Britannia Coconut Dancers

[2] The original reason for the Nutters' darkened faces is unclear, but as the application of blackface is sometimes considered offensive and racist, the group is controversial.

[9] Theresa Buckland's (1990) research discusses the possible origin of the tradition in minstrel shows, which were performing in the UK concurrently with the earliest references to the Nutters.

However she also noted that explaining the blackened faces as a portrayal of coal miners is an "interpretation which has some credibility since a number of earlier dancers were colliers in the district".

[18] AA Gill, writing in The Sunday Times, described them as bizarrely compelling:[19] The dance begins with each Nutter cocking a hand to his ear to listen to something we human folk can’t catch.

They then wag a finger at each other, and they’re off, stamping and circling, occasionally holding bent wands covered with red, white and blue rosettes that they weave into simple patterns.

Nothing in the civilised world is quite as elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling as the Coco-nutters of Bacup.A five-minute black-and-white film, shot in 1930, with a new musical accompaniment, is included in the DVD Here's a Health to the Barley Mow, issued by the BFI in 2011.