Single Aspect Blog

BBC/Oxford Film and Television/Lorian Reed-Drake

“I want to go beyond masonry and mortar and come face to face with residents past and present, I want to understand how they lived and how they transformed buildings into homes.”

In a remarkable programme lasting just one hour Dan Cruickshank traces the development of a Warwickshire village beginning with its entry in the Domesday Book then through 500 years of history to the present day, studying in great detail the transformation of Medieval cottage life to the home comforts we have come to know by way of the chimney stack, glass windows and separate rooms for different functions.

On Youtube here The Cottage

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I attended a showing of Estate: a Reverie by Andrea Luka Zimmerman on Wednesday evening at the Tate Modern. Following the film an interesting discussion took place among six interested parties and from a poor quality recording I have transcribed some excerpts as shown below.

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If you missed history in school as I did through unfortunate timetable choices there is a way to catch up in short order thanks to a wonderful programme broadcast overnight for schools some years ago. I’ve watched it several times over the years and never cease to wonder at how much he packs into two hours and how well he covers the subject.

English Social History – Andrew Chater – BBC2 – DEAD LINK

It’s on YouTube divided into sections, my upload is simply the whole programme in one go albeit missing a few seconds from the beginning.

If you prefer to watch it on the original website, it’s here:-

History of Britain

This post is redundant and forwards to a new article.

Please be aware this article is out of date and has been superseded by these three:-

Dan Cruickshank: At Home With The British – Pt3 – BBC4 – preview

Dan Cruickshank: At Home With The British – Pt2 – BBC4 – preview

Dan Cruickshank: At Home With The British – Pt1 – BBC4 – preview

RIBA Exhibition – click link for details

If you choose to read on be aware what follows is information I found while trying to find out about the programme before it was broadcast.

UPDATE 2nd May: Stoneleigh

At the beginning of August it began to unfold: the BBC was interested in using Stoneleigh as the basis for a programme on domestic architecture. A series called Home from Home [At Home with the British], presented by Dan Cruickshank and made in collaboration with [the] RIBA, will be aired on BBC 4 in the New Year and charts the architectural development and social history of three typical British house types – the cottage, the terraced house and the flat.

Over the past eight weeks the director, presenter and researcher have made many visits to Stoneleigh finding out about the village’s history and its past connection to the Abbey. Very many houses have been visited and as this goes to press filming will begin at the Food Beer and Craft Market, at the Club and at the Abbey itself. It already seems that everyone you bump into has chatted to them at some point! It will be interesting to see how the project progresses; watch this space!

http://www.stoneleighvillage.org.uk

Stoneleigh is a Warwickshire village close to Kenilworth, Leamington Spa and Warwick and less than 4 miles from the centre of Coventry.There are 68 listed buildings in Stoneleigh.

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Click image for film

Last night ITV devoted their programme to the London housing crisis in the course of which they visited Cressingham Gardens Estate. That clip is linked above and the 30m programme from the link below.

Last year I was uploading all sorts of stuff I thought might interest those of you who pass by this blog. Now today in the course of finding stills to illustrate a couple of things I find that BBC Worldwide has put all sorts of stuff on Youtube including the Dreamspaces.

Here’s the channel link https://www.youtube.com/user/BBCWorldwide as usual no doubt I’m way behind the curve and this is common knowledge but clearly that’s a link worth exploring.

Heard through @gamecounsel

“We plutocrats need to get this trickle down economics thing behind us, this idea that the better we do, the better everyone else will do. It’s not true. How could it be? I earn 1000 times the median wage. But I do not buy a 1000 times as much stuff do I? […] Can we please stop insisting that low wage workers earn a little bit more, unemployment will skyrocket and the economy will collapse. There is no evidence for it.”

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Click image above for film

In part three of Regeneration Game, host Daisy-May Hudson sets out to discover what happens to council estates once they’re demolished. Out of 1,200 homes on South London’s Heygate Estate, only 75 council homes remain. We go to City Hall to meet the Head of the London Assembly, Darren Johnson, who says that the demolition of the Heygate was the worst social housing disaster of recent times. We also head to court, to hear the verdict of the E15 mothers’ eviction.

Click image above for film

For the first time, the international property trade show MIPIM comes to London. Host Daisy-May Hudson dresses up to meet those planning the city’s regeneration. At the trade show, Mayor Boris Johnson gives a speech lauding the increase in London property prices and welcoming foreign investment.

Afterwards, Daisy receives an email from another resident struggle in Barnet, North London – where people’s homes are being knocked down to be replaced by a Barretts development – and finds out first-hand what it feels like to be living every day with the prospect of your community being demolished.