Normans 1, Saxons 0......

We are definitely in the age of infantilism.

We have two new TV programmes, one with Gryff Rhys-Jones  showing us the unknown glories of the English countryside. Unknown to whom? I was very familiar with the scenery in his first programme, a trip down the Essex coast and up the Thames in a Thames barge c. 1899. But he did evince two pieces of information that were new to me.

The vessel was not fitted with an engine when it was first built. You don’t say!

And very high quality bricks are handmade in an old kiln which owe their fine texture to the absence of volcanic ash in the clay. Volcanos are not big in Essex, it seems. Not many people know that.

To crown it all(as one might say) a programme on the Jubilee showed a picture of the Queen’s dad, KGVI; except that it was the Duke of Windsor!

Then we had a new history programme (what, another?). This one explained the Norman Conquest as if the audience consisted solely of particularly dense 7-year old boys. The invasion of William’s army was depicted by film of troops in the WW1 trenches. Eh?

At one stage I thought he was going to explain everything as if it were a football game.

‘England played Vikings at Stamford bridge. They won easily but then they had to make the long trip  to Hastings where they had a late fixture with Normandy. That night they had a few pints of King & Barnes Fine Old Horsham Ale, and the next day they found Normandy as fresh as paint having a kick-around on the field.

When the game started the Skipper noticed one of his players messing around with a long-bow, even though it hadn’t been invented at this time. ‘You want to watch him’, one of the players said to Captain Harold ‘He’ll have some bugger’s eye out with that!’’.