The National Trust: Reimagining Our Past | With Dan Snow and Suzannah Lipscomb

Here at History Hit, we love exploring the historic sites managed by the National Trust. In this special film we participate in a major National Trust event, the first Octavia Hill lecture, delivered by renowned art historian and museum director, Neil McGregor.
Neil delves into two magnificent houses, Penrhyn Castle in North Wales and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, to demonstrate how such places can play a critical role in helping everyone to engage with complex histories. Widening the narrative, including all aspects of their history, no matter how challenging, can enrich our understanding of the past and influence our future.
Following the lecture, Dan Snow joins a panel discussion alongside Neil MacGregor, Sathnam Sanghera, and Suzannah Lipscomb, all chaired by Times Radio's Aasmah Mir.
Made in association with Times Radio
Sign up to History Hit TV now and get 14 days free: access.historyh...
And remember, as KZbin subscribers, you can sign up to History Hit TV today with code KZbin and enjoy 50% off your first 3 months!
For more history content, subscribe to our History Hit newsletters: www.historyhit....
#historyhit #dansnow #nationaltrust

[@s1nb4d59]

I love the way Suzannah narrates and her love for history.

[@maggiebrinkley4760]

An excellent film! I've been a NT member for nearly 50 years, and of course the exhibitions and information have changed and evolved over the decades. For example, the histories of women and the 'lower classes' are now not just acknowledged but celebrated. This is just another step on the way. Bravo, NT!

[@hissingsidll750]

Another woke bullshltter

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

@@hissingsidll750 racist

[@mervyit]

Except the majority of the population and NT customer base does not agree with you. Rewriting our history for foreign invaders should never be tolerated.

[@davidjames2910]

Growing up in the 1970s I was taught history from England's point of view, and we learned of wars that we won, less of messes like Suez. What stories from the past we learn is always subjective and I welcome seeing new perspectives. Those who are moaning about 'woke' and saying they'll unsubscribe don't care about history, but want to preserve their own cosy ideas.

[@thormusique]

Wonderful video from HHTV, as always. And long live the National Trust!

[@54mgtf22]

Love your work 👍

[@tgvettes]

I ❤ Suzannah

[@OpinionatedChicken59]

She's doing her white duty and not having any children, let them replace you girl 🥰 Soon blonde haired blue eyed people like her will be a thing of the past!

[@katherinecollins4685]

Really interesting

[@Renaissance_Kamikaze]

The National Trust being trusted with our heritage is like asking the German High Seas fleet to preserve the HMS Warspite, they aren't on any Historians side.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Hyperbole much?

[@hissingsidll750]

@@AnnaAnna-uc2ff You don`t know the difference between metaphore and hyperbole ? WHAT A CRETlN 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂

[@Renaissance_Kamikaze]

@@AnnaAnna-uc2ff well the NT aren't yet lobbing 13inch Dreadnought broadsides at our history, though I bet some would want that.

[@CortezDkiller]

I understand what people are saying here and it does seem a bit reactionary and to be honest a bit self indulgent and self serving. History is relative and in many cases barbarous, and we should not shy away from that. But to use terms such as Woke is really reductive. Instead, let us embrace the contradictions and realise that people in the past didn't understand what we think today. Anything else is just lazy revisionism with an eye on current discourse, which is the enemy of pure historiography and objective fact.

[@hissingsidll750]

Why not use the term woke......when its exactly what it is. They are using the same terms and narrative, especially the little commissar in the middle and not one is picking him up on his racist comments.......just nodding along like little lapdogs....too scared or too indoctrinated to upset `a person of colour`

[@moodyb2]

"Re-imagining"? You mean "LYING" don't you.

[@williamrobinson7435]

PS I refer to the comments. I think the debate has dealt with the problems, not solved them but addressed and highlighted them. No point in going off at half cock. 👍

[@marmaladeatkins]

I thought this was really interesting as I’ve felt frequently frustrated visiting these big houses for their stories about rich white kids frittering about on their inherited money. I like the tours about the flaws and problematic aspects of these people. I like the concept that people’s behaviours aren’t just right and wrong and that people evolve but also make terrible decisions. And I appreciate those choices may have been for specific reasons based on what was safe/expected/required by others that maybe we don’t know the reasons for as visitors, being less aware of the culture and society of the specific time period, which is why I like guides and volunteers being able to frame it all too. I do think it’s important to not romanticise the properties as some perfect lifestyle for the owners when the people who built and ran the houses or those living nearby had difficult, shorter lives. There can always be the two types of tours - the ones about the dates and the items and the art, and the ones about the cultural impact or stories of minorities, even if these are thin on the ground because they were less likely the people with documents and written opinions preserved. I certainly think to appeal to the younger generations going forward it is important that such places can evolve their displays and find ways to be relevant and justify their existence, especially if people have a bitterness about their creation and what they remind some of. Public reparations and acknowledging the past will have to exist in some form, to prove the land and history is relevant and available to all, (even when may feel like it isn’t, due to what seems like high costs of entry and difficulty in getting there on public transport etc)(and I appreciate that the money is needed for upkeep and is no doubt reasonable for other local attractions but when you are in those poverty situations to then see the glut of extravagance and see how the rich lived really bites at the unfairness - and especially when it’s not acknowledged how the impoverished lived at the same time period as the building etc). Anyway, just my thoughts after watching this.

[@kev3d]

" Public reparations and acknowledging the past will have to exist in some form" Reparations? Paid by whom to whom? I don't see a lot of 19th century coal mine workers walking around who are owed hazard pay.

