Why British cities make no sense

Why is Reading, a massive settlement of 170,000 people, NOT a city, while the tiny Welsh village of St Davids IS a city? Is it something to do with cathedrals? Or universities? Or is it a surprisingly simple answer which only raises more questions about how city status works in the UK, and merits a ten minute video? (No, no, and yes.)

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Written and presented by

Director/DOP

Edited by
JAY FOREMAN

Runner
ABBY TIMMS

Voice of University Challenge
ROGER TILLING @rogertilling

VFX

Satellite map animations
PEADAR DONNELLY

Queen awards ceremony animations
DARREN DUTTON @Darren_Dutton

City Bid Pamphlets
STEWART FRASER @golfsaleriots

UK urban sprawl map
HELEN MCKENZIE @helenmakesmaps

Additional research
JONN ELLEDGE @jonnelledge

Cathedral counting research
CHRIS JOHNSON @chrislesjohnson

Additional graphics help
DAVID FLETCHER @artfletch
MATT GIRLING @iamcanalboy

Rochester sign image
@RochesterCitySt
Check out their Twitter for more info on Rochester’s city status.

See also, Tom Scott’s video about Rochester

Piano version of Peaky Blinders
TIM TRAVELLER @TheTimTraveller

Music help
PRESTON PARRIS @prestonoutatime

[Michelleaneous_]

Wow - the budget on this episode... being able to buy three large packs of Cathedral City cheese is quite a feat

[Punnikin]

Simple solution: Move Reading to Wales.

[capybara]

To add to the confusion: most British people who live in cities refer to the city centre as 'town'

[heddadybvadskog-nebb]

I greatly appreciate whoever put "make clothes sizes consistent" on the list of more important things to do cause it truly should be the top prority

[HBMediaFilms]

As someone from Reading, I dont want to become a City. Being the largest town in the UK is at least an interesting fact to tell people, if we get city status then we wont have any interesting facts to tell people

Great episode as always, chaps

[vickywong]

I went to university in Reading and one of the urban legends we were told was that when Queen Victoria first visited Reading, she reportedly didn’t like it. Some say that the statue of her in Reading town centre is also deliberately facing away from the centre of Reading.

Of course like most urban legends, no one has been able to verify this

[puzzLEGO]

the fact that they made a two page bogus dictionary at 2:44 for like 3 frames of screentime is the type of unnecessary high effort that I want to see from this channel. keep it up!

[ethanfrancis]

The absolute dedication it must take to visit both st David's and st albarns for one video is incredible. They're even in different countries...

[Metalgooze]

It takes absolute ages to watch a Map Men episode as I have to pause and read all the delightful little quirks thrown in at every possible opportunity. Lovely episode as always, lads.

[hey]

3:10 the long version:

"Letters patent" is a fancy way of saying "a document that is officially issued by the Monarch." Like much UK law, what this technically means, and how this practically works in the real world, are different things. Technically, the Monarch can choose any town or village or motorway service he likes, and bestow city status upon it. But practically, it's the government of the day who makes the decision, and then the ceremonial stage is the bit where the Monarch signs a big piece of paper. Another important thing to note is that even in the olden days, when the Monarch had genuine power, he wasn't actually turning places that were not cities into cities. He was merely making their already established city status into official, monarchy-endorsed city status. If you've got time to pause this video and read this essay, you've got time to reply to that email.

[liquidmetalrob]

Now I'm hoping to see a spinoff entitled "It's Something to Do with Cheese" where Jay and Mark attempt to build a city made entirely out of cathedrals made of cheese.

[mrdaym]

I can't get over how they stop in the middle of the video to congratulate each other for being brilliant.
So wholesome and factually correct.

[generallyawesome]

I'm surprised you didn't give Welwyn Garden City a shout. Considering it has "City" in it's title and is still considered a Town.

[riesenmax]

It's the same in Germany, although not with cities but with towns.
In Germany, a place can only call itself a “town” if it has been granted the so-called “town rights”.

[mauritsbutterworth]

I live in reading, the most notable feature recently about it is that we managed to have both of our football teams (men and women) relegated in the same season, also there's a very boring plaque that says something along the lines of: King Henry is buried here somewhere-ish (we think)

[GeorgeCollier]

Interestingly, Ely cathedral actually has an octagonal tower rather than the usual square. The original square crossing tower collapsed in 1322, so they replaced it with an octagonal one. Your little bit of trivia from an Ely resident.

[stidles]

What I find interesting is how Colchester, despite only being given city status in 2022, still advertises itself as Britain's FIRST city, because technically it was a roman city when they first colonised

[gfdx]

The Netherlands also used to do it with City Privileges. They aren't given out anymore (last ones being from 1819), but one notable town that isn't a city if you use this definition is The Hague, our 3rd largest "city"

[owenhennelly]

The little thing in the corner before the “ad break” was perfect. Chefs kiss

[holnrew]

I assumed St David's was always a city because of the cathedral, but to find out it became one in my lifetime is making me doubt everything I ever thought I knew