h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Rutland is another one of those Counties that's sometimes a 'proper' county, then sometimes isn't, then sometimes finds itself back as a proper county again. It's also one of the smallest such areas in the UK - so if you know anything about this most unique of regions, why not share it with us?

Paully

Rutland lies between Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire and seems to fade in and out of existence about as often as Brigadoon.

Rutland Weekend Television

Although that's just about all I know, and I know very little about that. Very pleasant part of the world to drive through though, always enjoyed the view over Rutland Water.

Rutland Weekend Television.... Eric Idle's conceit was to create the smallest TV station in Britain, based on its smallest county, and to pretend that like London, where the "regular" weekday TV station (Thames)closed down at six on a Friday and "London Weekend Television" took over until ten on a Sunday, Rutland also deserved such an arrangement.

He invented the smallest, cheapest, held together with string and cardboard and sticky tape, TV station in the world, and turned it into a half-hour a week TV series.

It is recognisably a product from the Monty Python stable (most of the other Pythons did walk-on or cameo roles at one point or another), there was also music provided by the great and underestimated Neil Innes (reference: Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, Guide entries abound), and Idle's sidekick was the lugrubious and very funny David Battley. Whatever happened to Battley? He was in his way a damn fine comic who alternated the role of comic lead and straight man to Idle with great ease.

When "Fawlty Towers" has been repeated to death by the BBC, to the ponit where the entire adult population knows ALL the words and pratfalls, it's a shame that RWT has never been repeated by the Beeb - could I put out a plea to the BBc to extract a digit and repeat some, please?

Also, the anorak is stirring in me to mention that when Airfix Models were planning a range of model railway accessories - ie, lineside buildings and other features that would when assembled and painted look quintessentially and timelessly English - their researchers toured England looking for the kind of area and local features that didn't just say "This is an English building and an English landscape", they yelled it out loud in ten-foot high letters.

After extensive touring, sketching and photographing, the Airfix designers, who wanted to create the most English buildings possible in miniature, were unanimous in declaring Rutland the most English part of England.

more than that, the village (possibly town now?) that most summed up England was Oakham, Rutlandshire.

The models are still available thirty years on, although ownership has changed hands: ironically, they're now made by a Welsh firm, Dapol Models of Llangollen, Flintshire.

Many of Oakham's signature buildings can be lovingly built in miniature: the pub, the old railway station, a typical town dwelling, a thatched cottage, a petrol station (typical 1930's architecture, apparently, not many of them to be seen now) even the church.

Just thought I'd throw this snippet in!

Also, I remember reading that Rutland was absorbed into Leicestershire for quite some time - so evidently the two must have a commmon border? This provoked spectacular ire from the well-to-do shire Tories, who failed to see why Leicestershire was taxing them "punitively" to pay for the social problems in the city of Leicester which was nothing to do with THEM and none of their doing, why should we be lumped in with urban losers and Labour-voting pondscum, blah blah blah... From what I recall, and if I'm wrong please correct me, one of the lesser political actions of Margaret Thatcher (or was it John Major?)was to heed these cries and decouple Rutland from Leicester to give the county its independent identity again.

It's the birthplace, and still the residence, of Peter F Hamilton. He writes really big SF books.


Geggs

Does anybody else have anything to add about Rutland? Surely there's got to be somebody out there who'd like to tell us their favourite bit of Rutland-based trivia?

Paully

I'm delighted to announce that we already have two County entries in Peer Review, waiting to receive any bouquets or brickbats that people might lob in their general direction! If you're currently either working on or contributing to a County entry of your own right now, you might like to have a quick look to see how some other researchers have tackled this challenge. They are: County Fermanagh (A6092606) and Norfolk (A6108473).

Hope you enjoy reading them!

Paully

We're now offering T-shirts as a reward to anyone who can get these last county entries into the EG.

So would anyone like to step forward and take this one on?