At home with the Georgians

[Feltwell]

I can see that Joce's new telly will be getting an airing for this one:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/behind-closed-doors/

Not sure when it's starting, can't be too far away as I've seen a trailer on BBC2 this evening. Lots of scenes of Georgian stately home interiors, if that's your thing.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh my goodness! Thanks for alerting me, I'd no idea. I learned how to switch it on yesterday ( I'm really not joking) and think the TV will be useful in the evening as Chris starts his new job - thanks for this!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

oooooooooooooooooo, well that's me glued to the sofa then, sounds really interesting!

 

[essexbearhunter]

Very short notice but saw it finally scheduled for TONIGHT (Thursday 2nd December) at 9pm. Part 1 of 3

 

[Penners]

I learned how to switch it on yesterday

That's a step forward, Joce, but the REAL trick is learning how to switch it off.

One that many people haven't mastered. :wink:

 

[Lime]

Reality check.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the commode was used particularly the type that fitted in the diningroom sideboard.

Then there are the spittoons, the BO, fleas, lice and disfigurement from smallpox.

Bet we don't get any of that.

 

[Juju]

I'm looking forward to it anyway even if it is a sanitised version. Mr Juju will be banished to the kids' room to watch 'Have I got news for you'. I've also been enjoying Kirstie's Homemade Home and Alan Titchmarsh on historic gardens for the past few weeks. But then I'm a sad girlie who likes homemade cushions and lovely gardens. Mr Juju is probably worried the house will soon be full of even more half-made projects....
Juju

 

[Feltwell]

Mr Juju is probably worried the house will soon be full of even more half-made projects....

Could be worse, Mrs F tells me that our entire house is a half-done project!

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: I can't wait!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Mr Juju is probably worried the house will soon be full of even more half-made projects....

Could be worse, Mrs F tells me that our entire house is a half-done project!

So does Mrs W. I consider that a significant achievement, we're already at the half-way stage! 8)

 

[JoceAndChris]

I thought it was good, and the diaries really quite fascinating ( especially Dudley Ryder's, whose descendant must have organised the building of this house)

I disagree with her argument that there was anything new in fixating on wanting a partner or a home - plenty of that in Chaucer, or Homer even - and what's different today in that regard? Nothing. So I found the drama of that a bit spurious, but still, lots of really beautiful interiors, and oh, what an elegant period of our history.

Taste next week - marvellous.

 

[Lime]

I thought that many comments of the presenter were naive and ignorant and demonstrated a lack of knowledge of recent history and of life in general.
It appeared that carriage riding was something she endured and thought unpleasant (although obvious that she had never had to walk anywhere in her life) and couldn't quite comprehend why people did it.
She was unable to understand that two spinsters could livery a horse by themselves and portrayed at least one house as dark, dingy and unpleasant to live in.
I got the feeling she couldn't get out of the ordinary old houses fast enough but rather fancied herself in the spendid halls.
She did mention disfigurement by smallpox once but did not understand that it was not a rarity to be disfigured so.

The diaries were interesting and a nice snapshot of a some peoples' lives which made the programme for me.

She needs to get out more and understand life didn't begin in 1980.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: good points Lime, I don't disagree.

At least, though, she understood that femininity was not the disempowered, meek, angel in the house which is much more Victorian really ( though Viccy lit is full of amazing power houses too - people make a lot of ignorant remarks about the women of long ago)

I thought the house in Spitalfields was amazing though.

 

[Lime]

:lol: good points Lime, I don't disagree.

At least, though, she understood that femininity was not the disempowered, meek, angel in the house which is much more Victorian really ( though Viccy lit is full of amazing power houses too - people make a lot of ignorant remarks about the women of long ago)

I thought the house in Spitalfields was amazing though.

