Dimbleby on telly

[Gareth Hughes]

How many church towers fell down either during or shortly after construction?

To use a technical architectural term, "loads". And they still do:

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/oxboroughcofe/oxboroughcofe.htm

1948 is far from being the last example, even in Norfolk, though in terms of the extent of the damage done I think that was the last really big one.

 

[shelli]

Just as a complete aside - has anyone read short Novel called "the Spire" by William Golding - all about mad deacon wanting biggest spire on his building to glorify God etc - shows you all you need to know about the crazed/obsessive minds of the medieval Clergy !! (actually it's just a story really!)

 

[piper]

shows you all you need to know about the crazed/obsessice minds of the Clergy !! (actually it's just a story really!)

Actually met any clergy recently? I think at least some of them have changed a bit since the fourteenth century :wink:

Another good book is "Reformation - Europe's House Divided 1490-1700" by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Opening chapters are extremely good on explaining the mediaeval catholic obsession with being saved from Purgatory, by eg having churches and chapels built for colleges of priests to say continuous masses for the souls of the people who paid for them. In architectural terms, compare cathedrals with modern insurance company head-offices.

 

[alice]

In architectural terms, compare cathedrals with modern insurance company head-offices.

Because both are faith-based gambles?

alice

 

[Nemesis]

To use a technical architectural term, "loads". And they still do:

Possibly 'heaps' might have been a more accurate term Gareth?

 

[Penners]

yes really good!

anyone happen to know what the triangular building is in the opening credits?

Rushton Triangular Lodge

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.70

thanks
fascinating building - and i thought i was peculiar, seems i am nothing compared to Sir Tresham

This is also a triangular building - it's one of the follies in the grounds of Stowe House, Bucks, called The Gothic(k) Temple

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[Gareth Hughes]

Rushton Triangular Lodge

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.70

thanks
fascinating building - and i thought i was peculiar, seems i am nothing compared to Sir Tresham

This is also a triangular building - it's one of the follies in the grounds of Stowe House, Bucks, called The Gothic(k) Temple

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If you were watching Jonathan Meades last night (and there's no excuse not to have been), you'll also know all about the political symbolism of that building, and why its proper name is the Temple of Liberty.

 

[Nemesis]

I didn't watch please Sir - but I have it on video...

 

[Penners]

I was in the air at the time (inside an aeroplane, I'm glad to say). So I missed it.

Please sir, will that do as an excuse?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I was in the air at the time (inside an aeroplane, I'm glad to say). So I missed it.

Please sir, will that do as an excuse?

Certainly not. increasing your carbon footprint, encouraging airport expansion by increasing passenger traffic.

Guards! release Nemesis :twisted:

 

[Nemesis]

I will watch it tomorrow Sir, when I have the great and the good of conservation (I have to say that...) here to share a bottle of Ardbeg..

 

[Penners]

Oh, didn't I mention that it was a glider?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Nemesis is that better for you? are you a "special constable" by any chance?

How about you spend your time posting real life experience information to users instead of nit picking on my post.

Maybe you would like me to post you photographs of my new oak framed building & house so enable you to sleep tonight.

Incedently on looking at your history i see you have posted company/website names in the past. Has anyone told you about "people in glass houses" ?

Go and bother someone else please!

You arrived here, posted a clear advertisement for a firm (recommendations on this forum are generally given as a response to a request rather than out of the blue), called Nemesis a "little Hitler" when she cast doubt on whether your post was anything but advertising spam, and when then thread was (rightly) removed, you turn up here to continue the abuse. All in a total of three posts from starting out.

 

[Penners]

Tom40 - if you would like to (a) stop advertising, (b) stop causing trouble and (c) make a positive, helpful contribution to the forum, then I'm sure you will be welcomed.

 

[Nemesis]

I gather tom40 has had most of his posts removed now - and stopped sending aggressive PM's too.

Right.

Hugh Pearman on Dimbleby, and as the series has progressed I have to say I have some sympathy with his point of view, and he's nowhere near as interesting as John Grundy who does architecture programmes oop north:

http://www.hughpearman.com/2007/09.html

'It is chronically unambitious. You can imagine how much better this series - and this book - might have been in the hands of a knowledgeable iconoclast such as Jonathan Meades, or even a gesticulating historian of the Simon Schama or Dan Cruickshank variety. Those people may have their ghastly mannerisms but they start from a basis of knowledge. Dimbleby, in contrast, is a blank page with researchers at his disposal. It shows. The wry smile and the pink shirt, the mellifluous manner, are not enough. Besides, he seems bored, most of the time. This is popular history by numbers.'


However - better than no architecture at all.

 

[Penners]

better than no architecture at all.

I agree. And I think one has to guard against taking an excessively intellectualist or esoteric stance on the programme.

Yes, it could investigate the architectural detail more throroughly. Yes, it could examine the identity and relevance of each building in the historical landscape in more detail. But that's not what it's about.

This is simply Dimbleby's own broad sweep look at significant buildings throughout the country, each of which marks a spike in the historical graph. He makes no pretence of fulfilling the brief that I've outlined above. He is simply saying, "This is a beautiful country, with some wonderful historic architecture - doesn't it look lovely?"

It's simply a travelogue. And viewed as such, I think it has some gorgeous photography and a non-elitist charm.

 

[Nemesis]

In some ways I think DD might actually be a strength for the type of programme it is - he at least isn't a bit of an eccentric, not that there is anything wrong with that... but his very establishment stature might give some to consider that there is more to old buildings than a drain on the public purse and a pile of old stones!

There is a difficulty though that heritage is reduced to these jewels dotted around like currants in a bun, when in reality there is so much more to it.

But it's a start...

 

[Flyfisher]

But it's a start...

True, and I think that's all that can really be expected of television programmes aimed at a mass audience. It's the nature of the medium.

Anyone with a degree of expertise in the subject of a TV documentary will immediately realise the relative superficiality of such programmes. If it was truly pitched at 'expert level' it would only interest a small minority of viewers and would therefore never be commissioned.

The important thing is to keep this in mind when watching a programme in which you don't have any significant expertise, and realise that you're watching something of equal superficiality.

I agree with Penners - this is a travelogue designed to inspire viewers about what is out there. If it does that, and I think it should, then it has served its purpose.

 

[Nemesis]

The Meades progs on Wednesdays (now ended) were so much better...

I still have Sir Alec Clifton-Taylor on video. Must dig them out and watch again.

His horror of ribbon pointing...

 

[Penners]

His horror of ribbon pointing...

But there you go, you see. 97.845% (roughly) of the population don't know or care about ribbon pointing.

Start banging on about it in a mass market TV programme and the collective shock of remote controls being pressed would cause a minor earthquake in Dudley.