Good morning and the Time Crashers are transported to 1913 and an Edwardian house party. How will the celebrities handle Edwardian Etiquette? Will it be like Downton Abbey? Or will the Time Crashers be in for a rude awakening? The run time for this episode is 46:12.
This time the Time Crashers are servants serving in a country house. The boys are immediately disappointed to discover they are servants. It is 1913 and World War I is just around the corner. The elite are throwing up one last hurrah before the war and everything changes. The Time Crashers are going to be preparing for a weekend shooting party. Shooting parties demonstrated wealth and status. Edwardians got together for a weekend of hunting, socializing, and showing off. Each of the Time Crashers has a different status and each has a different guide to help them navigate the world. Bottom of the pile is Zoe Smith and Olympian Greg Rutherford. The downstairs staff is immediately greeted by the housekeeper and she oversees reviewing the rules and training for staff. The housekeeper could sack a staff member with no reference. I enjoyed seeing her thoughts on the staff. From the looks of it, she will be commenting on the staff throughout the episode. Kristie Alley and Keith Allen have more senior roles. However, they still run afoul of the butler. The butler was the highest-ranking member of staff. He expects obedience and working to the highest standards. Keith is the valet and Kristie is the ladies’ maid. Both have a giggle over their guides. The staff members turn in for the night and wonder how they are going to handle their lives as Edwardian servants. They wake up in the morning. Greg is already at work clearing the chamber pots. Greg wants to do a good job as the hall boy. Zoe struggles with the morning routine and begins struggling with the work. The housekeeper is not happy with Zoe’s efforts. The footmen start preening in the morning. Footmen were hired for their good looks and footmen, and the taller the better. The hierarchy was strictly observed in the Edwardian household. The housekeeper reminds them of the rules of the house. The servants were to be addressed as William or Jane. The servants were to be invisible as well. Staff worked 80 hours per week with half a day off. They got their news while ironing the masters’ newspapers. After breakfast, everyone sets off to work. The footmen are setting up a tent for an outdoor dinner. However, setting up the tent and the table is going slowly for the men. The tent is a bit of a challenge to put up. Inside the maids are cleaning the house and prepare the reception rooms. The maids are finding the corsets difficult to work in. Fern struggles with keeping things cleaned up. The housekeeper interrupts them to remind them that they needed to clean in silence. Zoe refuses to pluck pheasants and is immediately dismissed without a reference. The maids look at Zoe’s leaving and comment on it. Being dismissed without a reference means she would never be able to find work again. The work is done, and the servants are ready for the party. The ladies serve tea to the mistress of the house and that does not go well. Fern gets a ticking off. The footmen are busy serving the shooting party outside. How will the famous people handle life as Edwardian servants? Will the shooting party go well? Tune into the rest of the episode to find out about life in the Edwardian period. After watching Manor House, I wondered how actors and famous people would handle the life of Edwardians. It was not surprising to see them feeling overwhelmed by the experience. The only person that was missing from this episode was Mr. Edgar, the butler from Edwardian Country House. I would have enjoyed watching him handle those celebrities. I also enjoy hearing the reflections everyone had on their experiences. Overall it was a fairly good episode of the Time Crashers and one that could have been a little bit longer. This would be one episode to show in the history classroom for a fun and frivolous day.
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Good morning, the Time Crashers are going to take part in a Medieval Jousting Tournament. The run time for this episode is 46:17.
The year is 1468 and it was a year of peace in England. It was one of the few years of the Wars of the Roses that did not have fighting in it. The Time Crashers find themselves in Derbyshire and at a jousting tournament. They are squires serving the knights. The ten Time Crashers are divided into two teams: Red and Black. They are competing with each other to prepare the knight for the tournament. The tournament allowed knights to practice their war games. War games were not a sporting spectacle. It was a way for young men to flex their muscles. Even the King participated in these tournaments. Keith Allen takes charge of the Red team and reads out the Time Crashers’ guide. It is here that they learn they will compete for the Black Team. Chris Ramsey of the Black Team sizes up the competition. Being a squire was a man’s job. So women are going to be considered as men for this period. Kristie Alley is delighted that she is in a masculine role because her status would have been raised. The team meets up with the men who will be in charge of them. The boss will make sure that everything is followed. The Blacks and the Reds compete with each other, and the team that wins the competition will be treated to a feast. The losers get nothing. The Time Crashers then meet up with the Knight. The Time Team signs the indentures. Germaine is taking his new role seriously. Kristie is liking the period. 