Yes I agree with your comments about femininity.
While the lady of the manor house sought to "do" as little as possible that did not mean she had no power.
Conversely ordinary women worked very hard at all sorts of physical work not just those confined to the house and kitchen.
Sex was briefly mentioned as if it never normally happened in the past.
(Obviously the presenter has only read the abridged version of Pepys' diaries.)
It is a modern, almost caricature, idea of femininity that women are helpless, powerless and "taken" by men, fed by Hollywood's relentless film portrayal that all women (with very few exceptions) are weak and scream and faint at the slightest threat to their safety.
It was and is not true.
Men and women are different and have different roles but women always subserviant to men?
Sometimes maybe but not always, particularly in "society" and family matters.

As I get older I notice more and more how young TV presenters lack awareness of very recent history so their contextualisation of events is limited to their own confined and inadequate knowledge of the past.
The knowledge that they do have is often prejudiced and interpreted using modern values as if values were always universal too.
The result is often a total fantasy.
Poor schooling has a lot to answer for.

The houses were nice to see but I think they were used only as the backdrop to the narrator's storytelling and were but brief glimpses of what could have been.

 

[Juju]

Well, Amanda Vickery is 48 - is that young? If so, that's good cos I'm 2 years younger! She's also a history professor in a respectable institution so she's a bit more than a TV presenter. I know that some feminist historians are a bit critical of her.... I was half-asleep watching the programme but I enjoyed it - I must have missed the things that people are being critical about!

 

[Lime]

Well, Amanda Vickery is 48 - is that young? If so, that's good cos I'm 2 years younger! She's also a history professor in a respectable institution so she's a bit more than a TV presenter. I know that some feminist historians are a bit critical of her.... I was half-asleep watching the programme but I enjoyed it - I must have missed the things that people are being critical about!

A bit more than a presenter?
The word "presenter" was used with no disrespect to other presenters and it makes not a hoot of difference if they are qualified at all.
I judged her performance on this single TV programme, nothing personal.
However there are plenty of qualified idiots in the world or have you not noticed?


48 young?
In experience I think so in this case.
Perhaps student dumbing down is infectious and the professors have caught it too.

As for feminist historians, you mean the people who study herstory?

 

[MatthewC]

Mr Juju is probably worried the house will soon be full of even more half-made projects....

Could be worse, Mrs F tells me that our entire house is a half-done project!

I wish my house was even half done :?

 

[JoceAndChris]

To the lovely Juju - I think some of watch programmes with generosity and a glass or red wine and some of us don't! :lol: I like nothing better than to curl up and shout at the TV and all who are on it.

On the "herstory" - I think the ideals of womanhood have changed radically over the centuries - especially 1960 - but actual womanhood and the running of a household probably hasn't changed much in its essence, we're the boss and we'll always be the boss as men frankly haven't a clue when it comes to cleaning, catering, sorting the clothes and the bedlinen and the shoes and the curtains and the birthday presents and and and... Alright, men might make the odd token gesture towards helpfulness but its generally the women who sort things out, in most cultures.

On the style of presentation in this programme - I recognised a lot if the techniques I was taught at the Institute of Education to make history cool for the kids - like the shots of the iPad and the presenter distastetfully sipping the dirty froth off the beer after mentioning VD. I hate these kind of tricks and I'm sure bright teenagers find it awfully patronising as well, but that's the fashion and all history seems to be presented in that way.

Bring back dry and dusty lectures please.

 

[citizensmith]

I was a bit dissapointed in the emphasis on the big posh houses, but then i suppose they are the ones that are intact and have good records/archives. I would have liked to see more representative ordinary Georgian examples, but perhaps that just would not be exciting TV?

The use of the "hey look I've got an ipad and its got pictures on it" was quite irritating and will make this programme look dated in quite a short time.

 

[Feltwell]

we're the boss and we'll always be the boss as men frankly haven't a clue when it comes to cleaning, catering, sorting the clothes and the bedlinen and the shoes and the curtains and the birthday presents and and and... Alright, men might make the odd token gesture towards helpfulness but its generally the women who sort things out, in most cultures.

OY! I resent that remark.

Oh, actually, no - I resemble that remark.......