TV is not all Doom and Gloom. I watched Program maker Jay Blades on a history tour through the West Midlands in the UK. Brilliant TV making! English readers know him from “The Repair Shop”. Hope Jay does not mind that I quote his program. And that I don’t violate copy rights and such stuff.
No, the 1st Olympics were not held in Athens. But in the West Midlands. Between Birmingham and the Welsh border. Let’s say, the Wolverhampton area.
2 companies survived in that area since the 1700. Pottery giant Wedgewood and the Chocolate King Cadbury. Cadbury was producing Coffee and Chocolate. It turned out to be a very social employer. They build nice houses for their employees. The houses still exist today.
In Little Wenlock, not far from Birminghan, were the mines and steel production. The heavy work was done by both miners and steelworkers. The main products were Chaines. The big heavy ones were made by the men. 9 hrs p day, 6 days a week. For 10 shilling.
The women worked from “home”. Making small chaines. Their little houses were also their work shops. Hot and smokey. From dawn till night. Got paid ½ the men’s wages. 5 shillings a week, 20£ today.
One day, a couragious woman brought a change. Mary Mac Carter. She had funds for the women to be able to go on strike. And funnily the men striked with them. Now the women could work together and were paid 11 shilling per week.
There was 1 man worried about the health of these steelworkers. Dr. William Penny Brooks. So he organised local sports days. Running, cycling and shot put heavy steel balls. Cycling was promoted by the many cycle factories in that area. To start off the sportsdays in style there were Music Parades to kick off the games.
Dr Brooks first extended the games all over the Midlands. The games were such a succes that he organised the first nationwide games in 1866 at Christal Pallace in London. 10.000 spectators.
One of the visitors was a Frenchman; Pierre de Coubertin. He “stole” the Olympic idea from Dr. Brooks and created the worldwide Olympic Games in 1899. “De Coubertin” also became the first president of the International Olympic Committee. Unfortunately Dr. Brooks did not live long enough to whitness this.
This story fascinated me and I watched it twice. In today’s troubled times, this was positive history. So I thought I’ll share it with you. Just to take your mind of political turmoil and wars. It made my Sunday.
AngloContinentalNews 