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From Our Own Correspondent: The British Agricultural Show

17/07/2013

The British Agricultural Show

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, The British Agricultural Show

Sybil Ruscoe visits "the Olympic Games of British rural life: the agricultural show".

Sybil Ruscoe gives a personal insight into the history and quirks of the British agricultural show - dating back to the 1700s and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.

Pascale Harter introduces a special essay for From Our Own Correspondent from Sybil Ruscoe, charting the history of the British agricultural show. Going back to the 17th century, she describes how the agricultural show came about at the beginnings of the industrial revolution, when Britain’s farmers needed to feed a new generation of factory workers. And the agricultural show was the best place to show off new practices and quality livestock. Prize pigs, cossetted cows and dancing diggers - all agricultural life is here. Ruscoe visits the essentials and eccentricities of the shows she describes as "the Olympic Games of rural life in Britain."

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