Telly Talk: Trivia pursuit
Somebody up there reckons I don’t know enough. And by ‘somebody up there’ I mean someone working in London most likely, in charge of various television schedules. I am one of the masses and clearly I need to be educated. And as one of the masses the most straightforward way of doing this is via the medium of television.
I should’ve first realised when Jeremy Paxman stepped out from behind whatever desk he was previously superglued behind to start talking about the former British Empire in – originally titled – Empire. I mean, yes, it was happening before then, but how else could they entice the man who loves to scorn, away from his fabulous scorn-nest casting scorn onto the politicians with such gay abandon? I think he might just be casting scorn onto me with such dry irony I’m only just realising it. Why don’t I know all of this stuff already about the history of our great nation? Why am I going: ‘well, that’s an interesting fact I never know – what else can you teach me great man?’. When really I should have learned all of this stuff at school like a good English schoolgirl. Shame on me for having a flexible school syllabus! Never mind if it was something covered in class that I just might not’ve paid attention to. That would deserve true scorn. Well done Paxman, you’ve reaped it well from me and my kith.
The thing is, there’s loads I didn’t get taught and loads that I did. I can even give a fair impression of being reasonably bright, should the wind be blowing in the right direction and the conversation turn to things I might know something about.
The fact that there’s loads of British history I have a gaping chasm of ignorance facing – well, that’s just the luck of the programming commissioners. Or the deep research that says I’m not the only one.
Royal Cousins At War was another I caught only the other day. Don’t the regal leaders of Europe look alike at the beginning of the twentieth century? Well, duh! They were cousins. And there was me thinking that those beards and piercing blue eyes were mostly a fashion statement mixed with sharing the same portrait artist who happened to have some killer blue on his pallet.
I don’t think I’m alone in finding that my education – historically speaking – was dominated rather strongly by Nazis and Superpowers, meaning references and metaphors regarding McCarthyism and the stealth rise of extremist ideas off the back of an economic period of struggle gives me plenty to ponder. But if you ask me how many wives Henry VIII had I’d have to see if Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head had any educational value. It didn’t.
“My education was dominated rather strongly by Nazis and Superpowers…”
Education has fashions just like any other form, it just so happens that my rather fashionable education has positioned me – and many others – with massive gaps on the historical homefront, leaving a perfect space to be filled by the rather engaging programmes on the telly. Of course there’s the incredibly dashing and internationally sellable The Tudors (that I’m waiting for a week off with the flu to really get stuck into with), but there’s also the multi award-winning Horrible Histories which are just a joy whatever age you happen to be.
With the rise of dramas about Robin Hood, Musketeers and the Who Do You Think You Are strain of programmes, the historical is appearing a lot more personal and easy to identify and empathise with. From Lucy Worsley’s personal touch as she took us through the costumes of the royal palaces, to Dr James Fox’s forthcoming A Very British Renaissance that sees the country move from its medieval lifestyle to a more recognisably modern way of living. We’re learning, even if it is by accident, in the same way we do when playing a game of Katan – just with less chance to see your best mate’s ruthless side. And to be honest, I’m glad. Fact is stranger than fiction, and I’m all for gathering as many strange facts and tales as I can.
A Very British Renaissance, BBC2, Coming Soon, Horrible Histories, CBBC
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