Transcript of Premium Bonus 066- Transcript

Charlie:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the British English Podcast. Today we're excited to have Sharna from the American English Podcast with us to go over a stirring tale that affected the relationship between Britain and America forever. And we could perhaps say that it contributed significantly to the shaping of the America that we know of today, and also the downfall of Great Britain and its empire. And this tale or event is called the Boston Tea Party. But yeah, it's not just about tea. It's about the the brewing storm of revolution. Uh Seana thank you very much for joining us. It's been long. It's been too long since we recorded an episode together. How the bloody hell are you?

Sharna:
Hahaha! Hi, Charlie, it's so good to be here again. I'm so happy to talk to you. It's always a pleasure because you're so animated. You've got so much good energy. And so thanks for the invite. I'm really excited about this topic today. How are you doing? Oh, I didn't even answer. I'm good. How are you?

Charlie:
Yes, I'm very good. Thank you. That's very kind words. Um, so this episode was, um, based off of an episode that you've already done. So it fuelled my imagination, so I'm keen to get into it and talk about the Boston Tea Party. Um, have you been focusing quite a lot on culture and history and things like that on your podcast, or is it a bit of a mix of everything?

Sharna:
Um, you know, I personally have always loved learning so much about the culture of the countries, um, like the of the places where I'm learning the language, if that makes sense. So if I'm learning French, I want to learn all about life in France and the history and how they got to be where they are today. And so, yeah, I think when teaching American English, I like to focus a lot on the people, the food, the businesses, all those sort of cultural aspects that I think help people connect better to Americans. I like that, yeah. So I do a lot of cultural episodes on there. Do you also?

Charlie:
Nice. I'm kind of getting into it more so now I've got an Australian friend who's a bit of a history buff, and he got me into doing, uh, The Great Fire of London. Then I think I did The Great Stink. We did the English country houses. So he was telling me all about these, this period of time, and it's taught me a lot. And we also did some kings recently, King Henry the Eighth and King Athelstan. Um, so, yeah, it's taught me a lot about our heritage and history, which is good, right, to learn about that. But yeah.

Sharna:
No. I saw you recently post about cheese and I know and is that the hill where people what exactly is that? I think I've seen videos on this where I go, what is the background? Yeah, it's.

Charlie:
Mad Cooper's Hill in the Cotswolds in England. It's a cheese rolling competition where people race down a very steep, dangerous hill to try and get a cheese wheel that is rolling down the hill. They never get it and they often end up breaking their legs. But it's a tradition that they've kept going for quite a few hundred years. But yeah, quite mad.

Sharna:
That's not something that you've done before.

Charlie:
No, it's not really my kind of my cup of tea, I guess.

Sharna:
But not your cup of tea.

Charlie:
My cup of tea? Good. Yes. I sent a fact out in into the world that I had heard, and I wanted to ask you. It said if you haven't bungee jumped by the age of 30, you will never bungee jump.

Sharna:
That's interesting.

Charlie:
What do you think about this? Is this true for you? Do you think?

Sharna:
Absolutely. I think when I turned 30, maybe it was also in conjunction with having kids, but I became a very paranoid human. I'm a little bit scared of everything, even flying. So I don't know, going down a hill on a on the role of cheese. Is that right? You go on the roll of cheese. No, no, you try and get to the.

Charlie:
How big do you think the roll of cheese is? Sharna?

Sharna:
I don't know, in Europe you guys have really big cheese?

Charlie:
No, it's probably about the size of an American football. Let's give you something you understand in a wheel form, not a rugby ball kind of shape, but. Yeah. So it's that kind of size. So they're not. Yeah. Yeah. It's not like a hamster in a ball or anything like that.

Sharna:
Um, but yeah I definitely agree with that to 30 I don't know, 30. I don't I'm not doing much anymore. What about you? Do you feel like after now you could start bungee jumping? Maybe you bungee jump before? I don't think I've asked you that.

Charlie:
I have bungee jumped before. I did it in tandem with a girl that I was dating at the time. And we did it in Africa. We did it in Uganda, and we our heads were dunked into the River Nile, which is pretty cool, but that's.

Speaker3:
An.

Sharna:
Experience.

