I remember the replica Royal Arcade - I stumbled across it during a Sunday afternoon walk in the early 90s - no shops there other than a sorry looking newsagent - the whole place looked completely forgotten and unwanted. It left a lasting impression on me - and I’m pleased to see this film featuring much of the Newcastle I knew back then.
Having lived there nearly a decade so do I. It doesn't actually take 10 years though. More like 10 minutes before a Geordie taked the mick out of you for the RP pronunciation of my natal accent. 🤣🤣🤣
If I remember correctly there's a story that Nairn's death certificate stated (incorrectly) that he was from Newcastle (pronounced 'Nucassel' of course : )
Six years after he made this one, I started in my first job with Butterdane UK. We handled all the shipping orders for Lurpak butter to the UK. The Danish Office was in Aarhus.
a used to walk through the old arcade in the 60s it was full of gold lustre on the capitals ,a think it was an grain storage holding during the Victorian era and I always wondered where the old stones came from when near the byker railway bridge on the right travelling to the city centre I stumbled on them in Heaton opposite wares and bartlet builders merchant warick street heaton
1970. So much changed at that time when the old was demolished to make way for the new. Amazingly several of the new buildings they built have already been demolished , the dreadful car park in Trinity Square has already been torn down.
I think it's hilarious, different times! I think Nairn would be surprised to see the ethnic make up of Arhus these days, not an eskimo in sight and slums a plenty.
Its more a comment on Danish greenland relations at the time. The reference to "eskimos" as colored would at the time have been PC. If anything its rather positive, in contemporary language, in that he notes Denmark is pretty good, but they have issue with Greenlander inuits.
9:24 I'm a bit confused about his comment about Eskimos/'colour problem'? I know it was a different time and some of what was said everyday back then would be beyond the pale now but if I'm decoding what he's saying correctly, that's a pretty crass comment. Unless someone can put me right on his actual meaning and I'm way off the mark?
I, too, stopped and rewound this, as I couldn't believe what I'd heard. I had huge admiration for Nairn's humane insights into our urban landscapes, both through his writing and work to camera, but I hadn't watched this programme before. Even by the standards of the late 60s/early 70s, this would have been a dubious remark. Very troubling.
I'm pretty sure he's talking about Greenland (which at that time was a part of Denmark), and home rule / independence was a huge issue in the 70's: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenlandic_independence#Moves_towards_independence. "Eskimo" is an outdated term, of course, but the comment isn't as crass as it at first sounds.