[@TommyAtkins-bd5ky]

why is the children's skin of interest to you ?

[@Guesswho-qk2kv]

Won’t be long before we are told black slaves built Stonehenge

[@BobJohnson648]

Somebody needs to tell the Turks to preserve what's left of the walls west of Instanbul

[@smoath]

Let's be honest and cut the crap. We all know the current paradigm rewards virtue signaling. Smug mutual back slapping is fooling many, but not everyone.

[@EthanKnight97]

Defund the National Trust. You are not supposed to "reimagine history" you are supposed to preserve it objectively.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

What an excellent observation. All these new and meaningless expressions, are part of what Orwell described in "1984" as "Newspeak"; that is a new language to brainwash the population more efficiently. I am not a Brit but if I was, I would be campaigning for its defunding.

[@timstoker]

You are right William, preserve history faithfully, don't 're-imagine it.

[@pancho1993]

They are disgusting, they don't preserve anything, they're just a business looking to make a profit.

[@mattob4619]

Stunning ignorance. What an utter dolt.

[@quinnmclaughlin7537]

see that history is told by the winners, preserving objectivity IS also telling the loser's side of history. speaking as an American, you sound as crazy the people over here that want to defund the police.

[@fasthracing]

Oh yes the truly woke National Trust. No thanks.

[@TheAegisClaw]

So terrible to be awake to injustice. It's not the insult you think it is. We wear it like a badge of honour.

[@kev3d]

@@TheAegisClaw There is nothing "awake" about being "woke". Being aware of accurate history means acknowledging the good, the bad, and all points in between with an emphasis on accuracy, not imposing present day values on people and societies long dead. Woke ideology is merely the cover for neo-racism, to blame those who were never slave-holders and infantilizing those who were never slaves, all based on race. Woke ideology is about reigniting decades or even centuries-old grievances, dividing people into socio-economic-racial castes that are either praised or condemned, not based on the individual's actions or values, but on the actions of others who happened to look similar. Wokeness is not about learning from the past, it's about tearing down the past, deliberately altering the language, removing statues and art, and covering up facts that are not currently politically fashionable. Just as ISIS, the Taliban and Al Qaeda have destroyed priceless, irreplaceable artifacts, so to the woke wish to similarly destroy anything that conflicts with their neo-Marxist world view. The irony is that while the woke cheer the destruction of truth, beauty, art, and history, they do nothing to actually alleviate actual injustices. Rewriting Roald Dahl to use "less offensive" newspeak seems lovely, but it doesn't abolish a single slave market which operate in Africa right now. Sure, the Prime Minister of New Zealand cannot define "woman", despite nearly everyone knowing pretty much exactly what a woman is for all of recorded history, but it's clearly an attempt to placate the woke...who do absolutely nothing to address the million+ uyghurs in concentration camps in China. Yes, renaming of schools and institutions in the US, previously named after men like Jefferson or Lincoln strikes a blow for "social justice" we are told, but it doesn't make a single black person more well educated, it doesn't get anyone off drugs, and it doesn't reduce crime. All across the anglosphere (and beyond), there are moves by the woke, not to elevate humanity, but to perpetuate division, tribalism, censorship, and politically motivated iconoclasm.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

@@kev3d Were you home-schooled in by a Christian cult?

[@hissingsidll750]

@@TheAegisClaw WHAT INJUSTICE ???........oh yeh...it`s all in your head

[@fasthracing]

@@hissingsidll750 I agree. Wonder what will happen to such organisations once they have alienated 50% of the indigenous population?

[@johnllewlyndavies222]

Unsubscribing

[@TheAegisClaw]

Bye Felicia.

[@frontenac5083]

We don't give a shit. Stop spamming.

[@hissingsidll750]

@@TheAegisClaw Don't be such a prat

[@pancho1993]

Unsubscribing, the national Trust are destroying our landmarks.

[@perryedwards4746]

God save some things!!!

[@Livlifetaistdeth]

Great houses like that were pure propaganda to consolidate, solidify and maintain power. That's all, nothing more.

[@johnllewlyndavies222]

They had toilets too.

[@Livlifetaistdeth]

​@@johnllewlyndavies222 with toilets!

[@wolverineeagle]

Everything is propaganda.

[@moodyb2]

So nobody lived in them, right?

[@siliconjim2554]

Oh dear. Terrible apologist claptrap. If the speaker is so wrought with grief by his ancestors exploits then maybe he should travel to India to help Modi’s corrupt government.

[@lectorintellegat]

Ah yes, the national trust - an institution founded on the socially conservative principle that the past is worth preserving, that we have a responsibility to hand down what we ourselves received, and that the past has both negative AND positive things to teach us. We are suffering the effects of 2/3 generations of poor education, of which I too was a recipient, such that our institutions are now ran by those who don’t - and can’t - understand them.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

What?

[@hissingsidll750]

@@AnnaAnna-uc2ff Want a translation thicko ?

[@Zeke-nm7lw]

@@hissingsidll750 can’t translate utter bs

[@hissingsidll750]

@@Zeke-nm7lw Why? You seem to be fluent in it

[@More_Row]

Cringe

[@soundsilence]

I'm important too so make a movie about my temple

[@Viscount_Castlereagh]

We clearly voted the wrong people in at the AGM, everything that is happening to the Trust could have been altered by the voting members.

[@wolverineeagle]

If you want to engage with the complex history you need to go back to the beginning of human habitation of the island and go from there. This selective approach to history doesn’t really work and frankly comes off as narrow in focus as prior histories.