Why British cities make no sense
2,630,712
Published 2023-08-28
Why is Reading, a massive settlement of 170,000 people, NOT a city, while the tiny Welsh village of St Davids IS a city? Is it something to do with cathedrals? Or universities? Or is it a surprisingly simple answer which only raises more questions about how city status works in the UK, and merits a ten minute video? (No, no, and yes.)
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Written and presented by
JAY FOREMAN www.twitter.com/jayforeman
MARK COOPER-JONES www.twitter.com/markcooperjones
Director/DOP
JADE NAGI www.twitter.com/jade_nagi
Edited by
JAY FOREMAN
Runner
ABBY TIMMS
Voice of University Challenge
ROGER TILLING @rogertilling
VFX
CHRIS WALKER www.artstation.com/zangrethordigital
Satellite map animations
PEADAR DONNELLY
Queen awards ceremony animations
DARREN DUTTON @Darren_Dutton
City Bid Pamphlets
STEWART FRASER @golfsaleriots
UK urban sprawl map
HELEN MCKENZIE @helenmakesmaps
Additional research
JONN ELLEDGE @jonnelledge
Cathedral counting research
CHRIS JOHNSON @chrislesjohnson
Additional graphics help
DAVID FLETCHER @artfletch
MATT GIRLING @iamcanalboy
Rochester sign image
@RochesterCitySt
Check out their Twitter for more info on Rochester’s city status.
See also, Tom Scott’s video about Rochester
• This town forgot to be a city
Piano version of Peaky Blinders
TIM TRAVELLER @TheTimTraveller
Music help
PRESTON PARRIS @prestonoutatime
All Comments (21)
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Get an exclusive @Surfshark deal! Enter promo code MAPMEN for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/mapmen
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Simple solution: Move Reading to Wales.
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Wow - the budget on this episode... being able to buy three large packs of Cathedral City cheese is quite a feat
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To add to the confusion: most British people who live in cities refer to the city centre as 'town'
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The level of effort put into each episode is a joy to behold, all the animations, cut away, jokes, in-jokes, many of them painstaking done for a mere few seconds of use - an utter treat! Thanks Jay and Mark. (ps. Getting Roger Tilling involved is next level)
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YES! NEW MAPMEN!!!!!!! MY LIFE HAS MEANING AGAIN
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I greatly appreciate whoever put "make clothes sizes consistent" on the list of more important things to do cause it truly should be the top prority
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I went to university in Reading and one of the urban legends we were told was that when Queen Victoria first visited Reading, she reportedly didn’t like it. Some say that the statue of her in Reading town centre is also deliberately facing away from the centre of Reading. Of course like most urban legends, no one has been able to verify this
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3:10 the long version: "Letters patent" is a fancy way of saying "a document that is officially issued by the Monarch." Like much UK law, what this technically means, and how this practically works in the real world, are different things. Technically, the Monarch can choose any town or village or motorway service he likes, and bestow city status upon it. But practically, it's the government of the day who makes the decision, and then the ceremonial stage is the bit where the Monarch signs a big piece of paper. Another important thing to note is that even in the olden days, when the Monarch had genuine power, he wasn't actually turning places that were not cities into cities. He was merely making their already established city status into official, monarchy-endorsed city status. If you've got time to pause this video and read this essay, you've got time to reply to that email.
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What I find interesting is how Colchester, despite only being given city status in 2022, still advertises itself as Britain's FIRST city, because technically it was a roman city when they first colonised
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I can't get over how they stop in the middle of the video to congratulate each other for being brilliant. So wholesome and factually correct.
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the fact that they made a two page bogus dictionary at 2:44 for like 3 frames of screentime is the type of unnecessary high effort that I want to see from this channel. keep it up!
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Now I'm hoping to see a spinoff entitled "It's Something to Do with Cheese" where Jay and Mark attempt to build a city made entirely out of cathedrals made of cheese.
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As someone from Reading, I dont want to become a City. Being the largest town in the UK is at least an interesting fact to tell people, if we get city status then we wont have any interesting facts to tell people Great episode as always, chaps
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The absolute dedication it must take to visit both st David's and st albarns for one video is incredible. They're even in different countries...
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So basically Reading was left on Read
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Absolutely love the detail on the list by 3000, everywhere around Reading has been made a city, but they still refuse to let Reading have anything
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It takes absolute ages to watch a Map Men episode as I have to pause and read all the delightful little quirks thrown in at every possible opportunity. Lovely episode as always, lads.
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I love how Wokingham, Pangbourne, Winnersh and Bracknell all turn up on the “Millennium 3000 cities” list, as they’re all much smaller towns very close to Reading
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It's the same in Germany, although not with cities but with towns. In Germany, a place can only call itself a “town” if it has been granted the so-called “town rights”.