Charlie:
Yeah, it was an experience. But, um, apparently the recording of the bungee jump, the people were listening to it and they were like, God, Laura, you were screaming your head off. The girl that I was seeing, she was like, I literally didn't say a thing. Turns out I was very high pitched in my, um, dramatic, uh, sort of scared kind of feel towards it. But yeah, so I was yeah, that.

Sharna:
Video would be a good thing to post on. It would be YouTube channel. It would.

Charlie:
Be yes. Yes, that's true actually. I got like five minutes of before the jump and five minutes of after the jump from the person that was recording it. So he had clearly clicked record way before and then stopped and then started at the wrong time completely. So. Oh, no. So I didn't get the video that I wanted for that, and I wasn't going to do it again because I was screaming my head off.

Sharna:
But anyway. So no, not doing it again.

Charlie:
No, no, I'm not going to do it again. And yeah, even like skiing, I'm less keen to do that now because I had an injury last year or the year before and now I'm a bit like, no, I just want a healthy body.

Sharna:
Yeah, yeah. We don't get back to our usual state as fast.

Speaker3:
No.

Charlie:
Definitely not, definitely not. But, yeah, let's, um, let's see about the Boston Tea Party. Let's see if, um, it was all, I don't know, young, rebellious people that were getting involved in this. I don't know if that's a terrible segue, but let's, uh, let's go with it at least. Um, so, yeah, let's get into the Boston Tea Party. Um, so where do we need to start in order to understand this as, um, as if we've never heard about the party. This party before?

Sharna:
Yeah. So before we discuss the Boston Tea Party itself, um, it's important to understand the context. So in the 18th century, the American colonies were under British rule. If I'm not mistaken, it was King George the Third. Is that right?

Sharna:
Okay. Do you remember?

Charlie:
I mean, I think you know more than me, so I will. I will go with that.

Sharna:
All right. And so the British Parliament imposed several taxes on the colonies. All right. So the colonies were in the what was not quite the United States. And so many of those colonists found those taxes imposed by the British Parliament unjust because they had no representation in Parliament. This principle of having no representation was famously summarised by the slogan no taxation without representation. That's what everyone yelled. It was put on posters everywhere. It was a common phrase. No taxation without representation. So, Charlie, would you make a fuss about these taxes?

Charlie:
Would I complain, or would I just go along with the idea of British people taking money off me if I'm in the colonies?

Sharna:
Exactly.

Charlie:
I'm not very political as a person, as a as a day to day individual. I think I just keep myself to myself. I've got some people, some friends that are quite outspoken, not outspoken. You need to speak your mind. It's good too, but I tend to not really gel with that. I don't know if what I feel, but I think I feel like I shouldn't be complaining. I think that's it. Yeah.

Sharna:
Do you think I've thought about this a lot because of my upbringing, my parents always said, do not discuss religion or politics. Ever. At a dinner table. That was something in my household. It was to create good feelings. No matter who you're with, no matter what culture the people are from. And I'm wondering in your household, did you grow up having political conversations during dinner time? Because I feel like sometimes that's a preface for people feeling more comfortable with those sorts of things.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Charlie:
Right. Okay. No, we didn't particularly, but I've got to say, I'm I'm actually quite comfortable talking about religion in front of people. Now, I obviously it's like very close friends that we want to have an open debate about something deep. But I quite like that discovery kind of chat because it it helps form our own opinions. Like we rarely get those chances right. Obviously, if you have a very strong opinion about something, I'm not trying to change it. I'm just trying to understand somebody's opinion. But yeah, that's an interesting point. What about you? Would you do you think you would kick up a fuss? Would you be rebellious and sort of stick it to the man?

Sharna:
I think actually a lot of the stuff that happened in Boston at the time, like when I read about it and sort of the sentiment, this growing dislike towards the British Empire, excuse me. Um, I, I can kind of relate a lot with the Americans, no offence. And so I think I probably.

Charlie:
You know, I'm not.The Empire

Sharna:
You're not the Empire. Um, yeah. So I, I think I would have made a fuss. I don't know if.

Charlie:
I would have like that.

Sharna:
Do you, do you say kick up a fuss in British English?

Charlie:
Um, yes, I think so. It might be more American, though, but yes.

Sharna:
No, I've never heard of Kick Up a fuss, but I, um, I saw it written on a document and I was like, oh, this must be British.

Charlie:
Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah, I think it must be. Then kick up a fuss. Yeah, yeah, we do use it.

