CHUCKUS
0. EVALUATION
EXAM
Recurring names and terms => exam
Revision topics: crucial nales, concepts => exam!!
Book necessary for exam
Relation entity & EU
Open questions => prepare answers at home will be 2/20
Chronology significant dates
OPEN QUESTION
One slightly bigger – used to be the case, increasingly unlikely
Two slightly similar
At the exam you will get one of the following as an open question. Prepare the answers at home, make sure you
have the key dates and perhaps keep an eye on current affairs. Dates that appear more than once throughout
Oakland and classes obviously are more important than others. If you are bad at remembering year references,
then stick to centuries (and preferably start/early/mid/late/end). This question will probably be 2/20.
1. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and Ireland
2. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and the EU (including France and Germany)
3. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and their empire/commonwealth
4. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and the US
5. The historical relations in terms of democracy emerging from centuries of monarchy
6. The historical developments in terms of devolution and devolved power.
QUESTIONS
Marked out of 20 (overall CHUCKUS mark is the average or nearest above)
Probably 1 – fill in the blanks – current affairs
Probably 1 – blind map – a map of the British isles and X number of locations (all cities). Very likely 6
marked out of 1 (you lose 0.2. per wrong one).
Probably 2 – timeline – see earlier
Probably 14
o Multiple choice
o Yes/no (right/wrong)
o Fill in the blanks – these might include a sentence that covers both current affairs and classes
(level, 11 Downing street) Rachel Reeves, budget, first women, chancellor, etc.)
Probably 2: small open questions
Blank map of British Isles – main locations covered in class, four-star parts of Oakland, the nations that
make up the British Isles (their capitals + other cities listed on page 82). You will be asked 6 marked
out of 0,5/20
o UK and its 4 constituent nations + capitals
o Rep. of Ireland and its capital
o Isle of Man / Channel Islands
o Cities mentioned with note in class (like York, Liverpool)
o P82 inspired: Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh
1. INTRODUCTION
1
, 1.1. INTRODUCTIONS, INTRODUCTIONS, INTRODUCTIONS
Why are we going to do this?
Tony Blair: (former prime minister of UK°) is only interested in the future; education, education, education
He provided false document weapons of mass destruction on the basis which US attacked Iraq
THE 2012 OLYMPICS LONDON, ENGLAND
The 2012 Olympics in England, London – opening ceremony countdown +Thames
The ceremony commenced at 21:00 with a captivating one-minute film titled ’60 to 1’
o This film featured a montage of shots displaying various numbers found
throughout London, including those on house doors, street nameplates,
London Buses, station platforms, and market labels.
o Notably the numb er 39 appeared at the foot of a flight of steps,
referencing John Buchan’s novel “The thirty-nine steps”, while number
10 represented the iconic door of 10 Downing Street (prime minister’s
office).
The festivities began with a two-minute film entitled journey along the
Thames/Isles of Wonder directed by Danny Boyle
o Accompanied by the track ‘surf solar’ by the band Fuck Buttons, the film traced the river Thames
from its source to the heart of London.
o It juxtaposed contemporary British life with pastoral scenes, featuring beloved characters like
Ratty, Mole, and Toad from “the Wind and the Willows”
o A humorous ‘monty pyton hand’ was seen pointing towards London on umbrellas, while an
InterCity 125 train zoomed past Olympic rings imagined as crop circles in a field
o The film also showcased a flying pink floyd pig between the towers of Battersea power station,
intertwined with the iconic clock sounds from Pink Floyd’s song “time”, as the visuals passed Big
Ben.
o Following an aerial view of East London, which mirrored the iconic title sequence of the BBC
soap opera “EastEnders”, the film transitioned to a sequence that flew down through the Thames
barrier, into Bow Creek, and below the surface through a London underground train and station.
o It also featured historic footage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Thames tunnel, leading into
Rotherhithe Tunnel
o The imagery then shifted to scenes filmed outside the stadium shortly before the ceremony,
superimposed with posters from various past summers, all set to a recording of “map of the
problematique” by Muse.
