SEVEN AGES OF BRITAIN
Written and presented by David Dimbleby
Sunday 31st January 9pm
Programme 1: Age of Conquest (AD 43 – 1066).
For a thousand years, from Emperor Claudius to William the Conqueror, the
British Isles were defined by invasion, each successive wave bringing something
new to the mix. The Romans brought figurative art, the Anglo-Saxons epic
poetry, the Normans monumental architecture. David Dimbleby travels
throughout Britain and beyond – to France, Italy and Turkey - in search of the
greatest creations of the age.
Includes : Bronze bust of Hadrian (British Museum); Fragment of triumphal arch
commemorating Claudius’ conquest of Britain (Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome);
Roman coin of Britannia (Pantheon, Rome); Frieze of Britannia under the heel of
Emperor Claudius (Aphrodisias, Turkey); Roman gold brooch (Dolaucothi Gold
Mine, Wales); Oceanus Dish (British Museum); Roman mosaic work (Bignor
Roman Villa); Beowulf; Sutton Hoo treasure (Sutton Hoo & British Museum);
Celtic Cross (Iona); Jarrow Monastery; Codex Amiatinus (Laurentian Library,
Florence); Alfred Jewel (Ashmolean Museum); Alfred’s translation of Pastoral
Care (Bodleian Library); Caen Castle and the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (Normandy);
Bayeux Tapestry (Normandy); the Tower of London
Programme 2: Age of Worship (1170-1400).
In the Middle Ages, Britain was caught in a power struggle between the Crown
and the Church. The two were reconciled in the code of chivalry which ordered
devotion to one’s king as well as God: a story revealed in the fabulous objects
left in Britain’s cathedrals and castles, or safeguarded in museums. Dimbleby
also re-assesses the reign of Richard II, arguing that under his rule England
experienced a superb cultural renaissance, and travels to Munich in search of
Britain’s only preserved medieval crown.
Includes: MappA Mundi (Hereford Cathedral); Thomas Becket pilgrim badges
(Museum of London); Becket Miracle Windows (Canterbury Cathedral); the
Coventry Doom (Holy Trinity, Coventry); the Bury Bible (Parker Library,
Cambridge); Arthur’s Round Table (Winchester Great Hall); effigies of Templar
Knights (Temple Church); Eleanor Cross (Geddington); Edward III sword
(Windsor Castle); Garter stall plates (St George’s Chapel, Windsor); tomb of
Black Prince (Canterbury Cathedral); Anne of Bohemia’s Crown (the
Schatzkammer, Munich); Westminster Hall; Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales;
frontispiece of Chaucer’s Troilus and Cressida (Parker Library, Cambridge); the
Wilton Diptych (National Gallery).
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Programme 3: Age of Power (1509-1609).
The 100 years from the accession of Henry VIII to the first performance of
Shakespeare’s Henry VIII saw the creation of an enduring myth: England as
God’s chosen nation. It was led from the top by the Tudors and the artists they
brought to their court. First, Henry VIII, who as patron of Torrigiano and Holbein,
but also instigator of the Reformation, was a force of creativity and destruction.
Then Elizabeth I, who inspired an art of devotion and in whose name explorers
set off to the far corners of the Earth.
INCLUDES: Drake’s Drum (Buckland Abbey); Torrigiano’s tomb for Henry VII
(Westminster Abbey); painting of Field of Cloth of Gold (Hampton Court)
Anthony Roll (Pepys Library, Cambridge); the wreck of the Mary Rose
(Portsmouth Royal Dockyard); Tudor coat-of-arms (St Mary’s, Norfolk); Henry’s
Great Bible (Lambeth Palace); Holbein’s Ambassadors (National Gallery); copy of
Holbein’s Henry VIII (Trinity College, Cambridge); Henry VIII armour (Tower of
London); Rainbow portrait of Elizabeth (Hatfield House); Hilliard miniatures (the
V&A); John White’s New World sketches; Molyneux Globes (Middle Temple); the
Cheapside Hoard (Museum of London); Armada Portrait; Shakespeare’s History
Plays (the Globe Theatre)
Programme 4: Age of Revolution (1603-1708).
In the 17th century, the people of Britain learnt to question everything. The result
was Civil War, in which everyone, including artists, had to take sides. But out of
it came a re-invented monarchy, a scientific revolution and, ultimately , the great
Cathedral of St Paul’s. Highlights include the courtly portraits of Rubens, Van
Dyck and Peter Lely, and the fabulous creations of the Royal Society.