1468 would have given the people a chance to lift their lot. The squires’ work is at the heart of the Knight’s success. It was not just the joust itself that determined the winner. How the knight behaved. How the people beneath the knight behaved. How clean the armor was. How the knight looked on his horse. There were plenty of factors that determined the winner of the joust. The Reds immediately set to work. The Time Crashers will have five hours to prepare the knight. They are preparing the lance and it is twelve feet long. The blacks are struggling to divide up the jobs. Louise and Fern will work with the horses and it is here that Louise takes charge. Germaine will work with the knight’s kit. Kristie works on the knight’s shield and she is trying to match the Knight’s crest. The Reds are coming together well. They each have a different set of skills and are voicing their concerns when necessary. The Blacks are working on polishing the knight’s armor. The boys chat about the life of a squire and the knight. Louise and Fern are at loggerheads over cleaning the horse. Time continues to go on. However, there is a concern in the camp that the knight is not well enough to take part in the joust. One of the men will have to take the jar of urine to the barber-surgeon. Barber surgeons cut hair, pulled teeth, and cut off limbs. Urine played an important role in determining health. The barber-surgeon determined that the knight is well enough to fight. The Red team works on cleaning the horse. Kristie is in her element cleaning the horse. Keith and Greg take the Red Knight’s armor in for maintenance. The Time Crashers worked through the morning without eating and they come to eat. Eating was a communal affair. Knights and Squires lived by a strict code. Keith goes off to find fruit for the vegetarian on the team. However, the theft did not go unnoticed and Keith is told off by the knight. Meg enjoys her ill-gotten fruit. Knights and squires were required to live by the code of chivalry. In two hours the joust will begin. The reds have raced ahead while the Blacks have fallen behind. Will the Blacks manage to catch up? Who will win the tournament? Which team will emerge victorious? Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more. This was a fascinating look at knights and tournaments. It was good to look at the life of squires. This would be a good episode to show in the classroom. To kick off the summer, we are going to explore Time Crashers. Time Crashers is a history meets reality TV series hosted by Tony Robinson. Ten celebrities go back in time to explore six different periods of British history. The different periods include the Elizabethan Era, the 1460’s, 1913, the Georgian Era, the Victorian Era, and the Iron Age. The ten celebrities are Keith Allen, Kristie Alley, Fern Britton, Charlie Condou, Meg Mathews, Jermaine Jenas, Louise Minchin, Chris Ramsey, Greg Rutherford, and Zoe Smith. Can they survive what history has to throw at them?
In this first episode of Time Crashers, the ten celebrities go back and experience life as servants in the Elizabethan Era. This episode has a run time of 46:31. The scene for this first-time crash is Haddon Hall. It was one of the greatest houses in English History. Kristie Alley finds herself in the kitchen. Greg Rutherford finds himself sitting in a cart with dead chickens. They are joined by Charlie Condou, Fern Britton, and Zoe Smith. It is 1588 and the height of Elizabethan England. The elite are building grand manor houses and to run those houses they needed servants. The Time Crashers are given a guide as to how to live in the 1588s. The Time Crashers are servants in the kitchen. Kristie gets told off for eating an apple. The staff will produce a Tudor Feast. Tudor Feasts were expensive with a variety of different meats. These feasts were to show off the wealth of the manor owner. It would have taken weeks of planning and would have had 100 different dishes. The second group of Time Crashers arrives at the manor: and they are Keith Allen, Louise Minchin, Meg Matthews, Jermaine Jenas, and Chris Ramsey. This group will be household servants and they are allowed to be upstairs. This position would have been of respect. Tony Robinson and Cassie Newland are keeping an eye on things. The household steward and head cook will keep an eye on the servants and will reward them or punish them according to the standards of the day. Fern and Zoe’s first task is to strip a boar’s head and stuff it. Zoe is finding that task a challenge. Meg and Louise are going to wash the lady of the house’s clothing and will be using urine to wash the clothes. Urine was used for cleaning because it contained ammonia. Meg and Louise are shocked at what they are using to wash the clothing. Tony talks with Cassie about the novelty of women servants. Women were employed as servants for the first time and they were paid much less than men. So the nobility would have wanted to hide them because they did not want people to know that they were hiring cheap labor. Fern takes the lead in working on the boar’s head. Zoe is still feeling squeamish about the head. Kristie helps Fern with the boar’s head. The feast will take place in the great hall, where the master showed off his wealth. Only the most trusted servants would have prepared the hall. The household steward gives the household staff a lesson in manners, etiquette, and deference. Chris is finding the instruction challenge. Tony and Cassie talk about the etiquette books of the day and the rules that were involved. The Lord and the Lady arrive and the household servants are confused as to where to stand. The house steward is not impressed with their manners. Kristie and Fern are working on sewing the boars in order to stuff the boars’ heads. The pair manage to break the only needle that is strong enough to sew the head together. Boars head is official off the table. What will the kitchen serve? How will the Time Crashers handle life as Elizabethan Servants? How will the Kitchen staff cope with the tasks? Will the household staff learn their manners and etiquette? Will there be a rebellion among the kitchen and household staff? Who will rise to the challenge of being an Elizabethan Servant? Who will crash and burn? Tune into the rest of this episode to find out. This was a series on my list of reality-based history to show, especially since it was hosted by the delightful Tony Robinson. It was cool to see how celebrities handle living in a different historical period. Time Crashers would be something fun to show in a classroom, not something for serious research nor serious watching. |
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |