When British Coal Was King - BBC Mining Part 1

Timeshift explores the lost world of coal mining and the extraordinarily rich social and cultural lives of those who worked in what was once Britain's most important industry. It's a story told through a largely forgotten film archive that movingly documents the final years of coal's heyday from the 1940s to the 1980s. One priceless piece of footage features a ballet performance by tutu-wearing colliers.
Featuring contributions from those who worked underground, those who lived in the pit villages, those who filmed them at work and at play and those - like Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall - who have been inspired by what made coalfield culture so unique.
Narrated by Christopher Eccleston

[@davidharrison6615]

my granddad always said "king coal" .A miner who also fought right through ww1 from day one to the last . when Churchill said the miners are all traitors and should be lined up against a wall and shot during the general strike it hurt him more than all the other pain in his life .

[@Withnail1969]

The working class has trouble understanding how much the ruling class despises them.

[@Withnail1969]

Coal is still king worldwide. Most electricity comes from coal. We still use coal embodied in all the goods we buy from China.

[@mrflydog]

I was a miner from 1957 to 88, I believe Maggie Thatcher closed the pits and moth balled the coal until all other fossil fuels are exhusted.

[@tonnehead777]

I wouldn't be surprised but most governments aren't that good at long term strategic planning. should have done the same with North Sea oil and gas, can only get more valuable as time goes on. Also would let us tell Putin to go shove it.

[@brc6137]

yeah Margaret Thatcher is a stupid cow for closing the mines!

[@davidmccormick4319]

I think you’ll find that Labour closed more pits than Thatcher, with the discovery of North Sea oil in the 70’s and more efficient mechanisation further led to the demise of coal.

[@Withnail1969]

The mines were no good. Mostly exhausted and uneconomic. British coal production peaked in 1913.

[@tonylaverick7865]

@@Withnail1969 Your comment is a gross oversimplification of the subject.

[@GaryClarkeUK]

Really fascinating look at coal and this important industry!

[@bobbyo7822]

Thanks for posting.

[@kialaitakari9041]

Hello ModifiedMethod! I would like to use a few seconds of this video for Billy Elliot the musical in Finland. Please contact me about the license fees/rights asap. Thank you!

[@benzandpour]

SONS AND LOVERS by DH Lawrence

[@user-sy5fi3xc4s]

Who's know about coal english miners on Spassk (Kazakhstan) around 1905-1915 years? Write to me

[@michaeltrussler1249]

As Carbon resources dwindle, technologies emerge and global politics become even more uncertain - there WILL come a time at which it is economic to dig this coal back out again - and there's a great deal left. It is probably this country's greatest asset.

[@SwissCheese112]

***** I agree, and with cheap coal we can fire up our steel industry again and get back into ship building, the revitilization that would happen with coal is just hard to fathom, we would become industry giants again and no longer need to rely on foreign means.

[@zeddeka]

@@SwissCheese112 are you for real? If that was the case then why aren't other countries switching back to coal? Using coal has nothing whatsoever to do with revitalising the steel industry or becoming an industrial giant. Technology and the world has moved on. This isn't the 19th century. British industry declined because it was vastly inefficient, has chronic underinvestment, and failed to move with the times and we were paying ourselves more than the value of what we produced. Coal had nothing whatsoever to do with it. The idea that using coal again would reinvigorate the country is bizarre fantasy.

[@zeddeka]

Absolute hogwash. There's absolutely no point at which it's more economic to dig up coal again. You don't seem to have joined the dots. The technology you talk about simply makes renewables and nuclear ever cheaper and easier to use.

[@hugowalker220]

At 1:18, it's Brian Cox

[@paularobinson7230]

It's Russell Senior, the guitar/violin player from PULP. He was very active on the picket lines during the strikes. Xxx

[@paularobinson7230]

Russell Senior ❤

[@andrewperkins8532]

my grandfather's would turn in their graves if they knew what had happened to our coal industry, they import inferior coal produced in slavery by children and threw good men in the scrap heap here.

[@zeddeka]

The problem with coal is that it's not a crop - it doesn't grow back. Once it's gone, it's gone. The coal that hadn't been dug up already in the UK was for the most part more expensive to get out than it was to sell. That's why pit closures actually started well over a century ago - the country is littered with old collieries that closed in the 1800s or even earlier. Our generation got to see the tail end of the coal industry in the UK. It had to end sometime. If we're being honest though, I don't think many of us would want it back. Appalling dangerous jobs that wrecked men's health and sent them to early graves, and massive pollution. The failure wasn't that the coal industry ended. It had to end at some point. The failure was that no real replacement was found.

[@kenstevens5065]

@@zeddeka A very interesting and factual review. The thing is Government in the UK refuses to look further than, as usual, to the next election and are poorly qualified to understand our Country and it's energy needs in any case. We have hundreds of years reserves of coal and we have the technology to capture the carbon produced by coal fired power stations. With modern technology I doubt that humans would need to work underground for coal production in a coal mine. We have vast areas under the North Sea, in depleted oil and gas fields to store carbon produced by coal fired powerstations back into the earth where it came from. No let's get on the renewable bandwagon, new well paid jobs for a few, rediculous bills for consumers but much higher dividends for investors. Let's go nuclear. Does anyone realise what would happen if there was an air or missile strike on Sellafield or any other UK nuclear facility. We have little or no ballistic missile defences and our air force, what is serviceable, is spread thinly throughout NATO but wait, we are now saying nuclear is our future. In the meantime we import energy from unstable Countries thousands of miles away at much higher prices than home production. Madness or what.

[@beatdowntothepowertopeople2662]

wot about coal mining Larkhall Scotland been trying find it on new tube just seen can't

[@jillymot]

John Potter G Nbh,'j $$

[@xcyphoh7599]

2:28 you'll understand later, the only reason i came here lmao

[@jake.7756]

Xcyphoh you do you

[@kingjeremysircornwell7847]

0:50 desolation of smog.

[@kingjeremysircornwell7847]

Are they smoking it?

[@brc6137]

as if the last mine has closed down in Britain

[@Premises225]

They will open in years when they stop getting cheaper imports

[@brc6137]

+Mr D they cant reopen unfortunately. most mines are filled with concrete and some flooded ; (

[@andrewh5457]

@@Premises225 they, the tories, surprisingly, have just opened a new pit in Cumbria.

[@vegemiter6786]

y is there nudity ?????? (2.27)

[@zeddeka]

It was from a bizarre documentary the government made in the 1970s to try and attract workers into the coal industry, by trying to make it look sexy.