London history: The Mall isn't real

The Mall, the famous road ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶q̶u̶e̶e̶n̶ sorry the King drives down in his carriage, is a creation of the modern era designed to make you love the monarchy. That's basically the whole video in a sentence. This is the story of that road, why it's there and what it's come to represent.

Twitter (don't tweet a lot of history content tbh): @AndrewJD

As usual here's some caveats.
The game of Pall Mall or whatever you want to call it has different descriptors, you definitely used a mallet and a ball and a hoop but the hoop being on the ground, near the ground, or in the air is up for debate. I think it was very croquet oriented which is how I've chosen to describe it.
Clearly the idea of complaining that something being not as old as other things makes it invalid is silly, and there's also a good argument that most royal creations to some degree are designed to prop up the monarchy so I shouldn't be shouting about this one. But this is very new and I think secretly so, hence my weakly held stance. On the same lines a landmark clearly can't be fake, it's a landmark because it is one, that is just me being provocative.
I've been deliberately vague on some dates to make the story flow better, I would accept the point that a lot of the things that made London grand in the 19th century happened over a long period and for different reasons.
Filming this in winter was a terrible idea because all the flags and flowers are gone, just imagine them.
My skin looks awful, another reason I should never have done this in winter.
The end of the video is absolutely supposed to be a commentary on the shaky ground the royal family stand on.

[joshuamck]

A new exploring London video is the best Christmas present!

[niels.brouwer]

Any video on London history should be legally required to have at least this level of sarcasm as a bare minimum 🙌

[laughterismed]

You made me laugh with your Downton Abbey vs. Books reference. I had a friend visiting from California before, I had to describe the historical buildings of London in terms of what movies they were in.

[RossParker]

That was really interesting. Fantastic as always Andrew, lovely to see you back

[skoodledoo]

"Your dowager mother" Haha! Great video, Merry Christmas!

[TheMikhailRx]

Thanks for the excellent Christmas gift! Your videos are always informative, entertaining and well put together. I look forward to the next.

[TimtimTimson]

Funny Scotsman is back! You are the most underrated comedian youtube guide to London!

[Zveebo]

The HDR is strong with this one – I think I may be blind now having watched it on my shiny new iPad😵

Great video as always ☺️

[phillipmcgough]

What a great xmas surprise! Welcome back, Andrew.

[qwafgjolmfpjbfszxgg]

Brilliant! Love your work. Merry Christmas!

[Supermunch]

Living and learning thanks to your great videos!

Merry Christmas and a happy Charles III Year!

[cottonwood]

Great video! I always enjoy Andrews' videos. Keep 'em coming!!!

[disinclinedarchangel]

Missed you much Andrew! When you have time some interesting videos of your new haunts might be interesting too

[TheScotty]

Stumbled across your channel somehow. This was the first vid I've watched, and I love the details and sarcasm. Keep it up!

[mischaprice]

All I wanted for Christmas was my sense of historical reality and understanding of imperial and colonial pomp and circumstance to be completely upended . Thanks Andrew 🤗 hope you have a merry Christmas with your adorable kitty 🐱

[beausexon]

A bit of detail you may not be aware of, but i know having worked for the met police in the 70s is that the Mall has another hidden purpose as a runway, if you notice all of the street lighting and traffic lights are removable with no road islands. This was for emergency use before helicopters were more commonly used.

[andreawoelke]

Very entertaining and packed with facts at the same time. Brilliant! Thank you!

[junaid]

Traditionally, MALL stands for "Married Accommodation and Living Lines". So, in military parlance, a Mall Road is a road which separates the Married Accommodations from the Unit Living Lines (Barracks). It's a common thing in all old cantonment towns/cities to have a Mall Road here in India. It'll be too long to list to list them here.

Might be the Royal palaces on one side and barracks might have been on the other side.

[peteregan]

Another road London does not need. Pell mall seems a better use for it.

[jsalsman]

Who makes custom Monopoly™ boards for history videos? Who does that?!