Channel Five
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This was shown on BBC2 over three consecutive Mondays, featuring an all-Italian excavation of the abandoned city and the British volcanologist Dr. Chris Jackson. It featured the familiar story of the two-day eruption and pyrochastic flow killing thousands, including Pliny the Elder, before they could escape as many ran from the lava towards the sea…
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Inside Windsor Castle
ATS, birthplaces, central heating, Channel Five, Charles I, Edward III, Edward VII, Edward VIII, electricity, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, English Civil War, Food, George III, George IV, George V, George VI, Henry VIII, House of Windsor, imprisonment, J.J. Chalmers, make-up, Prince Albert, Queen’s Lodge, Raksha Dave, Richard III, security, Stuarts, The Crown Jewels, Victoria, Wallis Simpson, William I, Windsor Castle, Xand van TullekenThis is another new Channel Five series, as they have broadcast about royal palaces before. Xand van Tulleken, Raksha Dave and JJ Chalmers explore the subject well, covering the architecture, health and make-up, but quite a few important monarchs are omitted: William I who conceived it, Edward III who was born there, Richard III who…
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Throughout history Easter has been the most solemn time of the Christian calendar, a time when sorrow and death are vanquished by triumph and life, of Christ rising from the tomb and ascending to Heaven. But in these more profane modern times, the sacred side of the great festival has been rather pushed aside by…
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This enthralling programme has returned, but made a dubious claim in the third epsode. Apparently, Jack Ketch was so hopeless at swinging an axe in a straight line, you would be better off as a commoner if facing execution, because almost anyone could be reasonably competent at short drop hanging, where breaking the subject’s neck…
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A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors….
“Tudors”, Anne of Bohemia, Anzac Day, Bayeux Tapestry, burials, Channel Five, Charles “III”, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charles I, Charles II, Cheyneygates, Cicely Plantagenet, coronation chair, coronations, Crown of St. Edward, Dame Judi Dench, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Norfolk, Easter, Elizabeth II, executions, gardens, Harold II, Hawksmoor Tower, Henry V, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Holy Week, Imperial State Crown, Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lent, Liber Regalis, Operation Golden Orb, Order of the Bath, Palm Sunday, Platinum Jubilee Roof, Poets’ Corner, Pyx Chamber, Queen Mother, records, Richard II, Royal Peculiars, Royal regalia, Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir john Gielgud, Sir Ralph Scrope, St. Paul’s, State Opening of Parliament, Stone of Scone, Timothy West, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Tower of London, Viscount Welles, weddings, Westminster AbbeyI have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with this review. Aha, did I hear you say the beginning might be a good idea? You’re right, so here goes with a selection of descriptions from…
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A little later than our period, but sometimes a laugh pops up out of nowhere and I have to share. I was looking through catch-up TV and came upon the following blurb for an episode of the Royal Palaces series: “…Versailles is one of the most enormous and impressive palaces in the world. Louise…
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Recently I was fortunate enough to change channels and happen upon The Stonehenge Enigma: What Lies Beneath? on Channel 5. I missed the very beginning, but saw most of it, and very interesting it was too. A huge circle of manmade “sinkholes has been found near Stonehenge, and the first of these holes when…
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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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