WOW! The Irish ASK for a lot says the elderly lady? The British TOOK a lot!

"I think it's more picturesque because it's not part of the UK.' Hard to argue with reasoning like that.

You could have asked people from London the same questions about Liverpool or Newcastle and they’d have given equally uninformed or tabloid influenced answers.

The British public were of course never told or taught Irish history...hence the answers...

"The Irish ask for alot", oh the irony 😒smh

I'm Irish and to be fair, stop a random Irish person on the highstreet in the 80s and ask them about their opinion on any country and you'll probably get the same type of stereotypes shown here.

That guy Gay Byrne is really talented he should have his own TV show.

As an English woman, to me Ireland means a beautiful country of brave people who fought bravely against tyranny and still are. I send love and support to Ireland, a rich culture that has given so much to the world

This is what the British mainstream media does to the masses, the story hasn't changed.

I lived in England and as an Irish Person, the English couldn't have been nicer.

Being an Irishman, I've found most English to be quite nice, fun, and genuinely kind - these days. When so much violence/terrorism was being carried out (not just in N. Ireland; but in England as well), things were understandably not very friendly at all. Time mends some wounds. ✌I wish the English a great future with peace and happiness (don't have any more Boris Johnsons, etc.!).

The thing is that if you had asked them about another part of England I'd be amazed if they knew much. Most people are not interested in politics, geography and history. I recently met a young woman from Russia she'd never heard of Potemkin and other major Russians, but she did know about the Kardasians.

People are quite similar wherever you go. I’m originally from South Africa moved to the UK as a teenager, & most Brits & Irish were polite & friendly but rarely did they know anything much about my country or it’s obvious problems. I now live in Australia, and Aussies with Irish surnames rarely know much about the 32 counties of Ireland or its history. As my Belfast born Grandma said to me & my siblings when we were growing up “There’s more that unites us than separates us” 👍🏼

Fast forward to 2021, a British man asked me, an Irish man, if I had a British passport, to which I replied no. He then asked what passport the Irish used. That was three days ago. Plus ça change...

That guy at the end knew the answer to "who is responsible" but didn't have the honesty or courage to say "we are".

Good to see Kenneth Williams took to interviewing on the streets!

You have to hand it to the government education system they sure know how to grow mushrooms

My mum was a civil servant in Dublin when I was young. I can remember at aged eight being left outside the Irish Broadcasting studios to play with my little sister while my mum was inside doing something official. When who do we see striding up to the main entrance but no less than Gay Byrne himself. We both excitedly ran up to him knowing him off the TV and him always being so nice and friendly, " Mr Byrne's , Mr Byrne's can we have your Autograph please" to which he replied "A Feck off you little street urchins" I do hope it was feck but being the first time someone had expressed such sentiment to me, I can not be sure. It was not the man I knew from the telly, that is for sure.

*Gay was in a league of his own as an interviewer*

Wow ! “ I believe it rains a lot in Ireland “ as opposed to “ sunny England “ hilarious 😂 ...

Title should really be "What do LONDONERS know about Ireland? 1980"...... It would have changed some answers, i.e When asking "Do you know any Irish people"..... If he asked that question in Liverpool, an answer might have been "Yeah, my grandma".

First guy, in the brown outfit , is surely Terry Scott hobbling between carry on films 😁

The channel is great. Please could find some archive irish stories for sleeping. 👍

Most English people are ignorant about our relationship with the Irish. I am English and married to an Irish woman for 52 years. I have travelled through Ireland extensively over the years and have had many dealings with these delightful people. My father in law was the best man I have ever met, he was a great source of information, when he was a child he witnessed some of the horrors inflicted by British troops and the scum called the Black and Tans. This made me ashamed of my country. I decided to do some research mainly around the western counties Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare and Tipperary. The facts made awful reading. My concerns were the period leading up to and just after the Easter Rising of 1916. I also learned many things about the previous potato famine. Horror stories. I came to the conclusion that by and large the English and Irish get on pretty well. this tying in with my own experiences over the years. Over 50 years only once did a young lad rare up to me it was at a wedding and he was plastered, we parted the best of friends. Ireland is a beautiful place with happy friendly people. Trouble has been caused by politicians and only politicians

Interesting glimpse.

