Documentaries on YouTube

[ursus arctos]

There is a vast amount of very interesting material on there, but it can be hard to find (and their algorithms don't help)

I would hope that this thread would become a repository for links to films that some OTFers will find intriguing (and that others will no doubt dislike or ignore).

Some recent personal favourites:

Storyville on Guy Burgess: https://youtu.be/SvhpF0smtag

Making Scotland's Landscape: a five part series with Iain Stewart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc0T...YCs0YAi7_xzO66

Along the Mississippi: a three part series original in German, but with an English soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHj...7R5sbwiVlpSIDe (also some related tracks)

How German Bier Came to America: in German, but with a lot of English language interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2TrJkkuzM

The Bombing of Milano in August 1943 (in Italian, with some English language documents): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ydR50hTLA

[Duncan Gardner]

Good man. I'll check out the Iain Stewart

[3 Colours Red]

(and their algorithms don't help)

Not wrong there - type in "documentary" and it'll take you to those "Real Stories" channels full of sensationalist "The Man Whose Legs Were On Top Of His Head" kind of things.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Not wrong there - type in "documentary" and it'll take you to those "Real Stories" channels full of sensationalist "The Man Whose Legs Were On Top Of His Head" kind of things.

Surely you mean The Boy With an Arse for a Face?

[Ginger Yellow]

I rarely watch what you'd call actual documentaries on Youtube, but I do watch a lot of informative non-fiction stuff. Scott Manley is a great follow for space news and explanation. The Monterrey Bay aquarium does cool live feeds as well as species primers. Two Minute Papers gives summaries of cool research in AI and physical simulation. Vsauce does longer-form explainers of various physics concepts

[3 Colours Red]

Surely you mean The Boy With an Arse for a Face?

Nah, that's on Only Human's channel.

[Lang Spoon]

Good man. I'll check out the Iain Stewart

I really liked his stuff when he was on BBC4. Will def check this out. A far better token Scot presenter than that hack peddler of pseudo history Neil Oliver.

[Alderman Barnes]

This thread is a briliant idea, thanks Ursus.

The BBC has worked so hard at making itself impossible to watch, in both senses of the phrase, that this could be an invaluable resource.I've given up watching the television as it is, so any neural nourishment with the added blessing of OTF is extremely welcome.

Can you post up random old stuff that you've found? If so, here's a terrible copy of Leonard Bernstein on Young People's Music.

[Lang Spoon]

Is that the one where Brian Wilson plays Surf's Up on piano?

[Alderman Barnes]

That's the one. Terrible quality video, but worth a watch.

[Lang Spoon]

That's great, thanks AB.

[delicatemoth]

We Jam Econo, the story of the Minutemen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmKGusadv08

Breadcrumb Trail, the story of Slint. Check out just how young they were - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsRpS6XGiOs

A Sunday In Hell - the film to get people into cycling. Follows the 1976 edition of one of the sport's most historic and gruelling races, the cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBTVU9JDrA

[ursus arctos]

A Sunday in Hell is one of the greatest documentaries made about any sport.

Two more Iain Stewart joints:

Men of Rock (Scotland's contribution to the history of geology): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...KsG3S1XPfUln5f

Journeys from the Centre of the Earth (geology of the Mediterranean): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...agTua_e5axghge

[Alderman Barnes]

A Sunday In Hell - the film to get people into cycling. Follows the 1976 edition of one of the sport's most historic and gruelling races, the cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBTVU9JDrA

Fantastic, that was utterly compelling - thanks for that!

[Alderman Barnes]

I'm also really enjoying the Iain Stewart stuff. He dances on the very verge of annoying but comes up with loads of interesting stuff that I hadn't heard of before. Definitely on the right side of Cox in the travelling unnecessarily around the world / things you didn't know before ratio.

[3 Colours Red]

Definitely on the right side of Cox in the travelling unnecessarily around the world / things you didn't know before ratio.

I'd recommended Tom Scott if you fancy a short form version of that kind of thing.

[Ginger Yellow]

Definitely on the right side of Cox in the travelling unnecessarily around the world / things you didn't know before ratio.

Usually there's a bit more justification to the travelling as well, in that the rocks are there.

[delicatemoth]

Yesssss, A Sunday In Hell always pulls 'em in.

[Alderman Barnes]

Just watched the first part of Men of Rock and Stewart has certainly upped his game, good as it was. Less gimmicky but still entertaining and chock-full of meaty, nourishing facts, just the way I like it.

I never knew that geology was so exciting. Thinking of jacking it all in and buying a hammer and satchel, except that I live in one of the most geologically boring places on earth.

[Alderman Barnes]

Yesssss, A Sunday In Hell always pulls 'em in.

Also reminded me of the three happy months I had in Le Nord spending entire days in the Café-Tabac with mes bons amis Pelforth et France Football.

[ursus arctos]

Watching the Stewart series in quick succession really allows one to see him mature as a presenter. He was never bad, but he has definitely gotten better, and one senses that he's increasingly comfortable with a televisual version of his real self as he ages.

[Alderman Barnes]

Most definitely. This has been a very enjoyable thread, much appreciated. Let's keep it going.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

This video about the voyage of the second Russian pacific fleet to the battle of tsushima was one of my dad's favourite programmes. It's Absolutely amazing. It is a lot weirder than you could imagine.

The follow up video about what happened to them when they got there is a lot less amusing.

[Alderman Barnes]

That's going straight to my dad tomorrow. Tailor-made. Cheers!

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I'd recommend that everyone watch the first one.

This video about the Battle of the Medway, which is that rather embarrassing incident where the Dutch sailed up the Thames and wiped out the Royal Navy in its home port. It doesn't get much mention in english history, but if you arrive in Schipol from the UK you have to walk past a huge pictorial depiction of the incident.