television reviews
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Unfortunately for the rest of us, this programme is not available here, unless you subscribe to this site. Here’s hoping it’s eventually broadcast again here in the UK.
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“Walking Britain’s Lost Railways” is back, for a fourth series, starting in Yorkshire. As well as walking the former York to Hull route, Bell explains why the East Coast Main Line, as it now is, passes through York and not Leeds, although the latter is now more than four times larger. This situation, in which…
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While watching the first episode (entitled “A Dragon’s Inferno”) of a documentary series called Mythical Beasts, viewers’ attention was drawn to the abbey library of St Gallen in Switzerland. What an absolutely breathtaking place, containing many rare, centuries-old books, manuscripts and other items. To read more about it, go to this site.
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Following our previous dialogues, here we have some alternative dialogue from Henry VIII, as used in the ITV version with Ray Winstone: HENRY VIII: Cor blimey, Cromwell me old china, that Enn Blin aint half a right pain in the Gregory, and no mistake. {By the end of the show, both “Enn Blin” and Cromwell…
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What has MKJ started?
Bonapartists, Bourbons, Brandons, Britain’s Real Monarch, Channel Four, Edward IV, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, France, Francisco Franco, Germany, Greys, Henry VIII, Holy Roman Empire, illegitimacy rumours, Jacobites, James VI/I, Mary I, Matt Baker, Michael Earl of Loudoun, Michael K Jones, Orleanists, Roman Emperors, Russia, Spain, Stewarts, Tony Robinson, wills, You TubeIf you watched Channel Four on the first Saturday evening in January 2003, then you will probably remember Michael K. Jones and Tony Robinson discussing Edward IV‘s possible illegitimacy, followed by Britain’s Real Monarch, an investigation into the King or Queen of England if Edward had not existed or been debarred, leading through the Poles…
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My reaction to Lucy Worsley’s Christmas Carol Odyssey….
“Tudor” propaganda, “Tudors”, Anglo-Saxons, bias, Catholics, Charles “III”, Christina Rossetti, Christmas carols, Christmas truce, Edward VI, Ely Cathedral, Father Christmas, First World War, French Revolution, Gustav Holst, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Jacobites, Lucy Worsley, Methodists, music, mystery plays, Napoleonic wars, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Reformation, Reverend Phillips, wassailingSometimes the stories behind our much-loved Christmas carols are quite disheartening, involving as they do national and international strife and religious rivalry that was both bloody and filled with hatred. Yet every year we sing the resultant carols with joy. The reactions of the human race are sometimes contradictory. To say the least! I am…
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London’s Greatest Bridges (continued)
Albion Mill, almshouses, arson, Belgium, bribery, Canaletto, cement, Channel Five, Charles II, Company for the Strand Bridge, Company of Watermen, concrete foundations, Cornish granite, craft guilds, Frost Fairs, House of Commons, iron, John Rennie, Ladies’ Bridge, Lambeth, London Bridge, lotteries, Palace of Westminster, Pathe News, Portland stone, protests, River Thames, roads, Rob Bell, Second World War, slum clearances, Southwark, steam power, Strand, Suffragettes, Sutton Hoo, Thomas Page, timber, Waterloo, Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, windmills, Wool stapleThis series finally resumed on Channel Five at the beginning of October, to cover two of the newer structures over the Thames, neither of which are in the original form. As usual, Rob Bell’s enthusiasm is infectious and his programmes are highly informative. Episode Three covered Westminster Bridge. By 1700, the population of London was…
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“The Buildings that fought Hitler” (Yesterday)
Battle of Britain, Bawdsey Manor, Blitz, deception, Dorset, dummy cities, Edmund Ironside, Field Marshal Ironside, Home Guard, Jasper Maskelyne, Military tactics, pill boxes, radar, Second World War, Stanley House, Stanleys, stop lines, Wars of the Roses, Wellington College, Winston Churchill, Yesterday ChannelOnce you have reached beyond the bizarre title, which sounds rather like a Dr. Who episode, this is actually a very good series. Rob Bell, the engineer who is becoming quite ubiquitous, demonstrates how the UK was ready to use ther natural and built environments, together with science, to repel and then restrict a German…
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