The ignorance is chilling, I wonder if the situation has improved.

I wonder if anybody gave a well informed answer to his questions but they decided not to air it because it it’s not what his audience back in Ireland prefer to think the English are ignorant to the history, there’s plenty of uninformed people on both sides of the Irish Sea in my experience

There seems a lack of self awareness about the English when it comes to Ireland and their long history of occupation, colonialism, implementation of the Penal Laws , the break up of the country deliberately creating a sectarian state in the north that ultimately led to 30 years of the Troubles . It’s really quite astonishing that the only remorse the British have regarding their long brutal history in Ireland that oppressed generations of Irish people is getting involved in the first place as they look for an exit strategy.

The only thing the Irish asked for, Madam, is for the British to get out! And as for the question of who is responsible for the Troubles, may I offer the Brits a mirror?

What strikes me is how engaged the interviewees are! Even if they may not have an informed opinion, they are still articulate and engaged!!!

Nothings changed you swear Ireland is another planet

Drink & Music & a lovely accent XXX ❤

The saddest thing about Ireland today is the creeping replacement of slagging as a term with that pathetic word "banter"

I think this gives some impression that people from the UK are totally focused on themselves and care nowt for their neighbours!

3:12 Fair point and it happens in every culture and country too.

1:38 This guy was way ahead with his dress sense in 1980. In the mid-90's this would become the default way for teenagers to dress. Kudos to him.

The Irish are not friendly. They are good humored. There is a difference!

0:33 its Terry Scott!!

You saved the best to last with that last guy. He was the only highbrow one out of the lot.

That's some smart editing. The rather stunning woman at the beginning bookended with a rather dashing older gentleman at the end.

I know people get angry at how ignorant British people are about Irish matters but is it really because Irish people are naturally more enlightened and learned? Irish people are constantly exposed to and immersed in British television, British TV shows and films, British newspapers, British sport, British music and even British history. Our relative sizes means British people will never immersed in all things Irish to the same degree. I would also wager that if you asked an average Irish person what sprung to mind when they thought of France or Germany, the answers would not be any more erudite and culturally fluent than those of the average Brit (about as far away from France and with the same language barrier as the Irish person).

Send them all back you say? 👋

In my experience people only know the good in themselves and the bad in there neighbours, this is a world wide situation not local, we all done bad things just some more than others to wrongs doesn't make a right 🍵🍵🍵

Who is responsible for the troubles ? I wonder what they would say if Gay Byrne told them

Probably as much as they know about the Scots.

"they say they're religious, but they're fighting over religion". It's actually the British in Ireland who were fighting over religion in the troubles, the orange order. The Catholics had no ethnoreligion supremacy group. They had the IRA and that was purely political.

Plus in the 80s you had papers and a bit of TV. Was hard to know much about other countries

Cool videos, thank you, greetings from California may Ireland always prosper 🛸🌴

They are oblivious to history god bless them ..

I live in England. Always found it a great place to live. They seem to notice I'm Irish more than I do. I forget most of the time. Life happens. They're people just like us just getting on with things. We bitch at them for not caring about us and look how we treat the travelling community. ??? . I dont care if people accept me or not. When your worried about the opinions of others, your only living a limited version of your life. I remember in 2000 living in Sydney, Australia. I used to live a 10 minute drive from bondi. On the back wall of the beach in huge graffiti was IRA British out...Ireland 32 counties. FFS. The Ozzie's Said we were like rats over there. I worked in an Irish pub and the "lads" used to give English employees a hard time. I was embarrassed. If it was such a fcukin great place, why did they ever leave??

One of the respondents reminded me of John Cleese and one reminded me of Steve Jones.

