[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.02,0:00:19.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hello, my topic for you today is:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.80,0:00:22.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is the past a foreign country?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.15,0:00:26.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is of course the first line\Nof L.P. Hartley's book "The Go-Between":
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.04,0:00:29.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The past is a foreign country,\Nthey do things differently there."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.36,0:00:32.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My question for you today is: "Is it?"
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.69,0:00:36.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If it is, why does popular culture\Nalways present the past
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.25,0:00:40.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to something so cosy\Nand actually not alien at all?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.51,0:00:43.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If it is, finally, do can we go there?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.71,0:00:44.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do we have a visa?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.96,0:00:47.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do we have the passport that we need?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.94,0:00:51.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Historians might actually go further,\Nsay that it's a foreign country,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.23,0:00:55.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it's actually an imaginary country,\Nthat is more Narnia than France,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.59,0:00:59.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of course the extraordinary thing\Nabout the past is, that it was,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.95,0:01:01.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is not.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.20,0:01:04.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History is the study\Nof something that doesn't exist,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.81,0:01:08.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes it feels like\Nthe veil between us and the past
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.02,0:01:10.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is therefore great.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.15,0:01:13.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thankfully there are footprints\Nin the snow for us to follow,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.06,0:01:14.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,should we choose to go.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.66,0:01:18.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History in the popular media\Ntends to be something
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.62,0:01:22.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that stresses the similarities\Nbetween us and them,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.18,0:01:27.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that they were people who ate,\Npeople who slept, people who fell in love,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.05,0:01:32.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who, you know, needed to wash,\Nwho hoped, believed, dreamed and died,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.38,0:01:34.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just as we would do.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.02,0:01:35.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, G.M. Trevelyan said:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.93,0:01:39.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The poetry of history\Nis the quasi-miraculous fact,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.07,0:01:43.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that once on this earth,\Non this familiar spot of ground,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.65,0:01:46.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,walked other people,\Nother men and women,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.32,0:01:48.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as actual as we are today,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.71,0:01:51.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking their own thoughts,\Nswayed by their own passions,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.98,0:01:54.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but now all gone,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.24,0:01:56.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one generation vanishing after another,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.76,0:01:59.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gone as utterly as we ourselves\Nare shortly be gone,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.65,0:02:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like ghost at cock-crow."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.62,0:02:05.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you get to come across history\Nin the popular media,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.96,0:02:09.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you tend to come across stories\Nthat tell you things that you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.43,0:02:13.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The great disaster of Titanic\Nis portrayed as a love story.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.46,0:02:18.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Other Boleyn Girl which has Eric Bana,\NScarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.08,0:02:22.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,re-immagines Tudor History\Nas chick-lit sibling rivalry.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.99,0:02:28.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fahrd takes arguably a treasonous criminal\Nand makes him into a freedom fighter.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.75,0:02:32.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A film like The Duchess, which is\Nthe story of an 18th century aristocrat,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.91,0:02:34.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had the strap line:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.12,0:02:36.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"There were three in their marriage."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.18,0:02:39.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It came out just a year\Nafter the death of Princess Diana.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.97,0:02:43.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Often actually what we hear about\Nis a story of shared emotions
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.60,0:02:44.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.66,0:02:46.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I used to work at Hampton Court Palace,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.97,0:02:50.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as part of an exhibition there\Non Katherine of Aragon, Henry the Eighth
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.67,0:02:51.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Cardinal Wolsey.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.90,0:02:52.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There is a doorway
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.96,0:02:58.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which has inscriptions of all the children\Nwho died soon after birth,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.46,0:03:03.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or were still births, or miscarriages\Nof Katherine of Aragon.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.65,0:03:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One academic we worked with\Nsaid he had always known that,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.62,0:03:08.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it was only when he saw it\Non this doorway,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.93,0:03:10.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which looks a little bit like a tomb,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.79,0:03:14.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he really felt it,\Nhe felt that connection to the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.65,0:03:19.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is history as sympathy,\Nthis is creating connections.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.98,0:03:21.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps we stress this,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.24,0:03:23.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because if we feel that we can\Nlearn lessons from the past,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.100,0:03:28.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have to assume that there is\Nsomething meaningful in those lessons.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.03,0:03:32.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There can only be something meaningful,\Nif we are essentially like them.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.34,0:03:36.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"History doesn't repeat itself,\Nbut it rhymes," said Mark Twain.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.71,0:03:41.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dan Snow came to talk to my students\Nat the New College of Humanities and said,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.31,0:03:46.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The past doesn't repeat itself,\Nbut its the best guide we've got."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.47,0:03:50.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps ask why we stress\Nthe familiarity with the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.62,0:03:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our interest in the past is because\Nwe are really interested in ourselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.76,0:03:57.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm going to put it like this:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.22,0:04:00.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History ought never to be\Nconfused with nostalgia.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.30,0:04:02.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is written not to revere the dead,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.62,0:04:04.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but to inspire the living.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.52,0:04:08.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's our cultural blood stream,\Nthe secret of who we are.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.38,0:04:09.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps that's why
