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News Briefs 05-02-2013

Looking forward to Will Storr’s The Heretics (pre-order from Amazon UK). Promises to stir up trouble in every direction…

Quote of the Day:

To course across more kindly waters now, my talent’s little vessel lifts her sails, leaving behind herself a sea so cruel

Dante

Editor
  1. Richard III excavation film on Channel Four (UK)
    Here in the UK, Channel 4 made a documentary on the excavation of the car park and the discovery of the skeleton. From the start it was clear that this programme was not going to be in the vein of Channel 4’s show, Time Team, and so I had high hopes for it. But the reality was quite different.

    It started off with the mechanical digger destroying the lower leg bones of what turned out to be Richard III’s skeleton. A short while later we see the archaeologist admitting to busting a hole in the same skeleton’s skull with a mattock whilst trying to remove surrounding earth.

    As for showing the context of the skeleton’s grave, this was reduced to less than 30 seconds in a 90 minute show. The skeleton was not ‘cleaned’ very well before being removed and any other information gleaned from the dig was omitted. The background to the dig was sparse and failed to show how it progressed from an idea to the actual dig – and the impression gained from watching was that it was a little half-hearted on the dig team side. They seemed to be working with the attitude that they would find nothing, and wanted to say ‘I told you so’. It was only when the skeleton’s curved spine was found that their attitude began to change.

    All I can say is, comeback Tony Robinson and the Time Team guys, at least you have a passion for the job and can convey this to the audience!

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