The five minutes after Countdown/thames
The portrayal of rural life in the arena was described as “a reminder and a promise of a future better
life”.
The atmosphere transitioned as youth choirs began acapella performances of the informal anthems
representing the four nations of the UK.
o “Jerusalem” performed by a live choir in the stadium, celebrated England,
o While “Danny Boy” resonated from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
o “Flower of Scotland” was sung from historic Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, and
o “Bread of heaven” echoed from Rhossili beach in. Wales.
o These choirs were interspersed with footage memorable Rugby Union ties, including England’s
winning drop goal from the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, along with live shots capturing the
audience’s energy.
As the final choir performance came to a clos, vintage London General Omnibus Company
stagecoaches made their entrance, carrying businessmen and early industrialists dressed in Victorian.
Attire and top hats.
o Leading this procession was Kùenneth Branagh, portraying the renowned engineer Isambard
Kingdom Brunel.
2
, o The men descended from the carriages and surveyed the land with approving expressions.
▪ Caliban is a character from Shakespeare’s “the tempest”. He serves as a complex
symbol of the natural world and the impact of colonization on personal identgity.
o This delivery, which aligned with Boyle’s introductory remarks in the ceremony’s program,
symbolized an aspiration for new industry and a new era in Britain, setting the stage for the next
segment of the celebration.
‘A Jerusalem for everyone’: was the 2012 Olympics the last gasp of Liberal Britain?
If Britain was proud of this show, where did it go wrong?
Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London games was meant to be a dreamlike celebration of Britain’s
diverse history and its open-minded values. Ten years later, it seems more like a requim
Dreams figured prominently in the London 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony.
o The first speaker of the night was Kenneth Branagh, channeling both Isambard Kingdom Brunel
and Shakespeare’s Caliban: “the clouds methought would open, and show riches. Ready to drop
upon me, that when I waked, I cried to dream again!”
o An entire section was devoted to children’s bedtime nightmare’s. Rowan Atkinosn. Lapsed into a
dream during his cameo in Chariots of fire. And hallucinatory spectacles such as the queen
jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond made 900 million viewers around the world wonder
if they were the ones dreaming.
Ten years on, the whole ceremony feels more dreamlike than ever. This was Britain as a rich, diverse,
multicultural, imaginative, inventive nation comfortable with its identity and capable of reconciling its
contradictions.
o We were traditional yet modern. We were powerful yet caring. We were orderly yet anarchic. We
had a vast back catalogue of world-changing culture from which to draw. We knew how to put on
a good show. And we had a sense of humour.
The author Jonathon Coe summed up the feelings of many in his 2018 novel Middle England: proud to
be British, proud to be part of a nation which had not only achieved such great things but could now
celebrate them with such confidence and irony and lack of self-importance.
We could even laugh about our notoriously crap weather.
Conclusion:
Fake clouds were paraded around the stadium that night, but real clouds were looming for Britain:
o Brexit and its ongoing repercussions
o Not to mention. The Windrush scandal,
o The Covid pandemic,
o The cost-of-living crisis,
o Deportation to Rwanda
Such a moment of national pride, confidence and unity now seems almost unimaginable. As a result,
the 2012 opening ceremony – officially titled Isles of Wonder – has become something of a cultural
touchstone. For many, it has effectively become shorthand for Britain, before it all turned to shit.
But with a decade’s hindsight, we are left wondering what kind of dream the London 2012 opening
ceremony was. Was it a dream in. the Martin Luther King sense: an aspiration for what we want Britain
to be? Or was it more like a dream in the Sex Pistol’s “England’s dreaming” sense: an illusion of
something that never really existed?
Admittedly Brittain circa 2012 was still a long way from anyone’s dream of Jerusalem.
o The conservative-led coalition government had already begun making savage cuts to public
services under its austerity programme.
o In August 2011 there had been riots in London and other British cities.
o In. may 2012 then-home secretary Theresa May introduced the term “hostile environment’ to
describe her government’s increasingly hardline immigration policies.
