Entertainment For Lively Minds
All this talk of Civilisation - now you can watch it
Posted by Nick Duvet on 9 February 2011 - 10:41am.
In HD no less. The original series, narrated by Kenneth Clark was, along with The Ascent Of Man, one of the landmark series commissioned by David Attenborough in the 1970s.
It's showing at 10pm tonight on the BBC.
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Whenever I'm feeling royally pissed off with...
my fellow human beings - which is most of the time, come to think of it - I immerse myself in Civilisation to remind myself that man is capable of more than blabbing away on expensive phones, vomiting on a Friday night and idolizing glamour models. It is a masterpiece; a televisual repository of beautiful and meaningful things that reminds me of the vaulting creativity that lies within us.
This will be
recorded as my video copies can no longer be played!
Fantastic!
I've been meaning to get this on DVD for years so I can give it a proper watch for the first time since it was originally broadcast.
It is one of the crowning glories of television.
I. Cannot. Wait.
Civilising influences - after the Cosmos, where next?
Partly as a result of recommendations on this blog, I recently bought a big bumper fun pack of classic TV docs: Civilisation, The Ascent of Man and Cosmos. (I already had all the Attenboroughs).
I'm currently half way through Civilisation and enjoying it thoroughly.
Once I've got through the whole lot of these three docs, in about 2019, what major series should I buy next? My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding just doesn't cut it.
I was faced with exactly the same quandary a while back...
and then I discovered The Christians, a series made in 1977 by Bamber Gasgoigne. It is superb; beautifully filmed and very well written and presented. The subject is so fascinating that one's own standpoint on religion doesn't really come into it.
Another classic is Alistair Cooke's America.
I'd also recommend the book
America, by Alistair Cooke.
Written to accompany the series its a fine piece of narrative all of its own.
Thanks, Patrick and Beezer.
I'll try both Alistair and Bamber.
I'm too young to remember these series from the first time around, but I'm fond of both presenters, mainly for the following reason:
Alistair Cooke = Sunday breakfast.
Bamber Gascoigne = Sunday lunch.
They both make me hungry.
good call
It is a great read. It's sitting on my coffee table right now.
Schama
I'm about to wade into Simon Schama's History of Britain, which came highly recommended.
Schama chameleon
Yes, loved "A History of Britain" - and also loved his art series, "The Power of Art".
The art series I'm looking forward to being released on DVD...
is Robert Hughes' The Shock of the New. Unfortunately I have a feeling that copyright issues may mean it will never see the light of day.
It looked excellent in HD-
I'd like to see Connections remastered thus. And The Day The Universe Changed.
Wouldn't mind seeing The Ascent of Man looking all nice and shiny either.