Godshill
Model Village
By Bluebottle
Football
is a very divisive sport, and this week controversy has struck the Isle of
Wight village of Godshill. Godshill is a village listed in the Domesday Book
(1086) so is over 1,000 years old, with the current church, the village's
fourth, built in the 14th Century. It is famous for its thatched houses, tea
rooms, hosting Britain's first music festival in 1968 and the road-closing
triceratops, but most of all for its surprisingly controversial model village,
which opened in 1952.
In
addition to houses the model village shows typical Isle of Wight life, such as
camping, excavating dinosaurs, enjoying the park, being in the pub or on the
beach and playing sport such as croquet, cricket or football. Since the 1970s
the football pitch has included a model of a streaker; a young lady running
topless across the field. And this is where the controversy has occurred, as
this week following complaints, the streaker has been removed.
Isle of
Wight society has divided sharply between those who think the streaker was
inappropriate and those who believe that the streaker was innocent fun
showcasing saucy seaside humour and should be reinstated - and those who don’t
really care. The model village has officially said, "We've received a
small number of comments from visitors who felt it was inappropriate for a
family attraction. Streaking was very much a feature of a different era. It is
far less common and is no longer something that younger visitors recognise, so
the model has lost much of its original relevance."
And
that's true – you just don't get streakers in sporting events anymore. When the
story broke I had to explain the concept of streaking to my teens, who didn't
quite understand why anyone would behave in such a manner. While 40 years ago
people would even watch golf on the telly* in the hopes of seeing topless
nubile women, that doesn't really happen anymore. Or at least if it does, the
cameras nowadays always quickly pan away from the naked figure rather than zoom
in. Besides which, the internet has allowed exhibitionist women wanting to
broadcast videos of their naked body the ability to do so from the comfort and
convenience of their own homes without first having to travel to attend major
sporting events.
I expect
that the model figure herself will probably be painted to have clothes and
reappear elsewhere, possibly on the beach, and it was always a bit incongruous
having a 1970s streaker in a model village largely set in the 1920s. I've not
been to the model village recently, and if I went now the streaker obviously
wouldn't be there, but I've searched the photographs of when I’ve been before
and can share photos I took showing the controversial figure in 2005 and 2017
(all the figures get repainted regularly which is why her trousers are blue in
the images shown in the news this week).
*I struggled when trying to explain
to my teens why anyone actually watches golf on the telly before concluding
that some things remain inexplicable.
Godsill Model Village:
TRIGGER WARNING: May Contain Images of Topless Models
Tuba Waddle by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
A
Sentiment We Can Identify With
From
1900
Translation: Let the outside world do its own thing:
My house will be my refuge.
(Thanks to Tavaron for image.)
Brain-Teaser:
Answer
Okay, history buffs: what does this do?
(Technology Puzzle)
Answer: It washes clothes. And doesn't use any
electricity.
Video
of the Day:
Ducks
and Pigs
The open-air museum in Austria has some
fun but noisy residents.
CU l8ter,
Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor
I remember the streakers from when I was a student at uni in the 70s. US streakers were almost always male. We were at uni at the time and I distinctly remember Elektra telling a friend of ours that the reason guys streak and not girls was that while the female form was aesthetically pleasing, men running about naked were merely risible. He was a bit miffed, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can’t say for certain that most British streakers were women, the ones who appeared on British television were, but that may well be because British cameramen – and it would have been cameramen at the time – were more likely to focus on female streakers and ignore males.
DeleteIn the 1970s there were only three television channels in the UK, so early streakers became instant celebrities.
After reading some more about this story I have learnt that the streaker model is named 'Erika', almost certainly after Erika Roe. She streaked during a Rugby international match and later led a successful Breast Cancer campaign, raising money and awareness. If that campaign inspired at least one woman to be diagnosed in time then streaking has saved lives and therefore been a force for good.
You're right there! It's a nice bit of history recorded, thanks, BB!
DeleteI remember a marvellous miniature village in Cornwall, called Cornucopia. Very realistic and skilfully made buildings - hence its downfall as people on the whole seem to love quantity over quality
ReplyDelete