Radio 4 this evening

[gillo]

I love Radio 4 with a passion; it's just as well, as I had to drive to Warwick, sit next to R as she drove to Dorridge, then drive home again - about an hour and a half in total. For the bits when I was alone the radio kept me company.

Comments

[brutti_ma_buoni]

I was once sick on the base of that statue, as a small bewildered child with food poisoning. (In the bad old days when the BM had a chippy instead of a nice restaurant. I'm sure this never happens nowadays.) I still feel bad about it. But the 100 Objects series is definitely too fascinating to miss. I've enjoyed the administrative/document things most, inevitably, but I'm also fascinated by the range of interviewees they have to support the objects. Really good radio.

I'm not going to comment on the torture/lies issue though. Too angry to be sensible.

[gillo]

I'm sure the BM is way too posh to allow children to throw up in the Egyptian section any more! And yes, the objects series is amazing from so many different perspectives. I slightly regret that they moved all the manuscripts and early printed books and so on over to the British Library, since it presumably means there won't be a First Folio or Authorised Version First Edition in the mix later on. (Actually, I regret it for more selfish reasons - the ol;d BM had far more of the real things on display, while the BL mostly has photocopies in its very small gallery space. I know it's better for the books, but...)

As for the torture thing, I'm there with you. How dare they act in our name in such ways?

[sammywol]

Heh! Yeah, it's not the same since they moved the books. The first time I was there they had a very, from an Irish perspective, funny exhibition on of 'Famous English Authors' Manuscripts' - note the 'English' - which was made up of W.B. Yeats, Sheridan, Swift, GBS and Oscar Wilde. I remember doing a quick count and there were a grand total of two MSS by actual English born authors (and one of those was an arguable - Congreve? can't recall).

It used to give me a great thrill going to the BM and waving my readers pass to go through the Sanctum Door. Ah well!

[gillo]

Especially since they seem to have replaced the books with more retail space. :-( I loved being able to see Jane Austen's cancelled chapter of
Persuasion and the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sheet of
Sir Thomas More that might just be in Shakespeare's handwriting. The BL doesn't offer such a good experience IMO. Once upon a time I dreamt of having a reader's pass to the Library. Now they seem to fill it with expensive exhibitions most of the time so you can't even see the beauty of the Reading Room.

[keswindhover]

Hmm, I didn't throw up on anything. But I have lain in this sarcophagus:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/s/sarcophagus_of_hapmen.aspx

(This was also back in the days when the British Museum was a great deal more informal and dads with a certain sense of humour could put their small children in a coffin for the laffs.)