.” “No! Luton Airport” “ Nice colour ain’t it” words spoken by Loraine Chase. Oh and nice wicked, sweet ending at Leighton Buzzard on the LB Narrow Gauge Railway

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Happy Easter 🧲👍⚓️

[@Dan23_7]

Magnet wanker ? 😂

[@Maddanju1632]

That road toward Someries castle is a bone jerker…

[@eddiemaylor2716]

Thank you for showing my home town. I watched again to see if I was in any of the video.

[@Bicyclehub]

I am surprised that you didn’t tell us about dangerous vintage children’s playground equipment maker Wicksteed. We had one of their slides in our local playground when I was a kid and it seemed as high as Blackpool Tower to me, with a drop straight on to concrete. Wicksteed Park in Kettering is still open.

[@richardjones5255]

I only knowingly visited Luton a couple of years back with my then, seriously ill, late wife who needed urgent health support at somewhere between 02:00 and 05:00. Hopefully, I will never have to go there again.

[@phildaly3561]

Ah, Leighton Buzzard, where you commute from if you can't afford Berkhamsted. My abiding memory from living there for a bit is that everything seems to close at 3pm. Was there a while back and the Conservative Club in the high street was advertising a screening of Carry on Camping, presumably unironically. Make of that what you will. Anyway, enjoyed this, so of course have pressed the button specifically for that.

[@Nastyswimmer]

3:15 - "a millionth of an inch" - oh dear, no! Fine measured to a Mil, which is a thousandth of an inch.

[@IronFanJoe]

8:30 They must have got the idea from the episode of HeartBeat where almost exactly the same thing happened 😜

[@mojo031]

John getting mildly surprised by an unexpected vehicle - reminds me of the red car (a Vauxhall Astra maybe?) which parked right behind him a while back. Good video though John, much appreciated your work 👍.

[@sprint955st]

Lots of places I recognise there. Looks better from up in the air than down on the ground.

[@MarcUK]

A market cross (or mercat cross as they're called in Scotland), is a structure used to mark a market square in towns, where a regular market or fair was held.

[@Sarge084]

Now this *was* a very interesting and informative episode of Great British Road Journeys. Airfields are always of interest to me but the quarries out did Luton Airport this week. Writing of Luton Airport, has anyone ever checked in at the Smith Air desk at Luton Airport?

[@MrJohnRWells]

It is trivially easy for a quarry to outdo Luton Airport.

[@cullercoatswebsite]

This is better than the comedy channel :)

[@haggielady]

Much better

[@FXCartel]

Look forward to these videos every week now itching for the next already

[@alanpritchard5709]

How interesting. Fwicked. Sweet. Awesome.

[@alanmon2690]

I lived in Leighton Buzzard in 1975-76. It has changed!

[@alancooper59]

Fair play; I grew up in Leighton Buzzard and now live in Luton (I know...) and you covered pretty much everything interesting in the area 👍🏻

[@telemachus53]

Back in the 60s the football club Luton Town was so ridiculed that Luton became synonymous with Old Kent Road on the Monopoly board. Old Kent Road is fast becoming trendy, whereas Luton...

[@DanielMeakin1]

Brilliant to see your video near my town. I've travelled on the busway alot and it's funny to see a lorry on it!

[@stamfordhatter5612]

Ah the ‘loaf’. Many a happy Saturday night spent in there back in the day.

[@andyalanbertie]

But curious minds want to know what happened to the "loaf" over the front door. Not in either of the pictures, but was there at some point in between...

[@timsully8958]

I must say John, your ability to turn the mundane into the actually rather interesting is quite remarkable. Even Luton sort of sounds intriguing, if only because one really would be amazed if we’re as truly awful as you say. I mean, Leighton Buzzard is hardly culture capital of the world. Even Stevenage sounds more appealing than Luton, not because of it being less awful but I suspect you have more chance of escaping Stevenage unharmed 🤔 That railway looks an interesting one though, so maybe there actually IS reason to go to LB after all? Whouda thunk it? 🤷🏻‍♂️👍🍀

[@jacquesvandenberg1873]

Another awesome video, thanks Jon 😊

[@Mega_Umbreon]

Looking forward to you coming to Buckingham soon, if your guide book mentions it! Also i loved your advertisement for the railway at the end, im definitely going on that.

[@wasimali82]

Hi mate. Come to Bedford town to check out New Turbo Roundabout Bedford council built few years ago. It’s one of its kind in the Whole of UK.

[@FinnDeacon]

There are times that I wished I lived back up that way still :-) Another fascinating and funny episode Jon. Well done and so true :-)

[@shaunwest3612]

Great video John, amazing as always, what the beep was that lorry ever doing 😳😀👍