Cultural Geography Blog

Excellent to see that the greatest sporting event is coming to the UK again in 2027. The world’s biggest bike races, the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, will both take place in the UK in 2027, marking the first time both the men’s and women’s Grand Départs will take place in the same country (outside France). England, Scotland, and Wales are all set to host stages of this famous event in 2027, making it the largest free sporting spectacle in British history with millions expected to line the streets for the return of the Tour de France, and to witness the first ever staging of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in the UK. The men’s Tour de France will begin in Edinburgh, Scotland. Further route details for both the men’s and women’s 2027 Grand Départs will be announced in the Autumn, with the focus on maximising the opportunity to showcase Britain’s diverse landscapes alongside the nation’s enthusiasm for cycling and inspiring as many people as possible through ...

  My wife went to Margate last weekend and got me this postcard from Turner Contemporary, as she knew I'd been working on a resource based around Fish and Chips. She was there to see Nile Rodgers and Chic do a gig at Dreamland. The postcard features an instantly recognisable drawing by the illustrator  Olivier Kugler. It shows the global spread of Fish and Chips. It relates to a commission for some art to be placed in 2021. The background: The commission shares everyday stories of migration connected to Kent’s most celebrated high street food. For the ‘Kent Fish & Chips’ Project Kugler and Humphreys have interviewed owners, staff and customers at Fish & Chips shops across Kent. Migration and displacement are central themes. Fish & chips can be traced back to Huguenot and Jewish arrivals in the UK and people from all over the world continue to be central to the farming and fishing industries and the high street shops. Featured Fish & Chip shop owners are: Beach...

  May the Fourth, and the Ordnance Survey has created a map of locations where Star Wars scenes were filmed...

A cross posting from my GeoLibrary blog - over 500 books and other resources for geography teachers have been placed on the shelves of the library so far. A cli-fi novel, which has been turned into a film, which is now out in cinemas. The original book was published in 2017. I read it yesterday in one sitting. It features a mother who gives birth at the same time as a disastrous flood inundates London (and presumably other areas in the south of England) leading to a breakdown in society, and martial law style interventions with refugee camps in Scotland and riots and fights breaking out over food. She is separated from her partner and family and fights to protect 'Z' - her child. All characters are identified only by a letter, and the text is broken up into short snippets and sections of just three or four lines in one go at most. It mostly works, and certainly creates a pace to the read. As things slowly start to improve, she aims to return 'home' to see what is left. ...

Grime acts as a catalyst for change, sparking healthy debate and often mobilising young people around social issues most pertinent to their lives today. In this sense, Grime has the ability to transcend age, gender, sexuality, race and political class, providing a much needed social commentary on highly charged topics. From the introduction to a new unit on Grime and Black British history. If you’re a #geographyteacher wanting to talk to students about @sterling7 and Black British identities ahead of the #EURO2020 final consider showing the video to Dave’s song ‘Black’. Read the article by @Parise_CM @GeogShanique and @dhillon113 https://t.co/Qjt5AkLR9Y — Decolonising Geography (@DecoloniseGeog) July 7, 2021

The incredible inkings in our Mission:Explore books were created by the dippy pen and iMac of Tom Morgan Jones.  He has now teamed up with the people behind Strumpshaw, Tincleton and Giggleswick's Marvellous Maps series to produce illustrations for a new map of the funnest things to do in Britain A Great British Map of Wonders. This looks like a suitable Christmas present for the geographer or young person in your life.

I have all the maps which have been made by this company. They work closely with the Ordnance Survey. Their new map shows the location of Film and TV locations in the UK, along with other details of specific places. There are the locations of cinemas and other film related places as well. I'm just back from the SAGT conference, of which more to come, and I've previously done a session on the use of the Scottish landscape by Pixar when they made the film 'Brave'. Another series made in the area around Stirling is Outlander, and I noticed quite a few souvenirs related to that area in the visitor centres that I went to. A good Christmas gift for the geographer in your life.

Outcrops by Spaceship A review can be read here. Focussing on a series of sandstone outcrops above the West Yorkshire town of Todmorden, Outcrops is an exploration of the geological history of the Upper Calder Valley and Cliviger Gorge. Revitalising an enthusiasm for geology that saw Williamson complete an undergraduate degree in Earth Science in the 1990s, each track was created to invoke a particular phase of that history, namely the interbedded sandstones and siltstones of the Millstone Grit, the formation of the Yorkshire coal measures and finally the glaciation of the valley during the last ice age. The album was recorded in the field, in a series of small caves where Williamson created the pieces that make up the album whilst almost encased within the landscape he was describing. These recordings were then treated to minimal editing and post production in Williamson’s home studio at the base of the hills where the recordings were made. In this way the album becomes analogo...

Visit Britain has launched a new interactive map showing some of the locations of films , to mark the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book. Latest statistics for 2017 show that there were a record 11.8 million overseas visits to the UK from January to April, up 11% on the same period in 2016. Overseas visitors spent £6.2 billion, up 14% and also setting a new record. Latest flight booking data from ForwardKeys shows that bookings for international arrivals to the UK during the summer are currently tracking 12% ahead of the same period last year.  Tourism is worth £127 billion annually to the UK economy, creating jobs and boosting economic growth across its nations and regions.  Thanks to David Jarratt for the tipoff...

I'm always interested in the ways that places are presented and represented. This is all part of the idea of Geography offering 'a different view' or lens to see the world in a particular way. Alice Stevenson's new book ' Ways to see Great Britain' looks interesting. There are many books describing the UK of course, and I have many of them on my shelves. I'm also interested in how students introduced to this sort of writing could also adapt some of the ideas to their own writing, and perhaps explore their own home areas anew. This video outlines, the approach, which is inherently 'geographical'...

On the day that we got a special British edition Monopoly board ... This was the Here and Now UK board, and was the result of voting across the country... Liverpool fills the Old Kent Road slot... Dundee makes it... Here's the board for your interest - why not buy a copy ! Look at the price inflation in the properties... Here are 1000 suggestions for a motto for Britain...