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.34,0:04:11.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Who do you think you are?"\Nis such a popular program.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.87,0:04:14.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is all about our story.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.15,0:04:16.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we do look\Nat the differences in the past,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.61,0:04:20.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the differences we tend to look at\Nare external, superficial ones.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.19,0:04:24.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if you look at reality TV programs\Nyou know, 1900's House, 1940's House,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.61,0:04:27.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they point to things\Nlike they don't have electricity,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.27,0:04:28.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or they have different clothes,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.84,0:04:31.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or they wash with lye\Nrather than shower gel.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.53,0:04:34.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the past,\Nthere's hardship and privation.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.96,0:04:38.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is history, it's something\Nthat's dirty and messy and painful.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.48,0:04:42.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're people like us, but they\Nare just in harder circumstances.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.27,0:04:44.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Again the question comes to us:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:44.54,0:04:47.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"What would we do in such circumstances?"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.62,0:04:51.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is history as progress,\Nthis is a weakish version of history.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.49,0:04:55.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that explains partly\Nat least the fascination
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.13,0:04:57.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we have with horrible histories.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.25,0:05:02.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Terry Deary's Horrible Histories have\Nsold something like twenty million copies,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.48,0:05:06.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since they launched in 1993,\Nhave been translated into 31 languages.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.58,0:05:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They market themselves\Nas "history with the nasty bits left in."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.18,0:05:14.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course we are slightly\Nperversely fascinated by gore.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.08,0:05:17.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's also about history\Nbeing to congratulate ourselves,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.99,0:05:21.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to suggest that we are very humane:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.06,0:05:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"How civilized we are,\Nwe don't do these things to people."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.45,0:05:30.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What we look for in films,\Nand we call it authenticity,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:30.04,0:05:33.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that those external details\Noften is quite superficial.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.12,0:05:35.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It might, for example,\Ncome down to making sure
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.51,0:05:37.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they've got the right clothes on,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.89,0:05:39.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,although quite often we change that
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.55,0:05:43.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so it fits to present day\Nstandards of attractiveness as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.42,0:05:46.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Tom Hanks was the producer\Non Band of Brothers and he said,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.29,0:05:48.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"There are two types of authenticity,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.22,0:05:50.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the one that says that you got\Nall the buttons right,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.70,0:05:52.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the ammunition is correct, \N
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.39,0:05:54.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the buildings look\Nas they looked in the photo."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.87,0:05:57.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is relatively easy to achieve.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.48,0:06:00.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But then there's a thing\Nthat is much harder.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.12,0:06:01.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's literally the motivations,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.98,0:06:04.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the nature of the interplay\Nbetween the characters,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.82,0:06:05.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because he says,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.80,0:06:08.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"If we can't be absolutely truthful\Nto what they said and did
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.67,0:06:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at any given time,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.12,0:06:12.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can at least be\Nas authentic as possible,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.99,0:06:18.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that it still adheres to the framework\Nof the reality of being there and then."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.15,0:06:20.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would suggest there's\Na third type of authenticity,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.82,0:06:23.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the one that we don't go near.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.18,0:06:28.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the one that says the past\Nis so very different from our own,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.10,0:06:33.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we fail to understand it,\Nbecause we only understand our own time.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.31,0:06:35.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is because
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.36,0:06:39.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people in the past had different\Nmental and imaginative worlds to us.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.19,0:06:43.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The annals historians\Nhave called this mentalité,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.77,0:06:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the mentalities of these people.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.87,0:06:49.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps this is the difference between\Npopular history and academic history.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.01,0:06:52.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is popular history\Nmore interested in the similarities,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.70,0:06:54.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rather than the differences?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.77,0:06:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can particularly notice, when you look\Nat attitudes towards sex and religion.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.60,0:07:02.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you read a historical novel,\Nor you see a film,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.86,0:07:05.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for example, Phillipa Gregory's books,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.21,0:07:08.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wonderful historical novels,\Nthat transport you back to the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.52,0:07:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But quite often the women in them\Ntend to be essentially proto-feminists
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.25,0:07:15.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and their attitudes\Ntowards sex tend to be:
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.65,0:07:17.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'It's quite a good thing,\Nlets get on with it,'
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.84,0:07:19.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which before the age of the Pill,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.98,0:07:22.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before there was any reliable conception,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:22.41,0:07:24.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,isn't congruent with the age of the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.78,0:07:26.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How about religion?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.97,0:07:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rochefoucauld in the 17th century said,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.64,0:07:32.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"There's always something ridiculous\Nabout the emotions of people
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.68,0:07:35.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that one has ceased to love".