Sharna:
Yes. So I know you're not the British Empire, but, um. Yeah, I think I would have made a fuss. I don't I'm not sure if I would have been along for the ride that the colonists took. They did a lot of pretty intense things that I think in order to fully understand this topic, we need to discuss the British massacre. And, you know, we can get into it.

Charlie:
Um, yeah. Okay. So let's let's continue with the journey. So it says that the discontent mainly came from a thing called the Stamp Act, which meant that paper goods like legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards all had to have this stamp to show it had been purchased from authorised officials, i.e. a tax had been paid to Britain. Um, this was introduced primarily to raise revenue from the American colonies because the Brits were needing to fund the protection of North America from potential threats from the French and Native American tribes following the expensive Seven Years War, which was this big global conflict that affected loads of countries at the time. So the British Empire was feeling poor and were trying to find ways to fund the protection of the American colonies. Okay. Um, so because of this, do you have any sympathy for the. They call them Redcoats. Uh, the Brits, the redcoats in this situation. Um. Or are you still standing by your patriotic values?

Sharna:
Um, I think it's sort of interesting thinking about. Okay, so Britain was in North America. You guys were sort of supporting us in having this army when we had no army. And I mean, obviously this is the reason they're saying we can tax because it's like, hey, we helped you, now it's your time to help us. Right? So in I don't know, it's kind of an interesting idea. Um, I don't know if I'd have sympathy. Exactly, because a lot of people at the time were saying, well, Britain, you didn't need to help us, like. You know what? Why are you saying that you're protecting us and then collecting our money? Um, so I don't know exactly where I would stand at this point in the story. I think I would kind of be between almost being a loyalist, so being loyal to Britain and then also kind of understanding the perspective of, you know, the people who were not loyalists. So the colonists, we can call them.

Charlie:
Yeah, okay. A rational, uh, citizen then standing on what do we say on the fence? Yeah, on the fence.

Sharna:
I'd be on the fence at this point in the story.

Charlie:
Nice. Yeah.

Sharna:
But it would be kind of weird seeing the red coats walking around, you know, going like, uh, I mean, it would sort of almost feel like an imposing, not a threat, but like, why are you here sort of thing. Because the red, red coats were everywhere, you know, in Boston, in Massachusetts and stuff. They were they were very present. Um, so I think there was that awareness that was built like we have these, you know, people here. Are we part of them? Are we not part of them? I think this was sort of the beginning of, yeah, the beginning of potentially the end.

Charlie:
Yeah. No, that does make sense. Yeah. Having people that aren't necessarily part of your government controlling you would feel strange in my opinion. And I'm sure people listening to this actually know first hand how this feels. So yeah, they would be better, um, to report on this, I guess.

Sharna:
Yeah. Well, and then I mean stamps and things the that first act, it's really on stuff that people used every day like newspapers playing like playing cards, like simple things like paper was the, the means of communication. We did not have internet at the time. We didn't communicate in any other way. And so you're thinking about this. This is like your main, your bread and butter is now being charged. So I think that is also something if it's if you're seeing it every day, if you're awareness is built every single day, not only seeing the, um, the Brits, the red coats out on the streets, but also going, okay, now I have to pay this extra tax. What is it? What exactly is this for? It starts raising a bunch of questions. What is this tax for?

Charlie:
Definitely. yeah. It's not very good marketing strategy actually, is it. Because they're constantly seeing it? Imagine it would be kind of like Netflix billing us every day like a a 30th of the price every day. Like, there you go, there you go. They paid, paid, paid.

Sharna:
Exactly. Although I guess we sort of do that with groceries and stuff, you know, every day we're sort of putting money in. I'm like, what exactly is this going to? I don't know about you guys.

Charlie:
What do you mean?

Sharna:
Like, you go to the grocery store and then you have sales tax. It's sort of like a continual thing. Oh, I see. At least I know it's going towards the government that was elected democratically, you know. Yeah.

Charlie:
I think that's that's the whole difference, isn't it. You're paying tax towards a country that you're in versus letting another country have it all.

Sharna:
Exactly. But they didn't stop at the Stamp Act, um, as they even enforced another thing called the Townsend Acts, which introduced duties on a variety of goods that were imported into the colonies, which included tea. And this is particularly notable because this continued taxation on tea directly led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. But not only did they tax tea, but the revenue from those taxes helped pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, effectively making them independent and more loyal to the British crown. Now, what do you think of this, Charlie?

