For my 50th blog I'd like to pay homage to a Dales institution, the Dalesman. It's the UK's biggest selling regional consumer magazine and was started by Harry Scott 80 years ago in 1939. Originally known by the rather more longwinded title of 'The Yorkshire Dalesman: A Monthly Magazine of Dales' Life and Industry', it's changed over the years but not substantially. I've got some 1940s copies and can't say the overall feel has changed much - a real love of Yorkshire still shines through. The wonderful Yorkshire Playwright Alan Bennett said, "The Dalesman has proved to be something of a river; it just goes flowing on - and like a river it is, I hope, unstoppable."
You can often still find old copies of the Dalesman in second hand bookshops and antique shops and they're real treasures, giving an insight into the character of the area.
I was going to wax lyrical about the Dalesman magazine and why I love it but then I came across a brilliant interview broadcast by Yorkshire Television. It features wonderful playwright Alan Bennett and the Dalesman's legendary editor Bill Mitchell who was about to retire after 24 years as its editor. It also features famous contributors Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby. This programme was first broadcast in 1988 so it's dated, in the best way possible.
I love the description of a 'dales man': "he's unhappy in a crowd, happy with his own thoughts, living his own quiet thoughts, tremendously independent, truly a character. He has his own original way of looking at the world, doesn't allow anyone to influence it too greatly. He's realistic, a little taciturn (described as the art of saying nowt for a long time). He's thrifty, but hospitable." I think all that applies equally to many dales women too.
You can watch the programme here thanks to the BFI archive.
You can often still find old copies of the Dalesman in second hand bookshops and antique shops and they're real treasures, giving an insight into the character of the area.
I was going to wax lyrical about the Dalesman magazine and why I love it but then I came across a brilliant interview broadcast by Yorkshire Television. It features wonderful playwright Alan Bennett and the Dalesman's legendary editor Bill Mitchell who was about to retire after 24 years as its editor. It also features famous contributors Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby. This programme was first broadcast in 1988 so it's dated, in the best way possible.
I love the description of a 'dales man': "he's unhappy in a crowd, happy with his own thoughts, living his own quiet thoughts, tremendously independent, truly a character. He has his own original way of looking at the world, doesn't allow anyone to influence it too greatly. He's realistic, a little taciturn (described as the art of saying nowt for a long time). He's thrifty, but hospitable." I think all that applies equally to many dales women too.
You can watch the programme here thanks to the BFI archive.
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