The invention of...Scandinavia

[ardcarp]

I short while ago I posted on the EMS site that I had heard one of the best R3 programmes ever (about Vincenzo Galiliei).
Sadly I am now opining that the Radio 4 series entitled 'The Making of....Scandinavia' is one of the WORST. It jumps about back and forth over 600 years with land-borders, kings and events in such a garbled mess that I certainly gleaned little sense from it. Covid also got woven into modern lifestyles of Denmark and Sweden. But NORWAY? Half my family live there....and hardly a mention. At the end I felt almost less enlighhtened and informed than before. Maybe it's encroaching senility, but on the whole I think the series was badly planned and poorly presented.

[Serial_Apologist]

It jumps about back and forth over 600 years

Even worse than many a Composer of the Week these days, then.

[eighthobstruction]

Even worse than many a Composer of the Week these days, then.

Oh, I enjoyed it, that is, without listening to it forensically....my favourite of 'Invention of' programmes is Invention of Brazil....excellent....I really like Misha Glenny....(lots of info I had never known about - esp ref Portugese Royal Family and Britain)

NB, senility aside: it is in fact Invention of....

[ardcarp]

I'm glad you enjoyed it eighth. Maybe I was expecting...as 'invention of' suggested.... some sort of time-line explaining how Scandinavian societies evolved. The current programme began with brief mention of the planks of a Viking ship, discussed the difference between Danish and Swedish attitudes to lock-down and then rambled off to Swedes in North Germany where kids were allegedly told bedtime stories about those naughty Swedes, etc, etc. I felt the programme lacked focus and direction and, frankly, any point. I still can't work out why Norway was sidelined....beyond saying how rich it was because of North Sea oil.

My first visit there was about 55 years ago when Norway was a ship-building and fishing community and most citizens...and the roads... were quite poor. So no mention of hydro-electric power, the excellent welfare state....and almost nothing of its history. No mention either of the strong Lutheran influence, the Puritanical approach to alcohol, spirits only being available from a government store. Maybe there will be more in a future episode?

[eighthobstruction]

....there is still a third episode....and of course this was recorded with limited resources due to lockdown....(it is quite repetative within/between first 2 episodes...)

[Cockney Sparrow]

At the end of this week's programme, it said : next week ........Norway.

[DracoM]

Well, sorry, I learnt a lot and liked the prog.