BBC - Turn Back Time - The High Street

[AdrianLvsRocky]

Hi all,

Did anyone see tonight's Turn Back Time programme on BBC1?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v7p71

I think you can watch some previous episodes through the above link.

The basic premise of the series is that current shopkeepers (butchers, bakers, grocers etc.) "turn back time" and set up store in a number of different eras to see how their business skills etc. would fare.

Tonight's episode was going back to WW2 but there have been episodes set in the 30s, Edwardian times etc.

Very interesting!

 

[LittleMissPussyCat]

I only saw half of last nights, so must iplayer it later. Interesting series, I must admit to being a bit of a sucker for this type of programme.

 

[Shangas]

NOTICE TO ALL: Series currently available on YouTube.

 

[LittleMissPussyCat]

Already, thats good

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Thought last night (ww2) was pure silliness...and lots of half truths and myths in there. Shame really, entertaining but historically inaccurate.
K

 

[W-D Forties]

I think the main point of the series though is to revive interest in the traditional High Street, and to document it's heyday and sad demise (which, judging by the trailer, is next week during the 60's). Whilst I know it hasn't been 100% accurate on any period, it's interesting, populist history and if it makes the point with Joe Public that independent shops are worth supporting (as is getting to know your neigbours), then it's been worth it.

 

[dhermann1]

I'd love to see it, but the good old BBC won't let anyone outside the UK see anything. Irks the hell out of me.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

I'm not sure that I'd agree, I already find public perception of WW2 an altered reality..

 

[Edward]

Yeah, well. with Churchill being so consistently voted 'history's greatest Briton', the popularity of myths like 'we would have been speaking German but for...' and on and on... The biggest problem seems to be that to challenge the myths is to basically open yourself to accusations of being pro-Nazi. Did anyone see the Yesterday channel's documentary last week about the British crime wave of the WW2 years, and how it was covered up to avoid damaging popular 'morale'? Fascinating stuff.

 

[AdrianLvsRocky]

It's hard to give an opinion on history isn't it? No-one can know what something was really like unless they've been through it. And even then, experiences/memories etc. differ from person to person.

People, of course, tend to remember the good times and put bad experiences to the back of their mind. My beloved Grandad died a few years back but he was a Rear Gunner and Wireless Operator on a Lancaster Bomber during WW2. His was a memorable war experience as his crew flew 13 missions which was way above the average Lanc missions of about 3. We have his log book with all the details.

Anyway, my point is - my Grandad raved about his time in the RAF. He had his pick of the ladies, went to big social events in London and got to fly around in a plane for goodness sake! If you asked him for his memories of WW2, it's these things he'd talk about primarily but, if pushed, he'd tell you about the frost bite he got from leaning on the side of the plane door to save a falling bag or the hundreds of people he must have killed on the bombing raids and the buildings he destroyed.

I think it's human nature to choose to remember the good things and to get nostalgic about them so they almost become truths or the "reality". Is there really any history that's totally authentic or accurate?

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Sadly not at the majority of '40s' events...It's not just 'inaccurate' it's altering what was a reality to so many. Of course when I look back to the 80s, I remember the Rubiks cube, Madonna, the shock of Boy George! But I also remember the power cuts, the Falklands conflict and Dynasty!
I hate what's happening to history at these events..Strolling, two tone shoes, Hawaiian shirts..pin up fashion presented as the 'norm' for ladies...I could rant about it forever, but it's a shame that most people find this rewritten version so appealling.
Meh...ignore me, miserable old bag.
K

 

[LizzieMaine]

All the more reason to speak up -- because the further the reality recedes into the past, the more we're going to end up with a caricature. Probably most people today -- and not just kids -- think everybody in the twenties was either a gangster or a flapper, that everybody in the thirties was an Okie, that zoot suits were everyday street wear in the forties, and that all housewives vacuumed in pearls and stilettos in the fifties. Television has a lot to answer for -- but so does bad education, which tends to promote those same caricatures because it's easier and more reassuring to modern assumptions than acknowledging the complexity of the past.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

I'm glad you said that. I'm just a 'fun sponge' for saying it here in the UK.

 

[W-D Forties]

It's hard to give an opinion on history isn't it? No-one can know what something was really like unless they've been through it. And even then, experiences/memories etc. differ from person to person.

People, of course, tend to remember the good times and put bad experiences to the back of their mind. My beloved Grandad died a few years back but he was a Rear Gunner and Wireless Operator on a Lancaster Bomber during WW2. His was a memorable war experience as his crew flew 13 missions which was way above the average Lanc missions of about 3. We have his log book with all the details.

Anyway, my point is - my Grandad raved about his time in the RAF. He had his pick of the ladies, went to big social events in London and got to fly around in a plane for goodness sake! If you asked him for his memories of WW2, it's these things he'd talk about primarily but, if pushed, he'd tell you about the frost bite he got from leaning on the side of the plane door to save a falling bag or the hundreds of people he must have killed on the bombing raids and the buildings he destroyed.

I think it's human nature to choose to remember the good things and to get nostalgic about them so they almost become truths or the "reality". Is there really any history that's totally authentic or accurate?

My dad was a rear gunner on Lancs too AdrianLvsRocky, also did a lot of missions. His 'memories' of the war (as told to me) were remarkably similar to you Grandad's, lots of fun, landing the Lanc on playing fields to go home, that sort of thing. But I did find out after he died how terrible he felt about the people he killed. Apparantly, he considered marrying my mother his 'pennance'! 'Nuff said!

 

[AdrianLvsRocky]

I know what you mean ladies.

One of the things I found saddest about my Grandad dying was that, before long, there'll be no-one to speak for his generation. There'll be no-one to ask what it was really like.

We'll just have to rely on recorded history so the more accurate it is the better.

In regards to this particular programme - I understand that it was probably way out in terms of day-to-day life historical accuracy but it was intersting to see how modern people would deal with situations similar to our ancestors.

I guess that's another reason why this forum can be considered a wealth of information. There seem to be an awful lot of people on here who, quite rightly, want to ensure that the past is not forgotten and that we learn from our ancestors.

 

[AdrianLvsRocky]

Oh, and W-D Forties - how cool that your Dad was a Lanc rear-gunner! That is quite funny about his "pennance"! My Nan and Grandad had a tempestuous relationship too. My Grandad wanted to stay in the RAF after the war but my Nan wouldn't let him so I think he always saw her as the one who held him back and took him away from the high life! They argued like cat and dog throughout their married life but still stayed together from their marriage in 1944 to my Nan's death in 1997. They're probably still at it wherever they are now!