Charlie:
Uh, yeah, it's a bit sneaky, isn't it? It's. Yeah. Trying to. Trying to be the puppeteer, I guess, of the society. Picking out the people that are going to be controlling other people. Not what I would assume to be getting the everyday folk on the side of the Brits. I think they would start to. Yeah, as, as they did, rebel and be like, no, I don't, I don't want that at all. But yeah, it's a weird world to think of because back then there was probably very little coverage on what was actually going on, so they could have gotten away with a lot of stuff, right?

Sharna:
I mean, I think that actually is why this story is so incredible. The fact that some of the leaders, which I know we'll talk about in the bit, like John Hancock and Sam Adams, they were so effective at communication that they were able to pass what was happening to other cities and get them on board with what was happening in Boston at the time. So they had contacts in New York and in Maryland and and so, yeah, discontent that was happening in that little like microcosm could be, you know, dispersed even if it was on paper and even if it was like having to ride on horse to like, transport like that information from one area to the next, it they were effective.

Charlie:
We have come to the end of part one, so feel free to take a break from your listening practice, but if you're happy to keep going, then we're now moving on to part two of this episode. Thanks so much for being a premium or Academy member and enjoy the rest of the show.

Sharna:
I just think it's incredible because it seems like such an inconvenience to have to do the work they had to go through.

Charlie:
Yes, such an effort. Yeah. Get on horseback and send that letter with the. I suppose the letter would be stamped though, wouldn't it?

Sharna:
Oh, right.

Charlie:
But yeah, such an effort.

Sharna:
Maybe the paper.

Charlie:
Amazing how far we've come.

Sharna:
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's wild.

Charlie:
It is wild. Um. But yeah. Where were we? So, in response to these taxes, a group known as the Sons of Liberty was formed. This group initially comprised of artisans and merchants, grew to include influential figures like John Hancock and Samuel Adams. They organised boycotts and protests against the British imposed taxes. Mhm. Yes. Um, I wanted to ask about these two characters. Do Americans learn about them in school?

Sharna:
Yes. These are epic figures in history, like. And I and I tried to figure out why they're so famous. And I think there's like two parts to this. First, because they're intellectuals, but not only intellectuals. They were sort of like, excuse my language, badass. Um, like, truly, they were like, hey, we don't believe in these laws. We're going to break the laws like John Hancock was in charge of, like this black market of tea and not coming from England because you guys were in control of the tea out a lot of this time it was coming like from the Dutch East India Company. And so he's like, we're going to have these illegal, you know, illegal but not illegal because we don't believe in the, you know, British government being in the US. But he had this whole like massive amounts of tea coming in that were not British when it was supposed to be British. He was an effective speaker. He like, had all these boycotts and at the same time, yeah, he's just so impressive. Same thing with Sam Adams. Um, and then the second part of why I think they're so famous is because they've become part of culture in a way like so John Hancock was the first person to sign the US Constitution, and he signed his name so massively that we now have an expression in American English that is, um, can you give me your John Hancock? And that means can you give me your signature?

Charlie:
Ah, okay.

Sharna:
It sounds kind of funky if you really look. Yeah. And then Sam Adams is one of the most famous beers in the United States. It's a Boston lager, and you'll find it at every grocery store. And so we see his face and his colonial hat on the front of that label. You know, every single time we're at the grocery store. Um, so, yeah, they're very present, I would say in sort of not. It's not like we talk about them every day, but they're they're there, you know. Yeah. They're pretty.

Charlie:
Would you say they're almost as well known as Abraham Lincoln?

Sharna:
Maybe not as Abraham Lincoln, but yeah, I know people would know if you say those names that they were revolutionaries, they were at the founding of America or of the United States. Excuse me. Um, they were very active.

Charlie:
Okay. So, um, because you've obviously researched this, your job is to be culturally aware in America and worldwide. Um, your personality is kind of worldly in its own way as well. Do you think if you were to sit down with the average Joe in America, they would know about these two people.

