Culture of the Isle of Wight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Isle of Wight maintains a culture close to, but distinct from, that of the south of England due to its nature as an offshore island. With a high proportion of the present-day population being 'incomers', with a few notable exceptions it has more often formed the backdrop for cultural events of wider significance, rather than Island-specific heritage.
The Island has inspired many creative works in history. Local people often seek to defend their real or perceived culture, and local politics is often dictated by a desire to preserve the traditions and habits of the Island.
The first creative flowering of the Isle of Wight occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria under whose patronage the island became a fashionable destination for the Victorian gentry.
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[edit] Literature
Alfred, Lord Tennyson was made Baron Tennyson, of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight by Queen Victoria in 1884 cementing a connection to the Island.
The isle has been the setting for several novels, from Julian Barnes's utopian novel England, England, to a series of detective thrillers set on the Island, including The Fallen by Robert Rennick. The island also features heavily in John Wyndham's novel The Day of the Triffids and Simon Clark's sequel to it, The Night of the Triffids.
[edit] Language and dialect
The distinctive Isle of Wight accent is a somewhat stronger version of the traditional Hampshire dialect, featuring the dropping of some consonants and an emphasis on longer vowels. This is similar to the West Country drawl heard in south-western England, but less removed in sound from the Estuary English of the South East. The spread of the latter in general, together with continuing immigration, means the broader accent is more prevalent in the older population.
The island also has its own lexical style. Some words like grockel (visitor) and nipper/nip's (addressing a younger person) are shared with neighbouring regions. Others are unique, for example mallishag (meaning caterpillar) and nammit (meaning food).
To give an example of pronunciation, an outsider hearing the accent may hear the pronunciation of alright, Cowes, and tie is often awroi, Kays and toy. There is also a penchant in informal speech to frequently end a sentence or punctuate it with a rhetorical question that sounds like an impossible presumption on the listener's knowledge:
- "I was browsing on the net, wasn't I?, when I came across a web site called Wikipedia".
- "Please could I 'ave change for this five-pound?". question: "What would you like?". response "I need five one pound coins, don't I?"
The slower more pronounced speech means that, while the dropping of consonants or use of glottal stops is heard, it is not to the same extent of dialogues such as Cockney. Additionally consonants may be lengthened such as r in hovercraft; or changed to emphasise a word such as the g in something being pronounced as a k.
[edit] Local Media
The Isle of Wight was one of the first regions of the country to get a community television station with TV 12, an effort created in part by the Isle of Wight correspondent of the then BBC local new service. In October 2002 the Restricted service licence (RSL) for the Isle of Wight (Rowridge transmitter) was awarded to a new not-for-profit local television station, Solent TV, the first not for profit community television station of its kind in the UK.
Residents of the Island are very community minded, and it is an often quoted statistic (deriving from the mid nineties) that 93% of household read the local newspaper 'the Isle of Wight County Press' [1], that comes out once a week on Fridays. In the early nineties a local radio station, Isle of Wight Radio [2], commenced broadcasting on 1242 medium wave, later moving to 107 and 102 FM. This is now also available over the internet.
[edit] Sport
The Isle of Wight was a founder member of the Island Games, and hosted the games in the mid nineties.
Two of the most famous and important sailing clubs in the United Kingdom can be found on the island coast, the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, and Brading Haven Yacht Club near Bembridge. the Island plays host to Cowes Week, an annual sailing regatta, and the Admiral's Cup and has on occasions hosted other high profile racing events.
[edit] Music
The Bees (UK band) are a local band who have recently met with some national success.
Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock lived on the island in the late 20th century, and occasionally refers to local geography or uses Wight-specific terms in his lyrics (the song "Let's Go Thundering" refers to "sliding down a mossy chine", for example).
[edit] The Isle of Wight Festival
During the period 1968 to 1970 the Isle of Wight played host to a large music festival. The 1970 event was the largest ever music festival in the United Kingdom, and saw one of the last ever performances by Jimi Hendrix, and his last in the UK.
An attempt was made to restart the festival in 2001 under the branding 'Rock Island', and this first year could be considered a flop in terms of ticket sales. However the festival returned the next year, and over subsequent years grew into a successful event attracting acts such as The Who, Bryan Adams and David Bowie. Its extensive 2005 lineup included R.E.M., Travis, Snow Patrol and Feeder.
[edit] Views of the Island
The Isle of Wight has traditionally seen as a place for retirees and holiday makers. The Beatles song When I'm Sixty-Four mentions 'every summer we could rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight'.
This non-threatening image is also used to comic effect by the Monty Python team in their 1976 sketch Mr Neutron:
- Commander: OK. We'll bomb Neutron out. Get me Moscow! Peking! and Shanklin, Isle of Wight!
- Cut to stock film of B52s on a bombing raid.
- Voice Over: And so the Great Powers and the people of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, drew their net in ever-tightening circles around the most dangerous threat to peace the world has ever faced. They bombed Cairo, Bangkok, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Harrow, Hammersmith, Stepney, Wandsworth and Enfield... But always it was the wrong place.
Today the island maintains this image, while also being seen nationally as a destination for the 'sea and sandcastles' style of family holiday.
