Why History?

For various reasons I was wondering about why people get interested in history, so I thought that I'd ask a few questions to try and tease a few ideas from you. There are no wrong answers - even if it's Noggin the Nog. Question 1 What have been your favourite TV programmes that have spawned interest in things historical? My answer I could list a few but I'll stick to just one - Time Team.... (ok and Noggin the Nog).

Hello Helen, Well, what a question. The Collins dictionary states--: "You can refer to the events of the past as history. You can also refer to the past events which concern a particular topic or place as its history". Our DNA, is an electro/chemical store of history, that has much bearing on how I react to what's happening now, as well as in the future. Your question is why history is for me is now history, but it isn't for anyone who hasn't seen the question. Financial documentation has to be kept as history, around six or seven years for transactions but a century for some documentation & indefinite for some. The reliability of passed records also gives an insight into current affairs as well as future projections, indicating the level of trustworthiness. No flannel here, but our forum is an absolute champion of reliability, where into the third decade of its existence, it's a continuing, self updating, Coventry centred Covapedia. I've often heard folk tell me it should be made into a book. My reply is always, "What, to gather dust on a shelf & become out-dated. No thanks"! It is a book, a living book, kept alive by its members. A continuing history associated with Coventry. Will that do for now, Helen.

Now Helen, What a question. History is so many things to so many people. It's seeing how our past has shaped our present and how it could shape our future. That's true as a society. But taking a narrow view of Coventry. For many, our forefathers (and foremothers) played a huge part in the story of the city. Sometimes small, unknown, forgotten parts, sometimes key pieces of the puzzle. It can lead to a sense of belonging. Above all, for me and I'm sure for many here, history is fascinating. It's a topic of argument, debate, discussion, agreement and disagreement. And with Coventry, so many unknowns - although a lot of information is out there that goes against the accepted story of the city, we cling to the general idea of nothing here before a mysterious nunnery. Enter Canute, or men in his employ. Enter Leofric. Job done. Or not. We're still learning. I think about the time-travelling I've enjoyed, just snippets here and there. Of leaving the bright sights and warm smells of Broadgate in the 1970s to walk behind that big door to Holy Trinity and be transported to a different world. Of my grandfather and grandmother, who brought me up, having their golden wedding ceremony there, then their funerals. And having that same feeling in my 50s, walking into that church. Of finding ancestors married there in the 1700s, each leaving a cross as a signature, being an agricultural labourer and girl 'in service'. And wondering how they met, with her in deepest South Warwickshire, but hailing from Foleshill, and him living across the border in Oxfordshire. There is more mystery involved, which increases the fascination. I haven't gone back further, but I'm sure ancestors worshipped at Holy Trinity far back into the city's medieval past. How strange for a boy at Blue Coat going to services there in the early 1980s, knowing that for many years it was 'our church'. It's a connection. But the individual stories, and collective stories, are amazing. Coventry really was a 'without whom' city, not just in the UK but worldwide, because of people who were born here, or who came here in differing circumstances, like my grandfather's family from a mining village in County Durham before the war because jobs were aplenty. I've lived and worked elsewhere and always love to delve in the history of places to understand. But Coventry's history always seems that much richer and varied (bias alert). Mark

Well, for most of my life until my mid-30s I had almost no interest in history at all. The school history lessons were terminally boring - why I'd ever need to know what sort of toga a Roman would wear, or what Greek pottery looked like, I really couldn't say. My dad once got hold of the well known facsimile copy of Speed's 1610 Coventry map, and that intrigued me briefly - but without knowing a single thing about our old streets, it had no context, so meant nothing to me. But then (and I now know I'm not the only one).... along came Time Team. Not just the series generally, although I did find it interesting, but the first Coventry episode back in 1999.... and not just that episode either, but the specific point, right near the beginning, where Tony Robinson announces that we had had three cathedrals, to include St. Mary's. WHAT??? Surely we had just two.... the old one in ruins, and the "New Cathedral"? Well, that was me hooked - I just had to know more. Bev and I took a trip into town to look at the excavations, took some photos (which were among the first to be included on my fledgling family website) (yes, there were no thoughts at that time of building a specific Coventry website!) - and then I bought a couple of David McGrory's early books - just basic photo & caption books, but they increased my knowledge of Coventry almost infinitely. Suddenly, with photos of Butcher Row and all the old streets, that 1610 map I'd once seen seen suddenly meant something, so I bought a copy of that for myself.... and it grew from there. To quote an overused phrase.... the rest, as they say, is history!