Sharna:
Because of the beer? The average Joe is drinking a lot of beer. So yes. Um, Sam Adams, they would recognise the face. I'm not sure they would know the specifics of what he did. Um, with the Sons of Liberty. So this sort of group that was, um, you know, fostering, uh, feelings of dissent and trying to get everybody on board to boycott tea. I'm not sure if they know that specific, those specific details, but they would definitely know where he came from. Okay. Boston. He had to do what? The Boston Tea Party. He was in that time frame. Right.

Charlie:
Okay, okay. So they yeah, they should know. Yeah. The name and maybe a little bit of who they think.

Sharna:
Yeah. I think one of the names that we didn't mention was Paul Revere. He's one of the ones that I think the average American would know. Okay. Um, he is the one that went from, like, warned Sam Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming for the Revolutionary War. So we were prepared because of Paul Revere who said, well, in elementary school we learned the British are coming, the British are coming.

Sharna:
It was like his warning.

Charlie:
So that is that after this act, after the, the, the Stamp Act and then after the Boston Tea Party.

Sharna:
Yes. Yeah. Because it progressively got worse. It went from the Stamp Act to the Townshend Acts, um, to the Boston Tea Party. So, I mean, we can. Yeah. Move on to the next part. Yeah. So the tension reached a boiling point when the Boston Massacre in 1770, where British troops opened fire on a crowd of colonists, killing five. The tragic event intensified anti-British sentiments across the colonies. Um, can you think of a good icebreaker that may have saved this event from happening?

Charlie:
Um, yeah, I don't know, maybe just, uh, put down the gun. No, it's quite weird, isn't it, to think of an icebreaker for this tension. But I imagine they're surrounded by Americans, or they're not called Americans, then, are they?

Sharna:
No. And they're called the colonists. But I always keep like it just goes back to calling them Americans. It's a habit.

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe they could use the gun, as you know. Do you have this thing in some sort of circles where you're trying to share, um, safely share sort of messages, you pass the stick, and then that person gets to speak, and they can, and they're not interrupted by anyone. And then they pass the stick to somebody else, and they get to tell their side of the story. Do you know what I mean?

Sharna:
I vaguely remember doing that back in school, but I haven't done that in a long time. But so past the stick is what you say. Is that common.

Charlie:
I don't know if it's common, actually. Past the stick. Past the stick? It might be past the stick game just came up. I think it is. So my suggestion is pass the gun.

Sharna:
Pass the gun. So then pass it over.

Charlie:
No one's interrupting the one with the gun are they.

Sharna:
Yeah and I think there was a lot of throwing. I heard there was, like, a lot of throwing of oyster shells and things in the Boston Massacre. It wasn't just, um, you know, guns. And from what I understood, the Americans sort of instigated the fight or the. Sorry, the colonists, like, there was some, uh, redcoat on duty just doing his job right standing there, you know? And then some, uh, colonists showed up and said, hey, look at he's alone, which was rare at the time. And so they picked up a bunch of rocks and oyster shells and started pelting them at him. So, you know, what are you going to do? He's going to call for backup, and then backup comes. And that's kind of what led to the Boston Massacre. But the thing is, when telling history, you know, we always want to tell the history on our side, we're trying to get support for, you know, to be separate from you guys. And so the a lot of the artwork that depicts the Boston Massacre is the Red coats or. Yeah, the loyal. Yeah, the red coats starting the fight, which was not necessarily true.

Charlie:
Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. Um, I didn't look into this. The Boston Massacre, it says 1770, and then it says five people were killed. That doesn't sound too much of a massacre.

Sharna:
Yeah, I know, it's actually I think there were like really like fewer than 20 people in general. I mean, but then you think about the amount of people in Boston at the time, if you look at the actual numbers, there weren't that many. I think I remember being like 16,000 people, like, because there were just not as many people at the time. So we talk about these things like they're huge, huge, huge events. But I mean, they did change history even if they were.

Charlie:
Yeah, that's true. I just googled it. And and this is a fairly interesting suggestion, goes along with kind of what you were just saying. It says the American colonists phrased it like this to ramp up sort of frustrations and exaggerated the problem to make people colony more colonists, become aware of it, and find a reason to rebel. We have come to the end of part two now, so again, feel free to pause the episode, to take a break from your listening practice and come back to the last part when you're ready. All right, so moving on to part three now enjoy.

