|
Melvyn Braggs Travels in Written Britain, Sunday 10.45pm ITV1 |
|
|
|
|
Written by Telly Addict
|
|
Sunday, 06 April 2008 |
In what promises to be a fascinating Sunday evening documentary series, Melvyn Bragg travels the length and breadth of Written Britain
The first history of the country was written in the early years of the eighth century, in the monastery that used to stand at Jarrow, on the river Tyne in North-East England. Its author was a monk, the Venerable Bede.
Written Britain could be said to begin in the North of England from the mouth of the Tyne, with the journey continuing to Hadrian's Wall and across to the Lake District.
With a whole range of voices from The Venerable Bede to Basil Bunting, pitman poet Joseph Skipsey to Robert Southey, Wainwright to Wordsworth, Catherine Cookson to Samuel Taylor Coleridge; alongside ex-miners and steel workers, stone masons and a dry stone waller – the North of England is rich in writings.
The earliest surviving writings in Britain were found at the Vindolanda Dig, just to the South of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, where thousands of stone and wooden tablets made by Roman soldiers were unearthed. Dating back to the first century AD, the British Museum has declared them the most important single domestic find ever, giving an insight into the Romans' everyday life.
Contributors include: The Bishop of Durham, Robson Green, Tim Healy, Keith Barron, Hunter Davies, Chris Bonington.
|