3
, The obsession With the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony is revealing, because Britain was not the
utopian wonderland many thought it was. The 2012 London Olympics was four years after an epic
financial crash and the Tories were hacking the British welfare state into tiny little pieces.
Perhaps the ceremony lay bare the growing disconnect between devolved nations and the concept of
(being) British or Britain.
o Maybe England was dreaming after all, then.
o Pining for an imaginary time “when Britain was great” can also be a counterproductive and
possibly hypocritical road to go down.
Identity is always about storytelling, and as much as it was a cultural event, Isles of Wonder was one of
the few attempts to tell a fresh, modern, inclusive story about what Britain was, is and could be. We
might not have lived up to it in the short term, but the fact that the vast majority of us responded so
positively to it is as important now as it was then. Given all that’s happened since, Britain needs stories
like this more than ever.
LAMBRINI GIRLS – GOD’S COUNTRY (FEB, 2024)
A critical and satirical on contemporary British society. The repeated questioning of “Great Britain, are you
sure?” prompts reflection on the state of the nation and challenges listeners/readers to consider whether the
portrayal of a strong and stable Britain aligns with the reality many people experience.
National identity and patriotism: the repeated phrase “All hail God’s country” suggests a focus on
national pride, but it is juxtaposed with serious criticisms of societal issues, hinting at a disconnect
between nationalistic sentiment and the reality faced by many citizens.
Social issues and inequality: the mention of economic disparities, such as “bankers pay no tax” and
“grandma can’t afford heating”, highlights the growing wealth gap in the UK, with the rich benefiting
while the poor struggle.
Critical of politics: References to “Maggie Tatcher” and “The Daily Mail” signal a critique of the
political landscape and media influence in shaping public opinion and policy. The phrase “this is not
democracy” underscores a frustration with the current state of governance.
Austerity: (=difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public
expenditure (=the action of spending money)). The line “sorry bestie, but it’s giving austerity”, directly
4
0. EVALUATION
EXAM
Recurring names and terms => exam
Revision topics: crucial nales, concepts => exam!!
Book necessary for exam
Relation entity & EU
Open questions => prepare answers at home will be 2/20
Chronology significant dates
OPEN QUESTION
One slightly bigger – used to be the case, increasingly unlikely
Two slightly similar
At the exam you will get one of the following as an open question. Prepare the answers at home, make sure you
have the key dates and perhaps keep an eye on current affairs. Dates that appear more than once throughout
Oakland and classes obviously are more important than others. If you are bad at remembering year references,
then stick to centuries (and preferably start/early/mid/late/end). This question will probably be 2/20.
1. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and Ireland
2. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and the EU (including France and Germany)
3. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and their empire/commonwealth
4. The historical relations between England/Britain/UK and the US
5. The historical relations in terms of democracy emerging from centuries of monarchy
6. The historical developments in terms of devolution and devolved power.
QUESTIONS
Marked out of 20 (overall CHUCKUS mark is the average or nearest above)
Probably 1 – fill in the blanks – current affairs
Probably 1 – blind map – a map of the British isles and X number of locations (all cities). Very likely 6
marked out of 1 (you lose 0.2. per wrong one).
Probably 2 – timeline – see earlier
Probably 14
o Multiple choice
o Yes/no (right/wrong)
o Fill in the blanks – these might include a sentence that covers both current affairs and classes
(level, 11 Downing street) Rachel Reeves, budget, first women, chancellor, etc.)
Probably 2: small open questions
Blank map of British Isles – main locations covered in class, four-star parts of Oakland, the nations that
make up the British Isles (their capitals + other cities listed on page 82). You will be asked 6 marked
out of 0,5/20
o UK and its 4 constituent nations + capitals
o Rep. of Ireland and its capital
o Isle of Man / Channel Islands
o Cities mentioned with note in class (like York, Liverpool)
o P82 inspired: Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh
1. INTRODUCTION
1
, 1.1. INTRODUCTIONS, INTRODUCTIONS, INTRODUCTIONS
Why are we going to do this?
