Traditional English Culture and Heritage

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An A to Z of research sources of Traditional English Culture and Heritage - this should be supplemented by your own research and contributions from different school departments.

A. George Orwell’s “The Lion and The Unicorn” – “Old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn morning”; “solid breakfasts and gloomy Sundays, smoky towns and windy roads, green fields and red pillar boxes”;

B. Or John Major – “Fifty years from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pool fillers”;

C. Teachers could also consult Sellar and Yeatman: “1066 And All That”- “Charles the Second was always very merry and was therefore not so much a king as a Monarch. During the civil war he had rendered valuable assistance to his father’s side by hiding in all the oak trees he could find. He was thus very romantic and popular and was able after the death of Cromwell to descend to the throne”; “It was in the 18th century that Indian history started. Indian History is a great number of wars in which the English fought victoriously”; “Napoleon ought never to be confused with Nelson, in spite of their hats being so alike…Nelson was one of England’s most naval officers”.

D. Paxman: “The English” - He defines these characteristics of the English off the top of his head – “…net curtains…quizzes and crosswords, country churches, dry-stone walls, gardening…drinking to excess, Women’s Institutes, fish and chips, curry, Christmas Eve at King’s College, Cambridge…civility and crude language…ugly caravan sites on beautiful cliff tops, crumpets, Bentleys and Robin Reliants”;

He also writes of the burnings of the Protestant Martyrs Latimer and Ridley in 1555 and how Latimer cried out “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”; He includes the observations of George Santayana – “England is pre-eminently a land of atmosphere… English landscape is seldom on the grand scale… But lift the eyes for a moment above the line of roofs or treetops, and there the grandeur you miss on the earth is spread gloriously before you”.

E. Bill Bryson: “Notes From A Small Island” - “England was full of words I’d never heard before – streaky bacon, short back and sides, Belisha beacon, serviettes, high tea, ice cream cornet… I had never heard of… council houses… railway cuttings, Christmas crackers, bank holidays, seaside rock, milk floats, Poppy Day”; “The tea room lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate”.

F. William Shakespeare: - Richard the 2nd – “This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortess built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”; Henry the 5th – “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother… And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed that they were not here”.

G. “The English Year” compiled by Geoffrey Grigson: Sunday January 21st 1872 – “A cold raw frost fog, dark and dreary… the Chapel bell tolled out sharp and sudden through the white mist to give notice of the service… The hedges were hoary with rime and frost and the trees were hailing large pieces of ice down into the road” by Francis Kilvert;

Katherine Mansfield, May 16th 1918 – “The country in the bright morning light was simply bowed down with beauty… I have never seen anything more solemn and splendid that England in May”;

Dorothy Wordsworth, July 31st 1802 – “The city, St. Paul’s, with the river and a multitude of little boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke, and they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly, with such a fierce light, that there was even something like the purity of one of Nature’s own grand spectacles”;

D.H.Lawrence, August 2nd 1915 – “pale sand and very much white foam… no people at all, no houses, no buildings, only a haystack on the edge of the shingle… It is a great thing to realise the original world is still there… and only the gulls swinging between the sky and the shore”;

Gilbert White, October 26th 1783 – “If a masterly landscape painter was to take our hanging woods in their autumnal colours, persons unacquainted with the country would object to the strength and deepness of the tints, and would pronounce, at an exhibition, that they were heightened and shaded beyond nature”.

H. The Runnymede Trust: “The Parekh Report” – this independent group reported in the year 2000 on the “current state of multi-ethnic Britain” and how to make it a “a confident and vibrant multicultural society at ease with its rich diversity”.

It said that our country is “both a community of individuals and a community of communities” – these communities might be local, regional, cultural, ethnic, religious etc. The report detailed “racial discrimination, racial disadvantage, a racially oriented moral and political culture”.

It went on to say that identities and culture were not static things but constantly evolving and changing. It also said that while many minority cultures could adapt to Britishness, eg Black British, British Asian etc, there was more of a problem for some individuals and communities with a dual English identity – “since to be English, as the term is in practice is used, is to be white”; “Race is deeply entwined with political culture and the idea of nation”; “How is the balance to be struck between the need to treat people equally, the need to treat people differently, and the need to maintain shared values and social cohesion”. “No group, no community owns Britain”. Hanif Kureishi is also relevant here – “It is the British, the white British, who have to learn that being British isn’t what it was”.

We also include here the report issued after the Bradford and Oldham riots of 2001, “Segregation, albeit self-segregation, is an unacceptable basis for a harmonious community and it will lead to more serious problems if it is not tackled”; the report also said that it is “essential to agree some common elements of “nationhood”.

I. It might be time for some music now – The National Anthem? Fat Les? “Rule Britannia”? “Jerusalem”? Vaughn Williams? Billy Bragg? The Sex Pistols? Elgar? “Land of Hope and Glory”? Skinner and Baddiel? Again, themes could be categorised after discussion.

