Hello everybody, welcome to Dance Notes History. It's happening. It's happening.

England are in the final of Euro 2020, taking place in the summer of 2021. That fact is

going to be so contested in a massive Twitter spat in a hundred years time. I'm almost

sad I won't be alive to watch it play out. But England after many years of waiting are

in the final of a major football tournament. We could not let that moment pass without

doing another podcast. And what could be more appropriate given that England will face

Italy in that final? And to do a history of these two great nations and their interactions

with each other that stretch back obviously thousands of years. The first description of

England we have after all is that of an Italian out of Julius Caesar when Caesar crossed the

channel in August 55 BC and found that the British of course by the way obviously this is all

anachronistic England didn't exist but then the English didn't exist but you know,

noted the Italians. But for the sake of this podcast and for the sake of the festive spirit

next few days let's just go with it. He found that the inhabitants were lining the cliffs

waiting for Caesar's invasion. Now remarkably this I think in 2000 years and many many many

invasions of England and Britain. This is the only one that was contested on the beach whether

was fighting on the beach as the amphibious assault came ashore. Caesar describes how his

Romans, his Italians, those who were reluctant to jump off their ships into the shallows and it

required the standard bearer of the Tentillusion to jump ashore and dare his comrades to follow him

or risk losing their eagle. Isn't there standard Caesar left pretty quick out of that. There was

more an expedition in a full invasion although he returned to following year obviously Italians

did not return until the 30s AD when under the impreclordious Rome invaded Britain. Again this time

they were staying for much longer. Anyway we talk all about the rich historical resonance this

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