GOOD TV

[Stanley]

Bit of a mystery, couldn't find Mary Beard's programme on catch up.
Watched two more Silent Witness instead....

[Tizer]

This is from the BBC web page: LINK
Mary Beard's Shock of the Nude, Series 1 - BBC Two. (Contains some nudity. [Not surprising! - Ed.])

Mary Beard takes on one of the foundation stones of western art - the nude.
Mary gives a deeply personal take on how artists have depicted the naked body, from the ancient Greeks to the taboo-busting painters and sculptors of today. Just why are artists so interested in nudity? And what can art reveal about our own attitudes to the body? Art critics over the centuries have often made lofty claims about the nude – playing down or refusing to acknowledge the erotic and even pornographic nature of some of the great works of western art. Mary argues we must not forget the edgy and dangerous nature of the nude – ultimately the reason it remains a magnetic subject for artists and viewers alike.

In this episode, Mary looks at how artists have challenged the idea of the body beautiful, artistic nudes that provoke viewers to think about the most fundamental questions about being human.

Mary begins with the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant. When this figure of a disabled artist by Marc Quinn was installed in Trafalgar Square, it caused a sensation - challenging public expectations about what a nude sculpture in a classical style should be. Mary then examines a nude she argues is rarely seen for what it is – the naked (or nearly naked) body of Jesus Christ, in the company of former British Museum director Neil MacGregor. Together, they look at one of the most surprising images of Jesus you have probably ever seen.

In the Royal Academy, Mary discusses a disturbing trio of work and tells the dark and chilling tale behind their execution. These are casts of flayed bodies of criminals designed as study aids for artists in the 18th century, but to 21st-century eyes they are morbidly gruesome – and Mary discusses how for her they stand somewhere between art, science and sadism.

In Bologna, Italy, Mary sees a female counterpart to these flayed men – an Anatomical Venus. This was a wax model of a young woman, posed to look like a Sleeping Beauty, but whose middle section could be opened up to reveal her exquisitely detailed innards. Mary argues we should see this Venus as anticipating contemporary works by artists such as Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn, who challenge us to think about the relationship between the body’s interior and its exterior.

Nudes in the western canon are traditionally white and living - but not all of them: Theodore Gericault’s masterpiece Raft of the Medusa is an image of torment and misery, with its sweep of dead and dying figures - and it also contains the figure of a black man, very much alive, waving heroically to a distant ship. With the help of Dr Denise Murrell, Mary reveals the importance of this image in the context of so many racially stereotyped images of the black body and discusses how the black nude was reimagined in the 20th century.

The naked body can also represent the inner state of mind - as seen in the works of the extraordinary early 20th-century Viennese artist Egon Schiele. Mary also looks at Lucian Freud, who reinvented the nude in the mid-20th century with his intimate, fleshy portraits of men and women. He has been described by one former model as predatory, and Mary speaks with another, Cozette McCreery, on how she felt about being the subject of his legendary scrutiny.

Mary then enters unsettling territory considering the issues that surround the depiction of the naked bodies of children. She explores the profoundly disturbing work of Eric Gill, who made engravings of his teenage daughter Petra at the same time he was sexually abusing her. Together with artist Cathie Pilkington, who recently co-curated a show of Gill’s work, Mary ponders whether these works can or should still be appreciated, when you know the history behind them.

Finally, Mary looks at what society’s increased awareness that gender is not a binary matter of male or female but a much more fluid concept means for the nude in art. She looks back to classical times, to the ancient hermaphrodite, reminding us that this is by no means a new discovery, before talking with a trans life-model about the potential of art to affirm a positive body image. Finally, Mary speaks to the artist Ajamu, whose work features in the groundbreaking Kiss My Genders exhibition – a glorious celebration of sexual and gender diversity in which the naked body proved without doubt that it still has a central role to play in art.

[Stanley]

I found the programme (after a difficult search) last night and watched it. It includes her posing nude for an artist. One thing she didn't mention about Gill was that he was forced to reduce the penis size of the image of the child in the front of BBC HQ. Rumour was that it was at the behest of Lord Reith. I didn't know until I watched the programme that Gill was a known paedophile.
Good programme. I like that woman!
Then two more Silent Witness.

[Wendyf]

I'm told that a programme about canals tonight on ch5 includes a piece filmed at Bancroft.