Sharna:
Yep. And that's exactly what the Sons of Liberty. That's what they did. They were like let's get everybody riled up and yeah really start this start this separation.

Charlie:
Ah, okay. Nice.

Sharna:
Really interesting.

Charlie:
Yeah it is on December 16th, 1773. Where were we? 1770. So three years later, in protest against the Tea Act, a group of colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three ships in Boston Harbour and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water. This act of defiance is what we now call the Boston Tea Party. So there we go. That's the big moment, I guess. Um, Shana, would you have ever been daring enough to be part of this tipping of tea into the into the harbour?

Sharna:
Absolutely. Because, you know, I don't think I would have been part of the massacre. I'm sort of a pacifist, um, with physical, you know, hurt, hurting other people is just not my cup of tea. Um, but, uh, non-violent protests like this where, I mean, I guess it's, uh, damage of property that just sends the message was just so clear. Like, we don't want your tea. No taxation without representation. It comes back to that slogan we kept repeating at the time. And so yes, and I mean, it's pretty funny if you imagine it, right?

Charlie:
Hilarious. Yeah. A whole harbour full of tea.

Sharna:
A whole harbour full of tea, and a bunch of people dressed up as Native Americans. Like, it's very weird. Like what is happening?

Charlie:
Do you have any understanding of why they dressed up as Native Americans?

Sharna:
Um, I looked into that. It said that at the time. Um, obviously it's sort of racist nowadays, but, um, it was considered that the Native Americans were savage and say that's part one of the interpretations was that they're just doing a savage act like, this is what you get, you know? I don't know. Um, but. I don't think there's a specific, like, 100% sure answer of why they dressed up that way. I know that it was a disguise because they didn't want people to recognise their faces.

Charlie:
Yeah. Um, okay. So anonymity and signalling that they were going to be quite brutal about it.

Sharna:
Yeah. And if you think about these chests, you said 342 chests. These were £400 each, £400 like of tea. And that multiplied by 342. It was a massive amount. They said that the harbour turned into a giant teapot. Yeah, like it was.

Charlie:
would you drink a cup of tea from it? I mean, it would be salty, right?

Sharna:
Salty tea. But it had to stay. It stayed there for a while, you know. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah.

Charlie:
Oh, I actually I remember that, um, it took them three hours to do that. I thought it was like a doo. doo doo doo doo. Sneaky sneaky sort of lob it over and run. But apparently it was like over 100 of them or like 100 colonists were in the area. And they were wanting this to happen, and there were very few redcoats there. So they were aware of what was happening, and they had to just let it happen because otherwise it would have become very violent. Oh, and somebody tried to smuggle some tea into their coat, apparently. And the leaders of this movement, um, called him out on it and said, no, we're peacefully protesting. Put that back. Don't don't be smuggling it. Just pop it in the harbour.

Sharna:
Yeah, the message had to be clear. It wasn't about like we had wanted to have no reason to be the bad guy in this whole thing. Um, which. It's very.

Charlie:
It's quite clever.

Sharna:
I don't know, I personally think it's so impressive. Like you've got like the, the effective communication of these leaders, like the organisational skill to get everybody together and do this on a night when, you know, apparently there were a few people on duty and then make it happen. Yeah, I don't know. It's just pretty. It's pretty crazy. And it's what led, of course, to the Revolutionary War.

Charlie:
Yeah, right. Okay, so what do we need to learn next after the actual event?

Sharna:
Yeah. So the Boston Tea Party was more than just a protest against tea. Um, it was a significant political statement against British economic policies and colonial oppression. But in retaliation, the British government responded by closing Boston Harbour and reducing the political independence of Massachusetts. Um, Charlie. Do you think it's effective? Like, do you think it was a good idea for Britain to say, you know, let's get back at you, let's retaliate. Do you let's block the harbour. Do you think it was good to do have, like, eye for an eye tactic?

Charlie:
Yeah, I see. I feel like they probably had to respond in some way if, if they, because they've lost a lot of money. I think I heard it was, um, an equivalent of £1 million today. So it's quite, a, quite a chunk of change in the ocean, in the harbour. Yeah. So I would be a bit rotten about it. Um, so I kind of. And it's also it's not, not violent. It's just, um, an inconvenience, isn't it? Retaliating by closing the harbour. Um, yeah. If it's a non-violent if eye for eye, if that's ever possible, I think that might make sense.

