Spirit of the Age (1975 TV series)

Last updated

Spirit of the Age
Theme music composerSir Arthur Bliss
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producer John Drummond
Running time50 min
Original release
Network BBC 2
Release31 October (1975-10-31) –
19 December 1975 (1975-12-19)

Spirit of the Age is a 1975 documentary series of "Eight films on eight centuries of British Architecture". It was broadcast on BBC 2 between 31 October 1975 and 19 December 1975 as the BBC's contribution to the Council of Europe's European Architectural Heritage Year. [1]

Each episode examined a different era of British architecture was presented by an expert in his field. It was series produced by the arts specialist John Drummond. [2] Its title music was a specially-composed fanfare by the Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Arthur Bliss. [1]

A book of the same name was published to accompany the television series by BBC Books in 1975, later reprinted in 1992. [3] The series was repeated in May 1976, when a studio discussion "In Search of the Spirit of the Age" featuring Alec Clifton-Taylor and John Julius Norwich was broadcast to introduce the series. [4] The first episode, presented by Alec Clifton-Taylor, was his first television presenting experience, but led to Six English Towns which ran for three series from 1978. [5]

List of episodes

Episode No.Episode TitleUK Broadcast DateDescription
1"The Medieval World"31 October 1975 Alec Clifton-Taylor surveys the surviving medieval buildings of England, from timber-framed cottages, parish churches and moated farms to the great castles and cathedrals, with a special focus on Lincoln Cathedral, which he considered the finest. [6]
2"A New Heaven, a New Earth"7 November 1975 Roy Strong explores how new palaces built following the English Reformation gave English vernacular architecture a strong influence from the Italian Renaissance. [7]
3"The Cult of Grandeur"14 November 1975 Robert Furneaux Jordan examines how three of England's most famous architects - Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor - brought about their English Baroque masterpieces after the Restoration of Charles II. [8]
4"A Sense of Proportion"21 November 1975 John Julius Norwich considers the restraint and proportion of Palladian architecture of the 18th century. [9]
5"Landscape with Buildings"28 November 1975Sir John Summerson looks at the architectural era of the Adam brothers and John Nash, and how new ideas of the Romantic poets and painters saw a new relationship between landscapes and buildings. [10]
6"All That Money Could Buy"5 December 1975 Mark Girouard examines how the prosperity of the Industrial Revolution and advent of the railways brought the Victorians an exuberance of both materials and style, with a special focus on Sir George Gilbert Scott's Gothic Revival masterpiece, the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras railway station. [11]
7"A Full Life and an Honest Place"12 December 1975 Patrick Nuttgens investigates how William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement brought about societal change with the Garden city movement and a renewed focus on craftsmanship in buildings such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art. [12]
8"Dreams and Awakenings"19 December 1975Sir Hugh Casson reviews 20th-century architecture, from 1920s social experiments through to the Brutalist works of the 1960s. [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Waltons</i> American 1972–1981 television series

The Waltons is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book Spencer's Mountain and the 1963 film of the same name. The series aired from 1972 to 1981.

Hello Cheeky is a comedy series starring Barry Cryer, John Junkin and Tim Brooke-Taylor, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979, and also broadcast on television - on the ITV network - in 1976. The format was short comedy sketches, often as short as one line, with occasional longer sketches.

<i>Play for Today</i> British television anthology series

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including Rumpole of the Bailey, subsequently became television series in their own right.

<i>A Question of Sport</i> British television sports quiz show (1970–2023)

A Question of Sport is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It was the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December 1968, broadcast only in the north of England, the series ran from 1970 until production ceased in 2023. The final presenter was Paddy McGuinness, with team captains Sam Quek and Ugo Monye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Institution Christmas Lectures</span> Annual UK Christmas scientific lecture series aimed at children, started 1825

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner. Michael Faraday conceived and initiated the Christmas Lecture series in 1825, at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. Many of the Christmas Lectures were published.

Emu is a British television puppet, modelled on the Australian flightless emu bird and operated by the performer Rod Hull. After appearing on a number of variety shows, he was given his own television series on the BBC, then on ITV.

John Robert Furneaux JordanARIBA was an English architect, architectural critic and novelist. He worked as an architect from 1928 to 1961, after which he became an academic, broadcaster and lecturer, writing many books on architecture.

Alec Clifton-Taylor was an English architectural historian, writer and TV broadcaster.

This is a list of British television-related events from 1996.

This is a list of British television related events from 1992.

This is a list of British television related events from 1990.

This is a list of British television related events from 1988.

This is a list of British television related events from 1987.

This is a list of British television related events from 1985.

This is a list of British television related events from 1981.

This is a list of British television related events from 1979.

This is a list of British television related events from 1978.

This is a list of British television related events from 1975.

<i>What Ho! Jeeves</i> BBC radio drama series, 1973–1981

What Ho! Jeeves is a series of radio dramas based on some of the Jeeves short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse, starring Michael Hordern as the titular Jeeves and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster.

<i>Six English Towns</i> TV series or program

Six English Towns (1978), Six More English Towns (1981) and Another Six English Towns (1984) are three television documentary series presented by architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor for BBC Two. In the series, Clifton-Taylor visits an English town and discusses their history and architectural character, with a particular focus on the building materials.

References

  1. 1 2 "Spirit of the Age". BBC Genome. 20 May 1976. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  2. ↑ "Obituary, Sir John Drummond". Daily Telegraph . 9 September 2006.
  3. ↑ Spirit of the Age. BBC Books. 1992. ISBN   978-0563363200.
  4. ↑ "In Search of the Spirit of the Age". BBC Genome. 25 May 1976. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Six English Towns". Archive TV Musings. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Medieval World". BBC Genome. 31 October 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  7. ↑ "A New Heaven, a New Earth". BBC Genome. 7 November 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "The Cult of Grandeur". BBC Genome. 14 November 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "A Sense of Proportion". BBC Genome. 21 November 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  10. ↑ "Landscape with Buildings". BBC Genome. 28 November 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "All That Money Could Buy". BBC Genome. 5 December 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  12. ↑ "A Full Life and an Honest Place". BBC Genome. 12 December 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Dreams and Awakenings". BBC Genome. 19 December 1975. Retrieved 9 August 2020.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.