Tuesday is Levellers Day

[d_Guy]

May 17th is Levellers Day and I put a short post up on my blog about it:
https://inredcoatragsattired.com/2016/05/14/levellers-day-2016/

I'm curious if this is a day that is well remembered in the UK or does it occasionally just get a passing reference?

I know that there is an active forum member who uses the Leveller as part of the screen name - so at least one other person remembers.

Hopefully this is not currently some "hot button" issue and I am descending into the realm of forbidden politics!  If so please ignore. 

[Ithoriel]

I'm aware of the Levellers and of the executions but had no idea there was a Leveller's Day. There again, why not. After all, today (15th May) is National Chocolate Chip Day and the day before was National Dance Like A Chicken Day.

These humans are weird!

[Raider4]

I will never forget my wedding anniversary, because it's the day after Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Cheers, Martyn
--

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Oh ARGGGGH

IanS

[Glorfindel]

I would guess that 99% of the UK population wouldn't have a
clue who the Levellers were (although some will have a vague
recollection of the 1980's band of the same name).   There is
certainly no celebration of 'Levellers Day'...

The only reason I have even heard of them is an interest in the
English Civil War / New Model Army.

Just another blip in history known to a few (similar to the Peasants'
Revolt).

However, it is a another good example why wargaming broadens
the mind (as well as emptying the pocket and devouring your time) !!

All the best,


Phil

[Ithoriel]

[Fenton]

I've heard that they had spirit

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I know full well about the Levellers, but then my politics are often said to be to the left of Trotsky! I have seen the band three times!

[Leman]

They gave us smooth roads.

[Sandinista]

They gave us smooth roads.

We could do with them in NZ then :-)

Cheers
Ian

[toxicpixie]

I always thought they got the air time NMA really deserved but were just too radical for. Mind, they put on a cracking festival down at Beautiful Days, and did a cracking job on Re. Hammer's debut album.

I'll sing some properly patriotic songs tomorrow mind, for the original Levellers

[Roy]

Most people in the UK [the English] won't even know that England was invaded in 1066. Won't know that there was a Civil War and we cut off our King's head. And will think Churchill is a toy Bulldog that appears on a TV advert for cheap car insurance.

That Waterloo is a song by Abba and that a bridge in London was probably named after it. Nelson's Column, in Trafalgar Square, is just somewhere to meet and to take a photo-selfie, but not have a clue as to why they're named so. Hack Wikipedia and write that Adolf Hitler was the first man on the Moon, in 1976, he then went on to have a movie career and single-handedly rowed across the Pacific Ocean in 11 days, the majority of young people today would believe you.

Ask 100 people who the Levellers were and at least 95 of them wouldn't know. But, to be fair, it is a bit of obscure history when taken into consideration that we have 2000+ years of UK history. And then if the person asked, their heritage isn't UK based, they're even less likely to know.

In comparison, I'd say that the Scottish public will be more likely to be aware of their own history. I don't know about the Welsh, as the ties to England have bound them far longer. Northern Ireland I couldn't really say.

[toxicpixie]

Nah, they'll know that Churchill (and Hitler), he beat the Nazi's just we'll be beating the EU, flags and queens and rascism ahoy! Or am I cynical. Now, John Churchill, maybe not...

[Leman]

Come on Roy, unless somethings changed in the last four years then British (as opposed to English) History is well taught in our primary and secondary schools, covering everything from the Celtic migrations to the retreat from empire. Admittedly it does tend to be British history to the end of year 9 and becomes more international for GCSE. However at the back end of Y9 I was teaching Russian Revolution,Interwar recession and recovery, Jarrow March, Irish Civil War, rise of Nazism. move for independence in India, WWII, Cuba, Vietnam, collapse of European communism, the development of the EU, changing role of women in  British society. Most of this was from the February half term so there was an awful lot to get in, but if kids don't know about stuff it is usually not because it isn't taught but because they're just not arsed.

[toxicpixie]

I demand you cover 2000 years of local and world history from all angles and points of view, in a balanced and objective manner, and do so within a dozen 45 minute lessons!

Get cracking!

I'll be over here setting the other unreachable targets for the school to be sold off when you don't hit them.

[fsn]

We do have rather a lot of history to cover. There are all sorts of little niches that get downplayed - the Peasants' Revolt, King Aethelstan, the War of Jenkin's Ear.

I doubt anyone but we history buffs take in significant portions, and  must confess there are huge chunks of social history that pass me by.  

[Ithoriel]

I demand you cover 2000 years of local and world history from all angles and points of view, in a balanced and objective manner, and do so within a dozen 45 minute lessons!

What about the other 4000 or so? Slacker!

[toxicpixie]

Don't count, not British enough. You some kind of leftie revisionist, Ithoriel? You'll be on a watch list, mark my words...

[Roy]

Apologies Leman.

I can see that I may have sounded like I was blaming the teaching profession, or the syllabus. That wasn't my intention.

Yes, I've just, in fact, looked at my old schools -

They've listed the History courses as thus

Primary Education

Year 1
Local History Study

Year 2
The Great Fire of London
Famous People including Florence Nightingale

Year  3
Britain since the Stone Age (Neolithic Age)
Historical Disasters
The Romans

Year 4
Anglo Saxons, Scots & Vikings
Local History Study

Year 5
British History
Ancient Egypt

Year 6
Mayan Civilization
Ancient Greece

Secondary Education

Year 7
The Roman Empire
The Middle Ages
Local Enquiry – Richmond Castle (That's Richmond, North Yorkshire)

Year 8
The Tudors
The Stuarts
The British Empire
Slavery

Year 9
World War 1
World War 2
The Berlin Wall

& for GCSE, thus

Main Topics
Students follow AQA Modern World History. The syllabus is divided into 3 units:

Unit 1: Medicine Through Time, a Study in Development.
This unit contains three interrelated themes: Disease and Infection, Surgery and Anatomy and Public Health. The section on Disease and Infection emphasises changing ideas and practises in the cause, prevention and cure of diseases and infection. In Surgery and Anatomy there is a concentration on the changes in the understanding of anatomy and the practise of surgery. In Public Health there is a focus on Britain, the emphasis is on the changing role of Government, both local and national, in providing health facilities for the people. The unit covers the main changes from prehistoric times until the current day. Students will analyse and explain the following factors: war, superstition and religion, chance, government, science and technology and the role of the individual in helping or hindering change.

Unit 2: Germany, 1919-1945, an Enquiry in Depth.
Students focus on the growth of Nazism in Germany from 1918-1945. They look at the birth of the Weimar Republic following the Versailles Treaty and how civil unrest and economic and political instability led to the birth of the Nazi Party. This is developed further by looking in depth at the leadership of the party, Nazi views on specific social groups and their preparation and action in the 2nd World War.

Unit 3: Historical Enquiry, History Around Us.
This is the controlled assessment element of the course where two questions are asked about a local site, Richmond Castle, and how it has developed during the Middle Ages. Students are required to show independent research of the period and site to submit two structured answers under controlled conditions.

Those not familiar with British education, the above covers the compulsory schooling up to 15-16 years of age (GCSE being an optional subject for examination). Further education, after age 15-16, is optional and dependant upon exam results.

[Matt J]

I'm obviously around the same age as you as that was the syllabus I followed.

My kids at primary now are pretty much doing the same thing.

My eldest is just doing her GCSE's didn't take history (didn't fancy learning the cold war) but she told me how she learnt that the 1st world war would have been avoided if a guy (who she couldn't remember the name of) had decided not to go out for a sandwich that day....