Sharna:
Yeah.

Charlie:
What do you think? Morally, do you think this phrase exists for a reason?

Sharna:
Eye for an eye.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Sharna:
Yeah. I just watched some, like, Game of Thrones stuff where they, like, pulled out each other's eye. Like, you got my eye. I got your eye. I'm going to chop your eye out. So it's very like when you think of it like that, it's very easy to understand. Right. If you. If you stab my eye, I'm going to get your eye back. So it's retaliation, right? Um, and I think at the time, like, what are you going to do if you don't have some sort of response, you're going to lose your control entirely of something that you've been trying to maintain control of for years, you know? Yeah. So I don't know.

Charlie:
Yeah, it's a difficult one, politically speaking. I don't really have the the foggiest idea where to start. But on a, on a human level, I would like to sort of think less about that retaliation. I heard of a story. I think it's a cultural thing, maybe a religious thing. In some areas, if somebody murdered your partner, the partner that is surviving would be given the choice of. So the village would take the person out, the murderer out to the ocean. Or like when it's low tide, they would take them out and they would put them at a stake, and then the high tide would come back in and they would be about to drown. And then the village ask the person that has, um, suffered from this problem. They say, do you want to save them? And then they and they encourage them to go and save their life. So it's this weird sort of relationship that they end up having where this person has killed this other person, the other person has saved their life very well.

Sharna:
The world would be a better place, right, If we all just chose to be chill with stuff that happened. That's bad, but I don't. That's not in our nature, right? I mean, otherwise history books wouldn't have been written with so many wild wars and things like that.

Charlie:
No. But I yeah, it's definitely taking the high road, isn't it, doing that?

Sharna:
That's true. A good expression.

Charlie:
As the, uh, as the films tell me, you don't get, um, sort of the satisfaction from the revenge. Yeah. Even though revenge is sweet, apparently.

Sharna:
Yeah. That's also a good expression. You've got a lot of expressions here. Take the high road. Even though revenge is sweet. Love it.

Sharna:
That's funny.

Charlie:
Um, okay, so sadly for the Brits, rather than suppressing colonial resistance, these acts united the colonies further against British rule. This unity eventually led to the First Continental Congress and paved the way for the American Revolution, the American Revolutionary War. Today, the Boston Tea Party is celebrated as a symbol of resistance and has a lasting place in American folklore as a major catalyst for independence. Mhm. Wow. Okay, so, um, we've kind of covered the notes that I had prepared. Is there anything else that you think we might have missed about the event that you might want to sort of bring up now?

Sharna:
I think, yes. Um, I think that if it weren't for this event, the United States would not be the country it is today. Wow. Because if you look at our Constitution and the amendments, so we have constitutions, the law of the land and the amendments are essentially our rights as citizens of the United States. And they're essentially, if you go through one by one, you'll realise that a lot of them were created because of all of the bad things happening. While the, you know, the British Empire was in charge. So, for example, um, we I mean, the first thing free speech, like we're allowed to always talk, we're always going to have a voice, um, which is, you know, democracy and, you know, we get representation in government. Then we have, um, no, uh, I think they call it border. Border. What is it, quartering or something like that. Where like nobody can go inside your house.

Sharna:
And stay. There because the redcoats in at the very end, right before the Revolutionary War, they were allowed to stay in the homes of anyone that they wanted to just knock on the door and go on in. And that's I know. Um, so and then, um, that was absolutely prohibited. So obviously you have to have permission to be able to go inside someone's house. Um, I think a lot of if you just look at the amendments from one through ten and you hear the story of the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, you go, the United States was created because of this. A lot of the bad things that happened. So thank you, guys. We got a really good base and foundation for our country, I think because, yeah, because of you. Yeah.

Charlie:
Because of the. Consultants that came in and shook things up for you.

Sharna:
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. Well, like what? What else do you think about this whole event? Do you have any other insights. Or thoughts about it?

Charlie:
Well, I did want to ask whether this is as impressive for other people in America as it is for you. Um, because of what I said earlier, you've researched it quite a bit because I'm trying to think of a moment in history where Brits reflect on an important moment, a pivotal moment, and it makes me think of, um, an event called Bonfire Night. Have you heard of this or Guy Fawkes Night?

Sharna:
Like November? Yeah, November isn't it?

