Upcoming BBC documentary on UK martial arts history

[Devon]

Just a heads-up that the new hour-long documentary "Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting: the Rise of Martial Arts in Britain" will be screening on BBC4 at 10.00 pm on Sunday, Feb. 24th. The documentary covers the cultural impact of Asian martial arts in the UK, beginning with the London Bartitsu Club in 1899 and reaching through to the Bruce Lee craze of the 1970s.

There's a placeholder website for the show at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p2pm6 and apparently there will be some associated video content appearing online soon.

 

[celtic_crippler]

Not British, but I'd be interested in seeing that. I wonder if it will air on BBC Amercia?

 

[Devon]

http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/2013/02/the-first-jujutsu-masters-in-britain/


This is a short (3.49) web video supplement/promo for the full documentary, which will screen on Sunday night. The clip deals with the careers of Bartitsu Club instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi, who are believed to have been the first jujutsuka to have taught and competed professionally outside of Japan.


Unfortunately, because of BBC licence rules, the clip is only viewable by people within the UK.

 

[Curlykarateka]

Try it on the internet, BBC Iplayer.co.uk a little after the showing in this country

 

[WaterGal]

Not British, but I'd be interested in seeing that. I wonder if it will air on BBC Amercia?

Maybe, or PBS. I'm watching a documentary on PBS right now called "The Black Kung Fu Experience", which is about the history of kung fu in the black community. Mainly in the US, though there is a guy on now from Jamaica talking about training with a traditional Afro-Carribean blade and how they merge that old African influence with kung fu.

 

[Devon]

Some advance commentary from a "Timeout" reviewer:

"Carl Douglas may have reckoned it was `fast as lightning', but actually the trajectory of martial arts in Britain was surprisingly sedate. This documentary tracks its evolution within Western culture. We begin, most entertainingly, with the notion of the gentleman hard-nut – amid the `garrotting panics' of late Victorian London, it was deemed essential for a chap to know how to look after himself. Then, there were the suffragettes, facing male aggression and expecting no help from the police. Emmeline Pankhurst was escorted by a crack ju-jitsu troupe when she made public appearances.

Eventually, thanks to the likes of Bruce Lee, the discipline went mainstream – but did it lose a little of its soul in the process? It's a good story, engagingly told – the highlight is probably Brit martial arts expert Ian McClaren (`as a Glaswegian, I've always been very interested in fighting'). But overall, this is classic `Timeshift' – quirky, often unconsidered social history, rendered in lively style."

 

[Tez3]

Is that Ian McClaren from martial arts in York?

 

[Devon]

Is that Ian McClaren from martial arts in York?

Yes - there's an article about his involvement with the documentary up today: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10242291.print/

 

[Tez3]

Yay! then I shall definitely be watching, I know him not just from martial arts but also from work!

 

[geezer]

Maybe, or PBS. I'm watching a documentary on PBS right now called "The Black Kung Fu Experience", which is about the history of kung fu in the black community...

Funny, I was just thinking about this same topic from a personal angle. The 70's kung-fu craze was huge in the African American community. I went to a boarding school in Colorado Springs for two years in the early 70's. Like most young guys, I thought martial arts were kinda cool, but that was about as far as it went. Then, on "parent's weekend" my black roommate talked me and my mom into going with him to see a new movie called Enter the Dragon. My mom and I were probably the only white people in the whole theater! It was amazing. In the scene where Jim Kelly as "Williams" beats up the cracker cops that are harrassing him, the whole theater went absolutely wild.

Well, I don't think my poor old mom knew what to make of it all. But the experience sure hooked me. I secretly made a pair of 'chuks in the wood shop and started practicing moves out of books, and beat the heck out of myself. Then as soon as left that school and got to a place where I could get real martial arts lessons, I signed up. I took some long breaks at various times, but nearly forty years later, I'm still at it. And you know, if my buddy Ronnie hadn't talked this white boy into seeing that movie, none of it would have happened.

 

[Devon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015d5ft


Bartitsu instructors James Marwood and George Stokoe demonstrate Edwardian-era "antagonistics" in dramatic slow motion for this new promo. for the documentary. As before, because of BBC licence restrictions the clip is only intended to be playable by people within the UK.

 

[Devon]

The full documentary is now available here: http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/2013/03/bartitsu-jujitsuffragette-history-documentary/ .

 

[Tez3]

Made me feel old seeing some familiar faces on there, good programme though.