Celebrating Black Country Day

This blog is early, well technically it’s right on time but I usually try and post on a weekend but this time it’s different.

For today, we are moving away from the wonders of Vegas and moving closer to home because Wednesday is the 14th July and it would be wrong for someone who calls himself the Black Country Vlogger to not talk about Black Country Day and hopefully you may find it interesting.

We could start by explaining which part of England constitutes the Black Country but this has been debated for a long time and even though there are no official borders the general consensus is it’s made up of some the towns within the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Note – Birmingham is not part of the Black Country.

The name ‘Black Country’ I used to think came from when Queen Victoria came into town and commented on how ‘black’ the area was due to the pollution and smoke from all the foundries in the area. It seems I was partly correct. The area was named as such in the mid-19th Century due to the smoke from the ironworking foundries and it’s long, thick South Staffordshire coal seam. In 1862 Elihu Burritt (an American diplomat) famously described the area as being ‘black by day and red by night’. This is also part of the inspiration of the Black Country Flag but we’ll get back to that later. Also, Queen Victoria did travel through the Black Country but was said to have closed the carriage curtains as she was offended by the industrial landscape.

The 14th July was chosen to celebrate Black Country Day as it was thought to be the day of the inception of the first commercially successful steam engine – the Newcomen engine in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. This engine was first installed in Tipton and used to pump the water out of the mines and was a vital component in the Industrial Revolution in Britain. If you visit the Black Country Museum in Dudley then you will be able to see a full-scale working replica of the engine.

The Black Country Festival was run every year from 2014 with numerous of events throughout the month of July celebrating Black Country people, achievements and history. Sadly because of recent events last year it was cancelled and it’s not too promising this year either but I’ll have my flag flying high.

As part of a competition by the Black Country Living Museum to design a flag for the Black Country to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II and the 2012 Summer Olympics – 12 years old Gracie was successful with the design you see adorned of nearly all my stuff and was instrumental in putting the region back on the map. Gracie has now just graduated from University with a 2:1 in Psychology – how time flies eh.

Going back to the quote by Elihu Burritt – the red and black colours of the flag are inspired by his quote. The chain represents the manufacturing heritage of the area (the anchor for the Titanic was made here in 1911) and the upright triangle in the background represents the glass cones and iron furnaces that made up a lot of the landscape of the area.

Those of you who have possibly had to rely on subtitles for some of my vlogs will have no doubt noticed my accent, admittedly I do adjust my accent depending on the situation but it is definitely a Black Country accent. It is said that the Black Country dialect is know by many to be the oldest form of the English language with many archaic traits of Early Modern and Middle English. Our dialect is also why we are often referred to as Yam Yams. Nothing to do with our choice of vegetable to eat but mainly because of how the Black Country dialect for ‘you are’ is yam (you am). The word ‘am’ is used instead of ‘are’ regularly for example “Ow am ya?” or “What am ya?”. Conversations are signed off with the phrase “Ta ra a bit”, we say ‘ar’ instead of ‘yes’, ‘cor’ instead of ‘can’t’, the list is relatively endless.

Famous people from the Black Country include comedians Frank Skinner and Lenny Henry, singers Beverly Knight and Slade frontman Noddy Holder. Football manager Sam Allardyce was born in Dudley and actress Julie Walters grew up in Smethwick. Ah and one for the younger lot – Liam Payne from One Direction was born in Wolverhampton.

JRR Tolkien was also said to have used the Black Country as the basis for Mordor, in the LOTR series Mordor itself was ravaged by industry as weapons were forged and armies were built. Tolkien was brought up near Birmingham, Hall Green. An area at that time with watermill and green fields, a bit like Shire. Tolkien greatly disliked industrialisation and what the Black Country represented so that was the inspiration for Mordor. There are other theories of course but for now I’m going with this one.

Hopefully I’ve not bored you with this information overload but as a resident of the Black Country I’m very proud of where I’m from. I know we Yam Yams have been ridiculed over our accent and people mistake it as a sign of a lack of intelligence but what makes the Black Country what it is, is its people. I remember going to the Leeds Vegas Club get together and meeting fellow people from the Black Country and they commented on how refreshing it was to hear the accent on YouTube.

If you’re ever around these parts then take a visit to the Black Country Living Museum, it’s an excellent place and has been used for the filming of Peaky Blinders. Nearby there is Dudley Zoo and Castle and if you’re up for a bit of ghost hunting then stay at the Station Hotel, Dudley too – ask for room 217 if you dare.

Time to wish you all a Happy Black Country Day, thanks for taking the time to read this blog – it means a lot and ta ra a bit…….

If you’ve a spare 6 minutes watch this very old clip of People from the Black Country, obviously a lot has changed since then but the heart of the people is still the same.