INCLUDES: Charles I’s execution shirt and painting of Charles with his head sewn
back on (Museum of London); Rubens’ Apotheosis of James I (Banqueting
House); Van Dyck portraits (Tate Britain); Puritan tracts; Civil War reenactment; Verney family tomb (Claydon House); Thomason Collection (British
Library); portraits of Cromwell (National Portrait Gallery); Grinling Gibbons’
golden statue of Charles I (Royal Hospital Chelsea); Peter Lely’s Windsor
Beauties (Hampton Court); Royal Observatory (Greenwich); Hooke’s microscope
and Micrographia (Science Museum); Wren’s plan for London; St Paul’s cathedral
Programme 5: Age of Money (1700-1805).
In the 18th century, the triumph of commerce led to the emergence of a new
‘middle’ class: a group of people who craved pleasure and novelty, and
developed its own tastes in art. The result was a Golden Age in painting with
Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough re-inventing the British style. The story
ends in 1805 with the burial of Horatio Nelson, a commoner, at the heart of St
Paul’s: the supremacy of the middle class assured.
INCLUDES: 18th century bank notes (Bank of England); portraits by Reynolds and
Gainsborough (Kenwood House); Wedgwood pottery (Wedgwood Museum,
Stoke-on-Trent); Chippendale furniture (Nostell Priory, Yorkshire); Dr Johnson’s
Dictionary (Johnson’s House, Lichfield); Edinburgh New Town; Dr Hunter
anatomical models and sketches (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow); Hogarth’s
Rake’s Progress (Soane Museum, London); The Royal Academy; de
Loutherbourg’s Eidophusikon and Gainsborough’s Show Box (V&A); James Gillray
satirical prints (British Museum); Nelson’s Tomb (St Paul’s Cathedral)
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Programme 6: Age of Empire (1770-1911)
From the mid-18th to 20th centuries, Britain grew from a small country to the
largest empire the world has ever seen. David travels across the globe and finds,
in objects and artworks produced under the British flag, the story of a growing
shift in imperial attitudes: from the exploring spirit of Captain Cook and William
Penn, to the self-aggrandising majesty of India’s governors; to the tyrannical and
cold-blooded land-grabbing of Victoria’s African campaigns. David ends with the
Victoria Monument outside Buckingham Palace – a fitting mausoleum to the
Imperial experiment.
Includes: Spiridone Roma’s ‘Britannia Receiving the Riches of the East’ (Foreign
Office, Whitehall); George IV jigsaw puzzle of the world (Kew Palace); Thomas
Hodges paintings of Cook’s Voyages (Queen’s House, Greenwich); Philadelphia
Old Town; Benjamin West’s ‘William Penn’s Treaty With The Indians’
(Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts); Liberty Bell (Independence Hall,
Philadelphia); Tipu’s Tiger (V&A); Government House (Calcutta); Howrah Station
(Calcutta); Indian frescoes of British (Mandawa, Rajasthan); ‘ABC for Baby
Patriots’; Charterhouse school; Henry Newbolt’s Vitae Lampada; Gordon’s Last
Stand by GW Joy; Gordon relics (Royal Engineers, Kent); Maxim Gun; Richard
Caton Woodville paintings; Benin Bronzes and Yoruba Carving of Victoria (British
Museum); Victoria Monument (Buckingham Palace)
Programme 7: Age of Ambition (1914-NOW).
The 20th century saw ordinary Britons upturning ancient power structures and
class hierarchies. The catalyst was the First World War, which embroiled the
whole nation and called traditional values into question. The result was an evergrowing ‘democratization’ of culture, with art coming off gallery walls, becoming
an instrument of self-expression at the service of the individual. Dimbleby looks
at some of the great masterworks of modern British art, but also champions
lesser appreciated art forms like broadcasting and domestic design.
Includes: war paintings of Paul Nash and Christopher Nevinson (Imperial War
Museum), the Austin 7 car; Broadcasting House; 1920s radios (Science
Museum); Mass Observation pictures (Bolton Museum); Henry Moore
Underground sketches (Aldwych Station); Barbara Hepworth surgery sketches;
Francis Bacon’s Crucifixion 1944 (Tate Gallery); Anish Kapoor; Gilbert & George;
Tracey Emin; Damien Hirst
The Seven Ages of Britain (7 x 1 hours), is produced by BBC Vision Productions
and in partnership with The Open University.
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