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.01,0:07:39.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If in modern Britain many people\Nhave fallen out of love with God,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.85,0:07:41.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we shouldn't underestimate
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.21,0:07:45.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quite how intoxicating a power\Nhe had in centuries past.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.44,0:07:50.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make sure the things you read have\Nthat sense of reality about world views.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:50.39,0:07:55.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is perhaps why Hillary Mantel's books\Nhave been so popular and so prize-winning.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.39,0:07:57.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because although she creates characters,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.82,0:08:00.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,historical characters\Nlike Chromewell, for example,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.23,0:08:03.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from her own imagination,\Nas is the novelist's prerogative,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.63,0:08:07.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she does actually immerse herself\Ninto the world of the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.69,0:08:10.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember being delighted,\Nwhen I read "Wolf Hall",
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.34,0:08:12.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,realizing that she had identified
Dialogue: 0,0:08:12.91,0:08:18.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that to call something new\Nin the 16th century was not a compliment.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.11,0:08:21.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have faint echoes of these ideas now.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.62,0:08:25.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The word novelty carries\Nsomething of the hostility and suspicion
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.100,0:08:29.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the new had in an age,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:29.00,0:08:34.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when the traditional and the ancient\Nwere very powerful things,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.53,0:08:37.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and had a powerful hold on the Tudor mind.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.95,0:08:42.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's only when we begin to grasp\Nhow different the past was,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.84,0:08:45.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how differently people thought in the past
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.08,0:08:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we can begin to comprehend
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.73,0:08:50.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of the more bizarre behaviours\Nand beliefs of the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.49,0:08:53.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let me give you a few examples\Nfrom the period I work on.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.84,0:08:57.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the end of the 16th century,\Nthe beginning of the 17th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.21,0:09:02.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,across Europe 40,000 to 50,000\Npeople, mostly old women,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.23,0:09:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where executed as witches.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.17,0:09:11.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the 16th century in England,\Nbeggars where whipped.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.69,0:09:16.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1547 it was ordered\Nthat vagabonds, the homeless,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.22,0:09:20.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,should be branded on the chest\Nwith a V made with a hot iron.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.45,0:09:24.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1572 a new statute suggested\Nthat they should be grievously whipped
Dialogue: 0,0:09:24.39,0:09:26.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they should be branded\Nthrough the ear hole
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.77,0:09:29.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a hot iron, an inch in diameter.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:30.77,0:09:34.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 17th century Vienna, a common practice,\Nwhen a criminal was beheaded,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.52,0:09:37.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was for someone suffering from what\Nwas known as the falling sickness
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.93,0:09:39.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to rush in with a jug,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:40.51,0:09:45.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scoop up the hot spurting blood\Ndown it in one, and then sprint off.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:45.87,0:09:48.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was thought to cure epilepsy.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:49.57,0:09:52.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In London around the same time,\N1665, during The Great Plague,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.93,0:09:58.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the chamberlain of the city ordered\N200,000 cats and 40,000 dogs to be culled,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:58.32,0:10:01.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it was thought\Nthey spread the plague.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.50,0:10:04.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Women, perhaps this\Nis the most bizarre one of all,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:04.89,0:10:08.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since the time of Aristotle\Nthrough till about the 18th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.30,0:10:11.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where thought to be deformed men.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.76,0:10:14.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their uterus were inverted penises.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.85,0:10:18.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They just hadn't had enough heat\Nto push them out of their body
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.08,0:10:21.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of course this produced\Na great anxiety.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.16,0:10:25.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Occasionally, they had stories circulating\Nof a woman or a girl leaping over a fence
