A TV pot-boiler
After stringing us along they concluded that just one of the skeletons MAY have been of North African origin. Why that was so staggeringly important I don't know. The narrator was telling us that it was assumed the population in Tudor times was one hundred percent white. Much other evidence from other documentaries has informed me over the years that we were trading goods with countries from far afield before the Romans came so it would be almost certain some had stayed around and settled. Now we were told that on the evidence of this one skeleton they were surprised to deduce that the Tudor population may have included black people.
The programme was even more irritating for having that pointless resumé after each set of adverts. Why do we, who have made the serious commitment to watch this programme, have to suffer the mollycoddling of some idle channel hoppers who decide on a whim to come in part way through and be spoon fed like spoilt brats?
Having assumed on some dubious evidence that their single skeleton may have been the ship's carpenter they dredged up a name and set on a professional genealogist to try and trace living relatives down seventeen generations. After the male line ran out she continued down the female line and eventually doubtfully identified two hapless present day sisters and dragged them off to Portsmouth without telling them why on a surprise trip to show them all at the Marie Rose museum.
The final reveal with the blanket being withdrawn from the reconstructed head based on DNA evidence looked only vaguely African and then further debunked by having the wrong coloured hair, thereby dashing the fervent hopes of the presenter of seeing a totally black African. It was lamely admitted that this person was probably descended from African roots some generations back. I'm still not sure what conclusion this programme thought it had arrived at.
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Katie update
After months of Lockdown and only brief encounters with daughter and granddaughter we had an outing together on Sunday and that was most pleasurable.
A few posts back BC hauled me over for missing out on visiting the trig on the little hill above Heversham so we put that right. The view of the Kent estuary from there is one of the three best views I have nominated within my domain.
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| Daughter Jill found this. No beetles were harmed... |
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| One of the three best views in my territory - the Kent estuary - distant Humphrey Head |
Une bonne expédition pour la famille Robinson.
ReplyDeleteBC - J'avais une peu de peur avec le scarabée.
ReplyDeleteWas the documentary on Channel 5? I long ago gave up watching things that caught my eye on that channel for the very things you recounted: the quantity of repetition after every ad break, and an hour of veiwing to convey five minutes' worth of information.
ReplyDeleteGayle - responses in mixed order to your recent multi-comments.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary was on Channel 4. I have seen so many similar second rate efforts and should have known better, but it just caught my eye and I was drawn in.
I had similar thoughts about the milestone but you crystallised them nicely for me. I think archaeologists often get carried away making outrageous speculation from tiny, insignificant shreds of evidence.
The new interface - I have now mastered it as far as my particular requirements are concerned. The only gripes I have about Blogger is their sometimes breakdown of function. As far as posting and uploading photos from my computer is concerned I have no problem. Unfortunately when I post from my iPad when on the hoof the photos disappear after, I think a month or two, just leaving an outline box displaying a sort of sarcastic question mark in a little blue box in the centre. I don't know if there is any way of recovering them.
The seat - I think I am now more agile than I was when I bought it and my legs are more flexible - I found it difficult to rise after sitting. The folding technique I never mastered, rather just fiddled until it all happened on its own. I might now give it another try after your prompting.
Share your irritation about the TV programmes. I think many are now geared towards young adults who watch TV while simultaneously playing/chatting/reading on their phones. This means they don’t actually hear anything unless it is repeated 3 times!
ReplyDeleteKatie is really growing up! How lovely you get to spend some time with her now. These years flash past, don’t they.
Ruth - it seems there is less and less to watch on scheduled TV. Every now snd then the BBC excel themselves but that is not frequent enough. I will have to start paying the licence fee again next month and whilst I realise that is the way forward for investment in new snd worthwhile programmes I will hardly be getting value for money.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Conrad about the lack of appealing material on scheduled TV. In fact, in January I filled in a form to cancel our licence. I got as far as putting the form in an envelope and finding a post box. Unfortunately, that post box was at the last service station before Folkestone on our way to Spain and it was only at that point that I realised that I didn't have any stamps.
ReplyDeleteGiven the timing and circumstances of our return home, I was happy to still have the licence just for the few programmes we do watch, but I really wish the BBC would go to a month-by-month subscription service.