Hitchin is a hit with students across the Spanish-speaking world this morning, thanks to an English instruction video filmed in the town centre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=zKWZKm1xLtE

Isabel Carrasco and Phillip Bartlett, whose YouTube channel Amigos Ingleses has more than 500,000 subscribers, filmed their latest instalment in Hitchin town centre – going around and asking passers-by for their favourite words in English.

The 10-minute video, shot by Phillip on Thursday, features Isabel talking to people in familiar locations like Market Place, Bancroft, Churchyard and the High Street.

Favourite words recorded in the video by Isabel, who is originally from Madrid, include ‘surreptitious’, ‘marmalade’, ‘squirrel’, ‘chocolate’, ‘bacon’, ‘Gordon Bennett’ and ‘abso-bloody-lutely’.

The video, entitled ‘¿Tu palabra favorita en Inglés? – preguntamos a los nativos’ has already been viewed more than 20,000 times since going online yesterday.

Phillip told the Comet: “Everyone in Hitchin was so lovely to us, and we would like to say thank you to all of them.”

Isabel and Phillip live in Barcelona, and were in Hitchin visiting Phillip’s father when they decided to make the video at the request of their legion of fans.

Phillip said: “We asked our followers what they would like us to film while in the UK, and they said they’d like us to go into the streets and speak to local people – so that’s what we did.

“It’s the first time we’ve done this kind of video, but we got a great result. Lots of positive feedback too!”

Many of the numerous students commenting beneath the video have cited ‘abso-bloody-luteley’ as a new favourite word of their own, with one English teacher posting: “I can’t wait for my English class on Monday to use ‘abso-bloody-lutely’ in every answer.”