I actually never did WW2 in History. First world war mostly and those FUCKING tudors. God I hate the tudors. Had anough of those awful school trips with clipboards to Hampton Court Palace to last two lifetimes.

But yes, virtually nothing on the Empire. I honestly think most of the UK has pretty much forgotten we even ever had one and I definitely think it should receive more focus on schools.

>> ^Gallowflak:

>> ^DerHasisttot:
Ahh the British and the Nazis. i had a course last semester analysing Britain's ongoing fascination with the Nazis. Conclusions: 1. British school history-courses are a catastrophe of american magnitude.
2. Empire? What Empire? We defeated the Nazis! What? Britain had concentration camps, torture and cultural genocides? ... erm ... But we defeated the nazis, and they were way worse than us! Hooray Britain!

Britain, in my experience, is aware of its own miserable history to the point of being self-flagellating. There's a massive emphasis in culture and education on the tudors and WW2, and it's almost ridiculous, but I really doubt it has anything to do with soothing the social discomfort to be had by reflecting on the crimes of the empire.
I don't know. WW2 seems pretty fucking important when it comes to modern history, considering how much that conflict defined the shape of the future world.



Of course WW2 and Nazis should be studied. But there is the difference between study and obsession. We had to do projects for the course, and one group knew a bunch of Bachelor of Education- students being teacher's assistants in the UK at the time. So the group created a survey to look at british student's perceptions of Germany. One question concerned, for example, the number of years the students had WWII as a subject. Out of 4 or 5 classes (all over the UK), all had had WWII in more than 2 years, focussed mostly on Britain vs. Germany. When asked to name something "bad" the British Empire had done, most of only one class could name the enormous slave-trade. When asked to name the things they most associated with Germany, Nazis came before the cars and the soccer team. (And if you look at the tabloids and even proper papers when a match is on, you'll see an abundance of Nazi-refernces.) A friend of mine got cursed out of a London cab for being German. Nick Clegg wrote an article about the obsession. Edit: Moar. I can't find the article I'm searching for. I'll look again tomorrow.

>> ^DerHasisttot:

Ahh the British and the Nazis. i had a course last semester analysing Britain's ongoing fascination with the Nazis. Conclusions: 1. British school history-courses are a catastrophe of american magnitude.
2. Empire? What Empire? We defeated the Nazis! What? Britain had concentration camps, torture and cultural genocides? ... erm ... But we defeated the nazis, and they were way worse than us! Hooray Britain!


Britain, in my experience, is aware of its own miserable history to the point of being self-flagellating. There's a massive emphasis in culture and education on the tudors and WW2, and it's almost ridiculous, but I really doubt it has anything to do with soothing the social discomfort to be had by reflecting on the crimes of the empire.

I don't know. WW2 seems pretty fucking important when it comes to modern history, considering how much that conflict defined the shape of the future world.

>> ^RedSky:

Just out of interest, are the books as much porn as the show?


Haven't read the books but at least it's porn that makes sense rather than say "The Tudors" man that's awful.

Of COURSE the vampire lives in a tudor-style house

Joss has done some lovely soulful music and also is quite a good actor as well (The Tudors, seasons 3 & 4 and a couple of movies)

^ we have an LCD and nope, it's staying My husband swears he's ordering cable again for football season. I say it's a perfect excuse to go to a sports bar.

I'm sure by Christmas we'll get it back. We like The Tudors and BSG.

Yes, I was watching the new Tudors on YT earlier. Showtime posted it themselves. I almost shared it here, then remembered the RULE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/06/AR2005120601697.html

From the WaPO:

Somewhere around the middle of the 16th century, the Tudor composer Thomas Tallis wrote his famous "Spem in Alium," in which 40 singers' voices spin out variations on an initial sacred theme. It is regarded as one of the most soul-stirring pieces of music ever written. It gets even better in "40 Part Motet," a riff on Tallis's work by sound artist Janet Cardiff. She completed it in 2001 and it's now on display in the reinstalled contemporary galleries at the Museum of Modern Art.

The premise is simple. Cardiff got the "gentlemen and boys" of an English cathedral choir to perform the Tallis composition. She recorded each voice with a separate microphone onto a separate track. At MoMA, Cardiff plays back all 40 channels through 40 speakers, arrayed at ear height on the periphery of a spacious room.