I also was not interested in History at school. We had a teacher who just seemed to dictate and we had to copy it down. Yes Rob Romans etc. My interest came when I started to do family tree in the late 1970's. Kids were at school. Left work as you did then when you started a family and not so easy to go back to work, not many nurseries and difficult to get cover if they got sick so had to find something to keep my brain going. Doing family trees also gets you interested in social history and the places people lived so it also developed into local history, hence searching for Coventry led me to your wonderful HC site, and as you say the rest is history. Ancestry was a lot harder then, but more hands on, I spent many hours in Lichfield Library, sadly only a few as I could not get there on the bus, but these days there is so much online it is wonderful. At the moment my favourite history site is digging for Britain, either the ones that are currently on BBC2 or on iPlayer. I think it is amazing that they are still finding sites never discovered before.

I was lucky enough to be one of those kids let loose on the Lunt soon after it was opened after the Royal Engineers had done their stuff. We could run anywhere, climb on to those battlements and BE Roman soldiers.

There's some interesting history down here, but nothing compared to Coventry. Although they are rethinking everything they knew about the Roman era, which I believe should be the same for Coventry,

I'm with Rob, history was of zero interest to me. At school I hated it more than Latin. However, I've always been a fan of mythology (go Noggin!) and very old architecture and design as a result. Greek, Roman, Viking, Celtic and beyond. I loved the Time Team series until they dumbed them down and got rid of the artist who did the reconstructions. I was somewhat compensated by the 3D graphics but they still weren't as good as the sketches by Victor Ambrus. I'm of the TV generation and that has coloured what I've been interested in. Raw history still doesn't grab me but there have been plenty of programmes about specific details that have peaked my interest. Secrets of the Castle, The Black Death, The Great Fire of London, Digging For Britain. My sister was triggered by Who Do You Think You Are to not only trace the family tree but to make videos about the details. Ultimately it was the art of the city that made me very interested in its history.

I think my favourite, although I did watch time team, was the personal meeting where the Down your way team (on wirless) visited localities. Down your way. Time team

What sorts of things did they discuss about the area in Down Your Way? I just remember the theme tune but I was too young to pay attention.

Hi Helen, Often, it was minority skills & industries that most folk thought were obsolete.

The Repair Shop and various restoration projects proves that those skills are still important. Lots of good answers so far. Keep them coming. Question 2 Are there any TV shows that made you want to visit a museum or location eg Something about the Mary Rose or the Globe theatre or do you just choose to visit places because you're nearby?

I don't think we visited places because we had seen them on TV. We don't go far now as neither of us can walk very far, a trip round Lidl or a small car boot are our limit. We used to do caravan or motorcaravans in our time so we would probably pick somewhere with a National Trust or somewhere similar. Roy is more into mechanical things so holidays would include an air show, railway or perhaps a steam fair. All of which are history in their way. I think the latest places we went were the steam pumping station at Leicester and one near Burton on Trent. The furthest we get now is the car show at Middleton Hall which incidentally is an interesting place to visit. Not large but connected to the Peel family and there is a Police museum in there. But saying all this, the nicest thing is we can see somewhere on the TV and think, we have been there, very often on a fiction program so we don't feel we are missing much.

My head is spinning! I'm scribbling down the names of programmes to look into and hoping that I can find them online. We get some UK historical stuff but it tends to be about stately homes and the like. I loved history at school but it really depended on the teacher as to how interesting it was. Some years were duds. Mr. Lynch at Christ the King was a teacher I wasn't fond of but he brought history to life as he had us act out some exciting stuff. Even the boys paid attention. Mrs. Ghent at Ullathorne was good too. How blase we were about our own city which we assumed people remembered for Lady Godiva and the awful bombing in WW11.These were two very important subjects but because of places like the Forum we learn so much more, often from personal narratives. Thank you everyone.