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.98,0:10:30.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then gosh there she discovered\Nshe was a man, her penis fell out.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.76,0:10:34.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, if it could be done like that,\Nit could be reversed as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.20,0:10:38.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was a certain anxiety\Nabout being a man in early modern England.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.76,0:10:44.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have a tendency to look at the past\Nand think, they were just like us.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.30,0:10:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What was going on inside their heads\Nwas really, really different.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:49.18,0:10:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we are going to get any insight\Nfrom those TV reality shows at all,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.46,0:10:55.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perhaps it comes when they fall down.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:55.29,0:10:58.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1940's House,\Nthe war committee as it were,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.64,0:11:02.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gave them rabbits to eat\Nand the family refused to eat them,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.10,0:11:04.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of course they had\Nthe mentality of today.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.100,0:11:06.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In one called The Trench,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.75,0:11:09.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where a group of young boys pretended
Dialogue: 0,0:11:09.43,0:11:14.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to go to have an experience of being\Non the front line in World War One,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.70,0:11:19.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Corporal brought along a grey coat\Nof one who had said to have fallen,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.71,0:11:23.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was something quite poignant\Nand completely ridiculous about the moment
Dialogue: 0,0:11:23.43,0:11:28.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of course, the chap hadn't fallen,\Nhe hadn't died, he'd just left the show.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:28.16,0:11:31.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reality of that moment\Nof what it must have been like
Dialogue: 0,0:11:31.13,0:11:36.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to lose a friend, a companion,\Nin World War One, was still missing.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:37.21,0:11:39.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How we view the past matters,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:39.31,0:11:42.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether we see it as foreign or familiar,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:42.02,0:11:45.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,particularly, for example, it matters\Nin questions of moral judgement.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.64,0:11:47.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Can we judge the past?
Dialogue: 0,0:11:47.80,0:11:49.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Academic historians generally say no.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.69,0:11:51.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to try and understand it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.48,0:11:54.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to give it\Nall the respect it's due.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:55.28,0:11:58.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you think\Nof the Holocaust and Hitler,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:58.01,0:12:02.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when you think of slavery,\Nwould it not be wrong to judge?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:02.22,0:12:03.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The historian Collingwood said,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:03.94,0:12:08.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"To pass moral judgement on the past,\Nis to fall into the fallacy of imagining
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.51,0:12:13.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that somewhere behind a veil,\Nthe past is still happening,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:13.06,0:12:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as if it's now being enacted\Nin the next room,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.40,0:12:18.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we ought to break in and stop it.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.66,0:12:24.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These things have been, they are over,\Nthere is nothing to be done about them."
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.57,0:12:29.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to seek to understand the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.20,0:12:32.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we need not to do\Njust historical clothing,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:32.51,0:12:36.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we always call costume,\Nfor some reason I never understand.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:36.01,0:12:40.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to don their mind-set,\Nwe need to get out our guidebooks.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.98,0:12:43.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is the past a foreign country?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:43.64,0:12:45.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yes, very much so.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:45.100,0:12:50.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's different in ways\Nthat we haven't imagined.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.41,0:12:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a bit like saying that France isn't\Nso different because they eat baguettes,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:55.76,0:12:57.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but because they think nothing odd
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.67,0:12:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about having a mistress\Nand a wife at a funeral.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:59.97,0:13:02.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They just have a different mentality.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:03.51,0:13:06.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why do we make the past so cosy?
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.04,0:13:11.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would suggest it's because the past\Nis not just foreign, it's also dangerous.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:13.37,0:13:18.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have a sense that, behind that veil,\Nthere are glinting swords and barred teeth
Dialogue: 0,0:13:18.27,0:13:20.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that if we actually knew
Dialogue: 0,0:13:20.30,0:13:23.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what went on in the past\Nand what went on in their minds,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.16,0:13:25.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we might understand a bit more\Nabout the human condition
Dialogue: 0,0:13:25.79,0:13:27.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than we really want to.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:27.69,0:13:31.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I would suggest too that,\Nif we wanted to get to that foreign land,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:31.28,0:13:35.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have to be as it said the Macbeth:\N"bold, bloody and resolute."
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.58,0:13:37.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We need to be brave,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:37.11,0:13:39.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we need to step through the looking glass,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:39.54,0:13:41.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the other side,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:41.39,0:13:44.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not keep on\Ngazing at our own reflections.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:44.13,0:13:45.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:45.53,0:13:46.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)