[Tripps]

Rumour was that it was at the behest of Lord Reith

On a half memory hunch - I googled 'Lord Reith hypocrite'

Well - Reith Sounds like he was a monster. . .

[Wendyf]

I'm told that a programme about canals tonight on ch5 includes a piece filmed at Bancroft.

Just realized that it is a "celebrity " programme so might not cope with watching it personally.

[Stanley]

That's the film that used my pictures! Missed it, must look for it!

[Tizer]

Haven't watched it but I guess it's this programme: Britain by barge

[Cathy]

I hope it comes to us

[Big Kev]

Haven't watched it but I guess it's this programme: Britain by barge

I recorded this too

[PanBiker]

I'm told that a programme about canals tonight on ch5 includes a piece filmed at Bancroft.

Just realized that it is a "celebrity " programme so might not cope with watching it personally.

It's the next episode (2) that includes Bancroft. I whizzed through episode 1 on the web which ends in the canal basin at Skipton. End credits showed clips from episode 2 which showed Bancroft.

[Wendyf]

Just watched it and it was very good but only got as far as Skipton. The celebrities are intelligent and interested so can recommend It!

[Stanley]

I watched it on catch-up and Wendy is right, despite the obligatory celebrities (Jenny Bond continually refers to 'driving the boat'.) it's quite a good programme.

[Cathy]

Just watching Fire Fight Australia.
A salute to our Firefighters, Emergency Services, Army and everyday Australians caught up in the recent fires and lost so much.
Lots of great Aussie musical talent and many international acts.
There’s something for everyone.

Fire Fight Australia is being sent out Worldwide.

[Stanley]

[Cathy]

Would you believe it, the Fire Fight Australia Concert has just finished. It lasted 10 hours and raised (at end of broadcast) over $9 million dollars. Well done

[Stanley]

That's good news Cathy!
I watched the first of the new Endeavour series, I shall catch up on last night's today, 22:00 ending is too late for me......

[Big Kev]

That's good news Cathy!
I watched the first of the new Endeavour series, I shall catch up on last night's today, 22:00 ending is too late for me......

I have the 2 episodes recorded and will probably 'binge watch' when I'm bored

[Tripps]

I watched the second half - like all such type of programmes there are boxes to be ticked before it's produced. All boxes were ticked last night.

Did they do home deliveries of curries on the 1960's or am I being to fussy?

[Big Kev]

I watched the second half - like all such type of programmes there are boxes to be ticked before it's produced. All boxes were ticked last night.

Did they do home deliveries of curries on the 1960's or am I being to fussy?

I reckon they did

https://www.hsh.co.uk/news/the-history- ... orth-west/

The ‘Mistress of Norris Street Coffee House, Haymarket’, declared in Public Advertiser on 6 December 1773, that she not only sold “true Indian curey paste” but would “at the shortest notice [send] ready dressed curey and rice, also India pilaws, to any part of the town.” This must have been the first Indian home delivery service.

[Tripps]

Good link thanks. I stand by what I said though. The idea that you could telephone an order, and have it delivered straight away was still a long time away.

I went to school in the 1950's and 1960's and traveled up Oxford Road each day. I remember an Indian Restaurant set back from the road at the All Saints junction. Might have been the Koh i Noor? We thought it was the only one in Manchester at the time. Didn't do much eating out then. Lyons Corner house and Lewis's Cafeteria (ask Stanley) was all we could manage.

The link somehow took me to the Manchester archive - good to look back. They mention the Everest, and the Manzil. I've eaten in both. Wilmslow Road the continuation of Oxford Road is now known as 'Curry Mile'. There wasn't a single Indian restaurant there then.

[Stanley]

Some good Kosher establishments in Prestwich......
Watched Endeavour and it held my attention . I do like 2 hour episodes.....
Lewis's restaurant put seagull's eggs in their salads during the war.....

[Gloria]

Watched David Baddiel Confronting the Holocaust Denial. Not a person I've ever really liked but this programme was good.

[Gloria]

Tonight ch5 9pm Celebrity Britain by Barge, Leeds to Liverpool calling at Barnoldswick.

[Stanley]

Thanks Gloria, I noted it and will get it on catch-up tonight. 21:00 is too late for me, I fall asleep watching an hour long programme at bed time!