Tony Blair: (former prime minister of UK°) is only interested in the future; education, education, education
He provided false document weapons of mass destruction on the basis which US attacked Iraq
THE 2012 OLYMPICS LONDON, ENGLAND
The 2012 Olympics in England, London – opening ceremony countdown +Thames
The ceremony commenced at 21:00 with a captivating one-minute film titled ’60 to 1’
o This film featured a montage of shots displaying various numbers found
throughout London, including those on house doors, street nameplates,
London Buses, station platforms, and market labels.
o Notably the numb er 39 appeared at the foot of a flight of steps,
referencing John Buchan’s novel “The thirty-nine steps”, while number
10 represented the iconic door of 10 Downing Street (prime minister’s
office).
The festivities began with a two-minute film entitled journey along the
Thames/Isles of Wonder directed by Danny Boyle
o Accompanied by the track ‘surf solar’ by the band Fuck Buttons, the film traced the river Thames
from its source to the heart of London.
o It juxtaposed contemporary British life with pastoral scenes, featuring beloved characters like
Ratty, Mole, and Toad from “the Wind and the Willows”
o A humorous ‘monty pyton hand’ was seen pointing towards London on umbrellas, while an
InterCity 125 train zoomed past Olympic rings imagined as crop circles in a field
o The film also showcased a flying pink floyd pig between the towers of Battersea power station,
intertwined with the iconic clock sounds from Pink Floyd’s song “time”, as the visuals passed Big
Ben.
o Following an aerial view of East London, which mirrored the iconic title sequence of the BBC
soap opera “EastEnders”, the film transitioned to a sequence that flew down through the Thames
barrier, into Bow Creek, and below the surface through a London underground train and station.
o It also featured historic footage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Thames tunnel, leading into
Rotherhithe Tunnel
o The imagery then shifted to scenes filmed outside the stadium shortly before the ceremony,
superimposed with posters from various past summers, all set to a recording of “map of the
problematique” by Muse.
The five minutes after Countdown/thames
The portrayal of rural life in the arena was described as “a reminder and a promise of a future better
life”.
The atmosphere transitioned as youth choirs began acapella performances of the informal anthems
representing the four nations of the UK.
o “Jerusalem” performed by a live choir in the stadium, celebrated England,
o While “Danny Boy” resonated from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
o “Flower of Scotland” was sung from historic Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, and
o “Bread of heaven” echoed from Rhossili beach in. Wales.
o These choirs were interspersed with footage memorable Rugby Union ties, including England’s
winning drop goal from the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, along with live shots capturing the
audience’s energy.
As the final choir performance came to a clos, vintage London General Omnibus Company
stagecoaches made their entrance, carrying businessmen and early industrialists dressed in Victorian.
Attire and top hats.
o Leading this procession was Kùenneth Branagh, portraying the renowned engineer Isambard
Kingdom Brunel.
2
, o The men descended from the carriages and surveyed the land with approving expressions.
▪ Caliban is a character from Shakespeare’s “the tempest”. He serves as a complex
symbol of the natural world and the impact of colonization on personal identgity.
o This delivery, which aligned with Boyle’s introductory remarks in the ceremony’s program,
symbolized an aspiration for new industry and a new era in Britain, setting the stage for the next
segment of the celebration.
‘A Jerusalem for everyone’: was the 2012 Olympics the last gasp of Liberal Britain?
If Britain was proud of this show, where did it go wrong?
Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London games was meant to be a dreamlike celebration of Britain’s
diverse history and its open-minded values. Ten years later, it seems more like a requim
Dreams figured prominently in the London 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony.
o The first speaker of the night was Kenneth Branagh, channeling both Isambard Kingdom Brunel
and Shakespeare’s Caliban: “the clouds methought would open, and show riches. Ready to drop
upon me, that when I waked, I cried to dream again!”
o An entire section was devoted to children’s bedtime nightmare’s. Rowan Atkinosn. Lapsed into a
dream during his cameo in Chariots of fire. And hallucinatory spectacles such as the queen
jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond made 900 million viewers around the world wonder
if they were the ones dreaming.
