What a relief!

[Merry]

Lately I have become quite fed up with the format of WDYTYA? and the celebrities being endlessly sentimental about their ancestors.

Last night I watched two back to back episodes of The Restoration Man with architect George Clarke. This programme has been going for three years, but I hadn't seen it before (probably because I'd been worn down by years of watching Grand Designs!).

Apart from watching the difficulties of restoring dilapidated old buildings, a few minutes of the show seems to be devoted to understanding the history of the property and.......what a relief!! - Sifting through old deeds and census enumeration sheets etc, only sensible questions were asked of the record office archivist (or whoever) and no one tried to apply the feelings of a modern-day individual to events in the past, as seems to constantly happen on WDYTYA? I don't know if this element of the show is always so good, but I enjoyed these two episodes.

A breath of fresh air! (and George is lovely!!! :cool:)

[tenterfieldjulie]

Merry, I've just bought the DVD of the series of Michael Wood's Story of England on the village of Kibworth in Leicestershire. I have only viewed one of the DVD's as yet, from the Romans to the Black death. Of course having Merton College own the village makes a huge difference on records surviving, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Living in Aus, many of the things that folk in UK know instinctively, is new to me. Being of farming stock, I was particularly taken with the medieval strip farming method.
I'm wondering what others thought of it? Julie

[Merry]

I did watch that back in 2011,, but I can't remember much of the detail now. I seem to think I enjoyed it though!

[tenterfieldjulie]

LOL .. things do take a while to get here ... Julie

[Shona]

If repeats of Restoration Man are on, I'll watch again. The format works well and George has a genuine passion for his subject - I have a soft spot for a Sunderland accent.

How about George on WDYTYA?

[Merry]

How about George on WDYTYA?

What a good idea! :D

His father died when he was a child, so he might be like I was, with little awareness of my paternal history.

[Shona]

I'd nominate George to do the voice-over, too. :D

[tenterfieldjulie]

I've watched him on PayTV .. do like his blue eyes lol .. only window shopping of course ...

[Durham Lady]

If repeats of Restoration Man are on, I'll watch again. The format works well and George has a genuine passion for his subject - I have a soft spot for a Sunderland accent.

How about George on WDYTYA?

Aww Shona, he's got a Washington accent not Sunderland. I expect he was born in the maternity hospital in Sunderland but he's a Washington lad. :)

[Shona]

Aww Shona, he's got a Washington accent not Sunderland. I expect he was born in the maternity hospital in Sunderland but he's a Washington lad. :)

You're right! Born in Sunderland and brought up in Washington. Still a lovely accent, though. :)

In his own words: 'When most of the kids were playing with building blocks and pieces of Lego, I was actually on building sites.' :cool:

Both of his grandfathers were builders.

[Guinevere]

I'd watch Michael Wood all day long. <3

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

I was thinking the same myself Gwynne

[Phoenix]

I'd watch Michael Wood all day long. <3

Went to a roadshow history event he was speaking at last year. I've been a groupie since the Dark Ages.

His talk was so polished as to be almost meaningless (said all the right things, but I'd heard them before.)

Then someone asked him how he had got interested in history in the first place.

Now, I suspect the anecdote has been told countless times to all sorts of different audiences. But the visceral images in his reply remain with me. I won't recount the story as it isn't mine and I couldn't tell it half so well, but it does reinforce the idea that history is always about people.