Janner is an English regional nickname associated with Plymouth both as a noun and as an adjective for the local accent and dialect. In 1987 Cyril Tawney, in his book Grey Funnel Lines, described its meaning as "a person from Devon", deriving from Cousin Jan (the Devon form of John), but "more particularly in naval circles anyone from the Plymouth area". [1] The term was also used for members of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment. [2]
From March 1902 until November 1905 the Devon and Exeter Gazette ran a series "The Talk at Uncle Tom Cobleigh's Club", partly comic, partly serious, written in the Devonshire dialect. A second series was created by A. J. Coles and published in the (Illustrated) Western Weekly News from July 1905 until the paper ceased publication in October 1939. The series was continued in the Western Times and Gazette until 1964. Both series included the character Jan Stewer (a character from Widecombe Fair) who recounted his experiences of the modern world in Devon dialect. [3] Coles's mother was from Willand in Devon. The first series sparked a popular correspondence from Devon natives around the world written in affectionate[ clarification needed ] dialect as recollected at the time, the character even appearing on the BBC in the 1920s.
'Alf a pound of flour and lard,
Makes a lovely clacker,
Just enough for you and me,
Oh Brother Janner,
Oh 'ow 'appy uz shall be!,
When uz gets to the Westcountry!,
Whur the oggies grows on trees,
Oh Brother Janner.
Because of the changes in the local economy in Plymouth over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, from the Royal Navy being the major employer to Plymouth being a university city housing a large number of students from outside the city, the term has developed an additional secondary pejorative sense describing the locals.[ citation needed ]
The Member of Parliament for Plymouth, Devonport, Alison Seabeck, showed her ignorance of the term in 2005 when, while still a candidate, she was asked by the local paper: "What is a Janner?" The Express on Sunday reported her reply:
The flustered candidate wailed: "I don't know. You're not going to print this, are you?" Unfortunately they did. The answer is a "Plymothian". [5]
For many years there was a cartoon in the Plymouth Evening Herald entitled 'The Janners'. Many pamphlets circulate with mischievous amusing and sometimes erotic anthologies and there are short dictionaries of Janner vocabulary, e.g. the Janner TextBook. [6]
The term features in the football team Plymouth Argyle supporters' chants, particularly its variant on the folksong Oggy Land, [7] and in 2010 it was used in a television advertisement for Aviva Car Insurance in which Paul Whitehouse as a Plymouth Argyle supporter driving to an away match exhorts a potential passenger to "geddon you Janner". [8] [9] In April 2012 a new rugby league trophy called the Barum Janner cup was introduced for competition matches between Barnstaple's North Devon Raiders and the Plymouth Titans. The cup's name is a combination of the nicknames for inhabitants of the two places. [10]
Devon is a ceremonial, non-metropolitan, and historic county in South West England. Devon is coastal with a variety of cliffs and sandy beaches. It has the largest open space in southern England, Dartmoor National Park. A predominantly rural county, Devon has a relatively low population density for a county in England. Its most populous settlement is the City of Plymouth. The county town of Devon, the City of Exeter, is the second most populous settlement. The county is bordered by Somerset to the north east, Dorset to the east, and Cornwall to the west. Its economy is heavily orientated around the tourism and agriculture industries.
Plymouth is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately 36 miles (58 km) south-west of Exeter and 193 miles (311 km) south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, known as the "Theatre of Greens", since 1901. Argyle are one of two Devon clubs who compete in the Football League, the other being Exeter City, Argyle's local rivals.
The Oggy Oggy Oggy chant, and its variations, are often heard at sporting events, political rallies and around numerous Scout and Guide campfires, primarily in Britain, Ireland and some Commonwealth nations. One group will shout Oggy three times, while another will respond with Oi! three times.
A pasty is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetables, in the middle of a flat shortcrust pastry circle, bringing the edges together in the middle, and crimping over the top to form a seal before baking.
The West Country is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The West Country has a distinctive regional English dialect and accent, and is also home to the Cornish language.
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.
Devonport Services Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Plymouth, Devon. The club was originally called United Services Devonport and had their first recorded match back in 1904. Devonport Services play their homes games at the Rectory Field and their strip and club colours are dark blue and red. They are currently competing in Regional 1 Tribute South West of the English rugby union league system following their promotion from South West 1 via the play-offs. At the end of season 2021–22 they were 2nd in the league and were promoted to Regional 1 South West.
Cyril Tawney was an English singer-songwriter and a proponent of the traditional songs of the West of England, as well as traditional and modern maritime songs.
St Boniface's Catholic College is a secondary school for boys, under the direction and trustees of the Roman Catholic Community in the Plymouth area in the South West of England. Founded in 1856 as an independent boarding and day school for "young Catholic gentlemen" in the West Country, it is now a comprehensive school. The College is named for St Boniface who was born in Crediton, Devon and is the patron saint of Germany. The school has a list of distinguished former pupils including Air Chief Marshal Sir John Gingell GBE KCB KCVO, the writer and intelligence agent Alexander Wilson, and Sir Julian Priestley KCMG, Secretary General of the European Parliament from 1997 – 2007.
His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy. The largest naval base in Western Europe, HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth, England.
Sport in Plymouth, Devon, England, dates back to the 19th century with its first club, Plymouth United F.C., being founded in 1886. It is the largest city in England never to have had a football team in the first tier of English football. It is home to Plymouth Argyle Football Club, who play in the Football League One at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. It is Plymouth's only professional football team, however the city used to have another team called Plymouth United F.C. dating back to 1886. The club takes its nickname from the group of English non-conformists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620: the club crest features the Mayflower, which carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts and the club's mascot is named Pilgrim Pete.
Albert John Coles was an English author.
The Devon Senior Cup is an annual rugby union league and cup club competition organized by the Devon Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced in the 1886-87 season and the inaugural competition was won by Tiverton. During the early years of the cup the format changed several times from a knock-out competition to a league format, then to hybrid league/cup, then back to being a knock-out cup once again. The competition also was had periods of inactivity, with World War I preventing play for a number of seasons and then the cup being cancelled in the 1930s before being reintroduced for the 1969-70 season when it was won by St. Luke's College. The Havill Plate was introduced in the 1970s for teams knocked out of the first round of the cup which would continue until 1999. Competitions similar to the Havill Plate were introduced in 2009 for teams that got knocked out of the earlier stages of the cup were introduced - plate and vase - but these were discontinued due to a lack of interest by the clubs involved.
Luke Pollard is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport since 2017. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he has been Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces since 2022. Pollard served as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2020 to 2021.
The Devon Militia was a part-time military force in the maritime county of Devonshire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of Devonshire served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.
The 5th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, was a part-time unit of the British Army recruited in the county of Devon. It was formed in the Territorial Force in 1908 by amalgamating two existing Volunteer Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment. The battalion served in India and fought in Palestine and on the Western Front during World War I. In World War II it provided two anti-tank artillery units, which served in Tunisia, Italy and North West Europe. They were both merged into other Devonshire units in 1950.