Ten years on, the whole ceremony feels more dreamlike than ever. This was Britain as a rich, diverse,
multicultural, imaginative, inventive nation comfortable with its identity and capable of reconciling its
contradictions.
o We were traditional yet modern. We were powerful yet caring. We were orderly yet anarchic. We
had a vast back catalogue of world-changing culture from which to draw. We knew how to put on
a good show. And we had a sense of humour.
The author Jonathon Coe summed up the feelings of many in his 2018 novel Middle England: proud to
be British, proud to be part of a nation which had not only achieved such great things but could now
celebrate them with such confidence and irony and lack of self-importance.
We could even laugh about our notoriously crap weather.
Conclusion:
Fake clouds were paraded around the stadium that night, but real clouds were looming for Britain:
o Brexit and its ongoing repercussions
o Not to mention. The Windrush scandal,
o The Covid pandemic,
o The cost-of-living crisis,
o Deportation to Rwanda
Such a moment of national pride, confidence and unity now seems almost unimaginable. As a result,
the 2012 opening ceremony – officially titled Isles of Wonder – has become something of a cultural
touchstone. For many, it has effectively become shorthand for Britain, before it all turned to shit.
But with a decade’s hindsight, we are left wondering what kind of dream the London 2012 opening
ceremony was. Was it a dream in. the Martin Luther King sense: an aspiration for what we want Britain
to be? Or was it more like a dream in the Sex Pistol’s “England’s dreaming” sense: an illusion of
something that never really existed?
Admittedly Brittain circa 2012 was still a long way from anyone’s dream of Jerusalem.
o The conservative-led coalition government had already begun making savage cuts to public
services under its austerity programme.
o In August 2011 there had been riots in London and other British cities.
o In. may 2012 then-home secretary Theresa May introduced the term “hostile environment’ to
describe her government’s increasingly hardline immigration policies.
3
, The obsession With the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony is revealing, because Britain was not the
utopian wonderland many thought it was. The 2012 London Olympics was four years after an epic
financial crash and the Tories were hacking the British welfare state into tiny little pieces.
Perhaps the ceremony lay bare the growing disconnect between devolved nations and the concept of
(being) British or Britain.
o Maybe England was dreaming after all, then.
o Pining for an imaginary time “when Britain was great” can also be a counterproductive and
possibly hypocritical road to go down.
Identity is always about storytelling, and as much as it was a cultural event, Isles of Wonder was one of
the few attempts to tell a fresh, modern, inclusive story about what Britain was, is and could be. We
might not have lived up to it in the short term, but the fact that the vast majority of us responded so
positively to it is as important now as it was then. Given all that’s happened since, Britain needs stories
like this more than ever.
LAMBRINI GIRLS – GOD’S COUNTRY (FEB, 2024)
A critical and satirical on contemporary British society. The repeated questioning of “Great Britain, are you
sure?” prompts reflection on the state of the nation and challenges listeners/readers to consider whether the
portrayal of a strong and stable Britain aligns with the reality many people experience.
National identity and patriotism: the repeated phrase “All hail God’s country” suggests a focus on
national pride, but it is juxtaposed with serious criticisms of societal issues, hinting at a disconnect
between nationalistic sentiment and the reality faced by many citizens.
Social issues and inequality: the mention of economic disparities, such as “bankers pay no tax” and
“grandma can’t afford heating”, highlights the growing wealth gap in the UK, with the rich benefiting
while the poor struggle.
Critical of politics: References to “Maggie Tatcher” and “The Daily Mail” signal a critique of the
political landscape and media influence in shaping public opinion and policy. The phrase “this is not
democracy” underscores a frustration with the current state of governance.
Austerity: (=difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public
expenditure (=the action of spending money)). The line “sorry bestie, but it’s giving austerity”, directly
4
