Simon Schama - A History of Britain

[ardcarp]

This was probably a repeat, but I watched this last night for the first time:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074n44

SS took as his theme a comparison of 'two Winstons', which was rather clever, I thought. Orwell and Churchill seem unlikely fellows for comparison (albeit Old Etonians both) bur Scharma's thesis was how they came to hate totalitarianism via very different paths in life. I had not realised the privations Orwell (Eric Blair) put himself through to 'get the feel of' working class Britain.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

indeeed a neat idea well delivered ... but i find Schama palls quite quickly and his affectations irritate ... it too often reads as gossip rather than analysis because of his manner ...

[ardcarp]

I know what you mean, but the production style isn't half as bad as many BBC science/history/arts programmes.

[teamsaint]

indeeed a neat idea well delivered ... but i find Schama palls quite quickly and his affectations irritate ... it too often reads as gossip rather than analysis because of his manner ...

.....and they don't call him " No Show" because he always turns up at book signings.

Anyway, I forgive him most things for " The Power of Art".
Best thing he's done, for my money.

[jean]

... but i find Schama palls quite quickly and his affectations irritate ...

Sometimes I wish I hadn't watched this:

[mercia]

I had not realised the privations Orwell (Eric Blair) put himself through to 'get the feel of' working class Britain.

Down and Out in Paris and London is a good read, as far as I remember

[gradus]

Ever read Citizens? Schama at his considerable best

[Richard Tarleton]

Landscape and Memory is pretty good.

[gurnemanz]

I enjoyed the Churchill/Orwell film but was astonished to hear him use the ungrammatical "Us historians" as the subject of a sentence.

[ardcarp]

...just being being a bit colloquial, I expect. How many people, when asked if they'd like a cup of tea, reply, 'I please'?

[Nick Armstrong]

...just being being a bit colloquial, I expect. How many people, when asked if they'd like a cup of tea, reply, 'I please'?

vinteuil, perhaps? No one else...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

vinteuil, perhaps? No one else...

Were this to happen, I would have to add "So do I."

[teamsaint]

A polite yorkshireman?


Actually, you can always tell a Yorkshireman.


But you can't tell him much.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm Lancastrian. (Like Arthur Butterworth and Alpie, I had the complete set of injections and crossed the border. We meet on Wednesday evenings with the specific intent of defeating the "Yes" vote in the Yorkshire Independence Referendum.)


But don't tell anyone.

[teamsaint]

I'm Lancastrian. (Like Arthur Butterworth and Alpie, I had the complete set of injections and crossed the border. We meet on Wednesday evenings with the specific intent of defeating the "Yes" vote in the Yorkshire Independence Referendum.)


But don't tell anyone.

Oh. Ok, well I won't tell anybody else, since you ask. The mood of the metings must be a bit subdued, what with the County Championship back home at Headingly, and relegation staring the Lancies in the face....

in case of doubt, I wasn't suggesting that you were a polite Yorkshireman, or not, as the case may be.
Just speculating that a polite Yorkshireman might reply " I please", in a phoenetic kind of a way.