Amazing. And only a few hundred miles away.

I always am dumbfounded by the way the Irish say "The English" as though every single one of us has been in on it since the beginning and we're all the same. No Englishman would be allowed to broad brush another people like that.

The comments are great craic!

I was curious and searched something (as an American). Apparently the Irish and British have something called the CTA which allows them to freely move between the two countries, work, apply for benefits, etc... I thought after the Republic of Ireland was founded that was it, but it seems if someone from England wants to move to the Republic they can and visa versa. That's actually pretty awesome.

As an Englishman, I totally agree with some of the comments that it was unfair and frankly ridiculous asking some Brits back in 1980 about Ireland when the World Wide Web or Google had no even been invented then and we Brits only got stuff from the BBC or Newspapers with an anti IRA Republican bias and pro Unionist bias which was limited the troubles in Northern Ireland anyway. All most Brits knew were things like the IRA blowing up a 2 Birmingham pubs in 1974 where 21 young Brits were needlessly killed and 180 others injured many with life changing injuries. Is it no wonder the interviewer gets some of the reactions he did? Of course man asking the question is Irish and born in Dublin. Interestingly enough his father who was also Irish actually joined the British Army in 1912 and fought all the way through WW1 at some of the most awful campaigns in Europe. This was of course the same “British Army” who ruthlessly put down the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 when the British infamously executed 16 of the Rising rebel leaders. These ex Irish British soldiers were viewed rather unfairly perhaps as “traitors” by some Irish republicans at the time many of whom went on to fight against the Irish Republican Army (the original IRA) during the Irish War of independence 1919-1921 (although the interviewers father left the British Army in 1919) which obviously ended in the partition of Ireland in 1921 and the onset of the Irish Civil War. If you were at school in Ireland you are taught all this stuff as children, but how many British school children were taught this stuff, ZERO is my guess.

Lots of family of irish descend unfortunately most english peoples historical knowledge is limited to to the sun newspaper or the back of a matchbox

The IRISH troubles 🤣🤣. Nothing to do with Britain lol.

When I think of Ireland Father Ted always enters my mind.

Are you English? 🤣 I used to work in a hostel and there was this crazy old guy that used to go around asking that. Now I think I might have found the reference!

I'm English, with an Irish grandad. There's a foreign policy disconnect between what the British government wants and what English people want. For the most part, the issue of British struggle to control any part of Ireland was an issue between the people of Ireland and the British government. Only the man at the end - 2:41 - appeared to understand that it was historically a British govn't/Irish people relationship. In the meantime, while the British government has attempted to conserve the kingdom's status around the world, it has largely kept the English people in the dark about its relationship with Ireland. England's National Curriculum makes little, if any, mention of Ireland as a subject of history. Oliver Cromwell took a leading role in a mutually bloody, ethnic-based conflict in Ireland, but here he's only taught as the man who re-organised the government's army and ended divine right for good. Catholics in England were politically emancipated in 1832, so the sectarianism angle simply doesn't occur in the average English person's mind - instead it's simply viewed as Irish versus other Irish (not unlike Serbo-Croats versus other Serbo-Croats in Bosnia). This is despite the fact that Northern Ireland is ultimately the creation of the English people's own government. Even today, the border between NI and the Republic is called the "Irish border" in popular English media, but its creation + recent hardening is all the doing of the British government. It has never been the interest of the British government to explain to English people the whats and whys of its foreign policy, NI included. That's a core reason why this 1980 video is full of people drawing blanks about a land that's a few hours by ferry from Liverpool. If for some reason my people were given fair and honest accounts from all sorts of people in Northern Ireland and then asked to vote on the issue, you would see a united Ireland within a week.

I find that English these days are still ignorant but little interested in Ireland history stuff. I lived in England for a bit and my optician of all people seem to give the exact response that most people in England have on Ireland. "It's a lovely place, shame all those troubles though"

What town or city was this filmed? I'm thinking London but I can't recognise any of the places

Hi, I would like to use this footage for a university project. I contacted RTE but they haven't responded. How to obtain permission to use this footage? Thanks.

