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Weekends are a TV desert for me. I’m watching Magpie Murders because I’d read the book and wondered how Anthony Horowitz would translate such a complicated plot to the screen. I read it again and now watch it playing ‘spot the differences’. I also like to watch Antiques Roadshow but yesterday it was cancelled at short notice. The only reason I can think of for it is that the BBC really hates older viewers and cares nothing for their disappointment. All was not lost, as I found two absolute gems on BBC 4.
The Queen’s Realm: England is a little film first shown for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. We take a tour of England from the air: the green countryside, the coast, industry, holiday camps, cars on new (then) roads, canals and steam trains. It must have looked nostalgic then; even more so now. There’s music but no commentary, just a lot of poetry, chosen by John Betjeman. This turned into a great quiz for me: spot the poet! I actually started making a list, which I won’t bore you with except to say that it was a masterstroke to have the Flying Scotsman whizzing along to Faster than fairies, faster than witches …. I Think Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses is underrated and all children should read it because they will never forget the poems. RLS, Auden and T S Eliot in the same programme and all perfectly appropriate? Brilliant. Research afterwards failed to find a list of the poems used but I did discover that the film is on YouTube, fast becoming my favourite channel.
Later, I watched an absolute cracker: Norwegian violinist Bjarte Elke and his band Barroksoliniste playing seventeenth century British music in various candlelit venues. Traditional folk songs, drinking songs, sad laments, sea shanties and some lovely Purcell sung by a guest soprano. Brilliant musicians (several nationalities), subtle choreography and a lot of fun, including duelling fiddles. Do you ever wonder how you know The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies-O, Haul Away Joe and Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her?
I think I learned some at junior school, and slightly different versions; only to be expected with songs which have lasted centuries. They ended with Leave Her Johnny, singing it softly as they left the stage then, later, with their instruments all packed up and apparently bidding each other fond farewells, they played it again. This scene was intercut with atmospheric shots of a foggy old Thames, reminding you that it must have looked much the same in the past. I found I went to bed still singing, ‘what care I for a goose-feather bed’ to myself. Highly recommended, especially if you like folk music.
The Queen’s Realm: England is a little film first shown for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. We take a tour of England from the air: the green countryside, the coast, industry, holiday camps, cars on new (then) roads, canals and steam trains. It must have looked nostalgic then; even more so now. There’s music but no commentary, just a lot of poetry, chosen by John Betjeman. This turned into a great quiz for me: spot the poet! I actually started making a list, which I won’t bore you with except to say that it was a masterstroke to have the Flying Scotsman whizzing along to Faster than fairies, faster than witches …. I Think Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses is underrated and all children should read it because they will never forget the poems. RLS, Auden and T S Eliot in the same programme and all perfectly appropriate? Brilliant. Research afterwards failed to find a list of the poems used but I did discover that the film is on YouTube, fast becoming my favourite channel.
Later, I watched an absolute cracker: Norwegian violinist Bjarte Elke and his band Barroksoliniste playing seventeenth century British music in various candlelit venues. Traditional folk songs, drinking songs, sad laments, sea shanties and some lovely Purcell sung by a guest soprano. Brilliant musicians (several nationalities), subtle choreography and a lot of fun, including duelling fiddles. Do you ever wonder how you know The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies-O, Haul Away Joe and Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her?
I think I learned some at junior school, and slightly different versions; only to be expected with songs which have lasted centuries. They ended with Leave Her Johnny, singing it softly as they left the stage then, later, with their instruments all packed up and apparently bidding each other fond farewells, they played it again. This scene was intercut with atmospheric shots of a foggy old Thames, reminding you that it must have looked much the same in the past. I found I went to bed still singing, ‘what care I for a goose-feather bed’ to myself. Highly recommended, especially if you like folk music.