J. The English Department could be contacted for short snippets from all or some of the following canonical authors: Shakespeare – see F. above for a start;

K. Milton – here’s some starters - “I hear the far off curlew sound, Over some wide-watered shore, Swinging low with sullen roar”; “Then to the spicy nut brown ale”; “Towered cities please us then And the busy hum of men”; “Sweet the coming on Of grateful evening mild; then silent night With this her solemn bird and this fair moon, And these the gems of heaven, her starry train”; “Let us with a gladsome mind Praise the Lord, for he is kind, For his mercies ay endure, Ever faithful, ever sure”; “God…What does he then…reveal Himself…first to His Englishmen”; “Methinks I see a noble…nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep…Methinks I see her as an eagle”.

L. Defoe – here’s a start – “The calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters”; “One day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man’s naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen in the sand”.

M. George Elliot – the opening sequence of Adam Bede would be very good to use; also, for a start – “It’s but little good you’ll do a-watering the last year’s crop”; “Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms”.

N. The Brontes – starter here - Emily – “Though earth and man were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou were left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee; “Cold in the earth – and the deep snow piled above thee, Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!”; “I lingered round them…watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells: listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers in that quiet earth”.

O. Jane Austen – here’s a start - “An egg very soft boiled is not unwholesome”; “Drinking too much of Mr. Weston’s good wine”; “You ought certainly to forgive them, as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing”.

P. Mrs. Gaskell – “A man… is so in the way in the house!”; “In the back streets…there were many mills, out of which poured streams of men and women two or three times a day…They came rushing along, with bold, fearless faces, and loud laughs and jests, particularly aimed at all those who appeared to be above them in rank or station”.

Q. JB Priestley; - “Our great-grandchildren, when they learn how we began this war by snatching glory out of defeat…may also learn how little steamers made an excursion to Hell and came back glorious”; “I have an idea that your mother – Lady Croft – while she doesn’t object to my girl – feels you might have done better for yourself socially – No, Gerald, that’s all right. Don’t blame her. She comes from an old country family – landed people and so forth – and so it’s only natural”.

R. Doctor Johnson – “Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people”; “When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather”; “Campbell is a good man, a pious man. I am afraid he has not been in the inside of a church for many years, but he never passes a church without pulling his hat. This shows that he has good principles”; “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”; “There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn”; “Sir, the noblest prospect that a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to London”;

S. Charles Dickens – “Annual income £20, annual expenditure £19 19 shillings and sixpence, result happiness. Annual income £20, annual expenditure £20 and sixpence, result misery”; “He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!... And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!” “Now what I want is Facts… Facts alone are wanted in life”; “Leave the bottle on the chimley-piece, and don’t ask me to take none, but let me put my lips to it when I am so dispoged”; “Here’s the rule for bargains: Do other men for they would do you”; “What’s the water in French…? L’eau… Ah… I thought as much. Lo, eh? I don’t think anything of that language – nothing at all”.

T. Thomas Hardy - “When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay, And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings, Delicate-filmed like new-spun silk, will the neighbours say, “He was a man who used to notice such things”; “Only a man harrowing clods In a slow silent walk With an old horse that stumbles and nods Half asleep as they stalk”; “Christmas Eve, and 12 of the clock, Now they are silent all on their knees”; “This is the weather the cuckoo likes And so do I”; “To persons standing alone on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is almost a palpable movement”; “The long, laborious road, dry, empty, and white, It was quite open to the heath on each side, and bisected that vast dark surface like the parting-line on a head of black hair, diminishing and bending away on the furthest horizon”.

U. D.H. Lawrence – “The English people on the whole are surely the nicest people in the world, and everyone makes everything so easy for everybody else”; “But tha mun dress thysen an go back to the stately homes of England, how beautiful they stand”; “The autumn always gets me badly when it breaks into colours...The heart of the North is dead, and the fingers are corpse fingers”; “Corn harvest came on. One evening they walked out through the farm buildings at nightfall. A large gold moon hung heavily to the grey horizon”.

V. Noel Coward - “Never mind, dear, we’re all made the same, though some more than others”; “There’s always something fishy about the French!”; “Though if the Vandycks have to go And we pawn the Bechstein grand, We’ll stand by the stately homes of England”; “Whatever crimes the proletariat commits, It can’t be beastly to the Children of the Ritz”; “But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun”.

W. Now for some childrens’ authors – Kenneth Grahame – “”There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats”; “The clever men at Oxford Know all that there is to be knowed But they none of them know one half as much As intelligent Mr. Toad”.

X. Williamson and Ransome might be worth looking at; Blyton and Crompton too.

Y. The Oxford Book of Hymns and the Oxford Book of Verse might be well worth a trawl.

Z. And I’ve no doubt an excellent time might be had by many students making their own HARRY POTTER choices.