Notice the interviewer is trying to coax a bad answer out of the first girl, asked her for her first though but coaxes three answers out of her

An interesting read on the subject of Irish English relations which was written for Australians by Martin McMahon. It’s called ‘I cry for my people’. Has anyone else read it ?

No Internet back then only biased media so can't really blame them for thinking the way they did ,the person you should be most concerned about what they think of you is yourself

Wow England in 1980….wish I could go visit….would need a Time Machine

2:10 Brave to say that on TV, whew lad.

1.41 first human sheep speaks about the roof of his shed.. corrugated iron

Clever by Gay Byrne, the tone of the interview suggests such that the English care whats going on there. They dont. As others have suggested, the London English have no idea whats going on in the rest of England, let alone others countries in the Isles

2.41 thought he was going to keep saying no lol

You know around that time some shops in the UK used to have signs saying "no blacks, no Irish and no dogs"

Gay Burn We Miss You Still...... March 2021

It's feckin' green and there are a lot of spuds. Guinness (English co by the way), Fathers Ted, Dougal & Jack Hackett + Mrs Doyle (aw goan'), Gaelic sports, troubles and my grandfather was from Cork. Oh, there are some very good universities + Robert Boyle, physicist

Gladstone never found the answer to the 'Irish Question', he decided to wash hands off the place following the Irish convention and the victory in '18.

You swear it was in a different continent. You can see why the troubles lasted as the English didn't know the problem so how could a solution be found. Its called British imperial amnesia. The British keep bringing up the war as a smoke screen. Up to the war the British were hated around the world

"Do you know anything about Ireland?" Me: yeah. It's way better than the UK.

So much for the English Education System.

I like the guy at the end.. As soon as someone with good will tries, someone will come along and try to turn it around. Reminds me of today's world.

Rebels and Leprechauns 😂

Ahh yes Gladstone had the solution , a land act in 1870. That surely should’ve kept us quiet

Fascinating. The first woman he interviewed hit it on the head tho....

Different times how I miss them good old day's

"Leprechauns, shamrock, Guinness... horses running through council estates... toothless simpletons... people with eyebrows on their cheeks... badly tarmacked drives (in England), men in platform shoes being arrested for bombings... lots of rocks, and Beamish"

British people about the Irish... "They like to drink and it rains a lot there"..... Nothing like Britain of course with their sobriety and sunny weather 🤣🤣🤣

Gay Byrne's accent is more English than the English. Such a west brit.

Everyone's first thought was "terrorism!!!!!" but decided to be polite and try and say nice things

I think the most striking thing here is the almost total ambivalence of people. Call it ignorance or modesty, but it's surprising people had no strong feelings when put on the spot with such a vague, open ended question. It's quite difficult to just reel off information out of the blue when and probably more concerned with what sort of situation you are in and what sort of answer you should give rather than you would give - but I think if anything this shows a lack of hard feelings in most peoples cases.

Great quote, Gladstone thought he had the answer to the Irish question and then the Irish changed it

As someone from N.ierland your expect by others to traverse both the national views of English and Irish and yet seen by Both as neither at all.

Bless

1:56 stopped smiling almost immediately after that silly comment

1980s, the English people knew that the Irish in the North where all good gardeners and bought lorry loads of fertiliser to be planted all over England, hence the saying green fingers

If there was a fellow that ever looked like he needed a clatter it's your man with the glasses at 1:03

You would have a blast in the Barrs of the North of Ireland in the 80s. Totally mind boggling times for the Catholic and protestant people . Thank Jesus Christ are Lord and saviour that peace of mind in their lives blossom like a warm summer Day in the North today

Ryan Tubridy is still asking this cringe question to all his guests today . Little has changed

They haven't a clue

1:46 He was on point until his last statement

Never liked history or geography in school. Much preferred sports and the movies. I've always sensed I wasn't alone.