Charlie:
Remember, remember the 5th of November?

Sharna:
Yes. The fifth. That's what it was.

Charlie:
There you go. Yeah. So that was when Guy Fawkes and his crew tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament using gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament. And so it was a moment where they were found just before it was blown to smithereens. And I think we now kind of forget what it really represents. But we still get together and celebrate, and we have this very weird thing where this mascot of Guy Fawkes is burnt on a bonfire. So we're watching a mascot of a. Yeah, it's very strange.

Sharna:
In, like, every city there's the guy Fawkes or.

Charlie:
Most villages do a bonfire on this day, and we and a huge crowds gather.

Sharna:
So it's a big party. Big party? Yeah.

Charlie:
Yeah, just it's quite a significant moment for teenagers because they're able to sort of mingle with different year groups and sort of us. Yeah. Have fun.

Sharna:
Guy. Guy Fawkes was his name, right?

Charlie:
Yeah. Guy Fawkes. But so my question, my question there is, do people celebrate this Boston Tea Party on a yearly basis?

Sharna:
No, it's something we remember maybe on the 4th of July, like how the country was created. Um, but I think on a regular throughout the year where you would see this information is if you go to Boston there, Boston in Massachusetts, along the water, there is the Freedom Trail, which is two and a half miles long, and it goes from one site to the next site. So you can go to Paul Revere's house. You can go to the place where Sam Adams and, um, and John Hancock were, are buried, and you go from one place to the next so you can actually learn the history of all of this while going on a walk, because the history surrounding you. Yeah. So I do think, um, if anyone's ever interested in that, they, they should definitely head to Boston. I always feel like I'm more in the United States when I'm in that area, like in Boston and in Philadelphia, and kind of where the country was founded. Yeah, it's it's definitely worth it, I think.

Charlie:
Okay. Yeah. I've been to Boston for like five hours. Um, I did walk around the harbour. I should have dunked a teabag in it. Is that allowed? Are you allowed to do that? I suppose not.

Sharna:
I Wonder. I bet you some people do like a good luck charm for a tea bag out there.

Charlie:
Yeah, maybe. The museums instead of, you know, like a little water feature with coins going in. You could dunk a tea bag in it.

Charlie:
Okay, Uh, anything else that you feel like I've not included?

Sharna:
No, I think that was a really good overview of the event. I feel like, um, maybe it was me talking a lot.

Sharna:
No. I Should have asked more questions for you.

Charlie:
You're the one that created the episode. So thank you very much for having the foundations in place for us to to go through that. Um, but yeah, it was brilliant. So thank you very much, everybody. Um, well done for staying to the end. And um, thank you, Sharna, for being such a good host or co-host and, um, teaching me a little bit more about, um, John Hancock and his beer. I might.

Sharna:
Sam Adams beer. Sam Adams beer. John Hancock the signature.

Charlie:
Oh Really? Because I did John Hancock I googled it and it came up with a beer.

Sharna:
That's not normal. That's a that's a weird beer.

Charlie:
I'm not sure. Maybe. Oh, that. Looks actually, that actually looks a little bit photoshopped. So what is it, Sam?

Speaker2:
Sam Adams is the beer.

Charlie:
Oh, yeah. I've seen that logo.

Sharna:
Yeah. Don't have the light blue one. If you're going to drink it, then have the dark blue one. I'm not sure if.

Charlie:
The dark blue one. Okay.

Sharna:
Yeah, it's like the Oktoberfest one is probably really one of the most famous, right?

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it looks tasty.

Sharna:
In a funky hat.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Sharna:
Oh, you have had it.

Charlie:
No, it looks tasty. I'm saying on the on the Google images. They're doing well with their marketing. Um, but yeah. So thank you very much. Um, we're going to go and do a recording on your podcast. Now, what are we going to be talking about?

Sharna:
Harry Potter.

Charlie:
Harry Potter? Lovely.

Sharna:
Yes I'm so excited about it. Cool. All right. Thank you so much, Charlie.

Charlie:
Thank you very much. All the best, bye bye bye.

Charlie:
There we go. The end of part three. Meaning the end of the episode. Well done for getting through the entirety of it. Make sure you use all of the resources available to you in your membership. Thanks once again for supporting the show and I look forward to seeing you next time on the British English Podcast.