History of Britain

I have been a huge Simon Schama fan for quite some time. The first time I ever watched his History of Britain DVDs were the summer of my masters thesis. I had plenty of free time on my hand and Steve was kind enough to burn me copies of the five discs. Yes, History of Britain is fifteen hours long. Nerdy, I know, but I get jittery with excitement. The first time I watched these, I was pretty naive. I had been to London and the only places I had ventured out to were Liverpool, Edinburgh, Bath and Stonehenge. Not a huge list of places visited at all. There was certainly a way long list of places I wanted to go. I took notes, jotted down ideas, made a futile plan for over reaching trips and dreamed big.

Fast forward three years and a few months. I have a meeting (hopefully- still needs to be confirmed) on Friday with the grad school supervision at BSU and so have been thinking about narrowing down what I want to study. It's not urgent but I want to start thinking about it at least. I know I want it to be on English history, of course, but not sure what part or era. So I figured, why not watch some History of Britain and maybe a spark will fly. My problem is that I'm easily influenced. If I watch a section about the Battle of Hastings, I'll want to resaerch that. The next day, if I watch the section about the age of British Empire, I'll want to study that! So easily influenced! This might take me awhile.

However, what has hit me the most while rewatching History of Britain is how much larger my list of where I've been is. I'm only a few segments in but I can already count on both hands the places Simon talks about that I've been to. I've seen the Roman town in Dover; I've been to Stonehenge and Old Sarum; I saw the Alfred Jewel at the Ashmolean; I've visited the York Minster where Harold Hadrada is buried and the Durham Cathedral where the Venerable Bede is laid to rest; I've visited Westminster Abbey where Edward the Confessor ruled; I've smelled the pungent odor of the bath waters in Bath; I tramped through the Salisbury Plains and the Thames Valley. The shots of Britain and the explanations of certain areas are so much more real to me now that I've been there and I've seen these places with my own two eyes. And at the same time, the list of places I want to go visit has gotten even longer. I know it will probably take a lifetime to see all of these things but I can at least take it step by step. My top five choices?


5. Hastings- where William the Conqueror defeated all opponents to become King of England.

4. Bayeux Tapestry- this won't be too difficult because if I'm not mistaken, it's in Reading. Every train into London from Ox practically stops in Reading.

3. The turf maze at Saffron Walden- there is absolutely nothing historical about this but it is the largest man-made maze in England. Weird England told me to do it. And Weird England may be tied with History of Britain as my guide of England. Don't judge.

2. Nottingham- both for the forest and for the incredibly cool looking prison where the supposed "Robin Hood" was once held. And this is checked off too because Katie lives here- can just go visit her. Although I think her wedding is in Gloucestershire.... have to work on this :)


1. Orkney- I want to see Skara Brae and the Stones of Steness and all other stone structures described described in Language of Bees. It'll be a pain to get too but I know that once there, it will be totally worth it.






Who's with me!?