Robin Hood, morris dances and UFOs: English folklore survey gets post-Brexit reboot

A fresh look at cultural identity will follow outline of 60-year-old Survey of Language and Folklore, conducted by two academics driving a red Mini

In 1964, two young academics clambered into a red Mini and, armed with a mountain of printed slips, set out to conduct what would become the definitive survey of English folklore and traditions for the next 60 years.

John Widdowson and Paul Smith went to town centres, community halls, Women's Institute meetings. They handed the simple forms out to anyone who visited Sheffield University, where they were based. And they wanted to know the answer to one simple question: what do you know to be true?