Westminster Abbey

 THE LADY CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY

I'm plugging another mini-series which starts this evening on BBC2 and BBC HD at 9pm; and I am not receiving a penny for it, either.

Westminster Abbey. Or, to accord the venerable place its full name, The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a royal peculiar, viz. it comes under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign.

The programme features interviews with members of the 250 staff who oversee the Abbey’s spiritual mission, to ensure the upkeep of a World Heritage site and coordinate 1,500 services a year.

These services range from regular daily worship to high-profile events like royal weddings, revealing the Abbey’s iconic role at the heart of national life.

The Lady Chapel, top, contains the banners and stalls of the knights grand cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

The first programme features the Dean, The Very Rev Dr John Hall, who describes its thousand-year history, its intimate relationship with the monarchy, and its status as a Royal Peculiar - and offers an insight into its spiritual life.

The programme follows the architect Ptolemy Dean as he is installed as the latest Surveyor of the Fabric, treading in the footsteps of Sir Christopher Wren.

We gain an insight into the often unusual daily life of the 30 boy choristers who attend the Abbey's choir school, as they rehearse and perform in moving musical events.

Glorious Goodwood

One programme I am determined to view this evening is a documentary about Charles, Earl of March and Kinrara, and the challenges he faces in the maintenance of his ancestral seat, Goodwood House, near Chichester, West Sussex.

The Aristocrats is on Channel 4 this evening at 9pm.

Lord March is heir to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.

Charles, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Duke of Aubigny (1672-1723) was the natural son of CHARLES II and his mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth.

The trouble is that it clashes with two other programmes I've been watching, Goodnight Britain and Great Continental Railway Journeys, which I shall have to record simultaneously.

Noblesse Oblige

A new documentary series begins this evening at 9pm on Channel 4.

The Aristocrats tonight features His Grace the 11th Duke of Marlborough, JP, DL, at his palatial Oxfordshire seat, Blenheim Palace.

At 200,000 square feet, the house is the largest in the British Isles. For 300 years it has been home to the Spencer-Churchills, since John Churchill was given its keys after his victory over the French in 1704.

The documentary provides an exclusive insight into one of the most infamous - and historically one of the bitterest - father-and-son relationships.

This film follows a story of reconciliation and redemption.

Sunny Marlborough, a former Guards officer, is 86 years old, courteous and fastidious.

His 56-year-old son Jamie, a courtesy lord, is styled Marquess of Blandford; or less formally, Jamie Blandford.

Jamie's excessive lifestyle and battles with drug addiction have been widely covered British media for most of his life.

This is the first time Jamie Blandford has appeared in a documentary. At stake is the inheritance of the biggest palace in the British Isles, Blenheim.

The Duke has dedicated his life to maintaining and safeguarding it.

Bigger than Buckingham and Windsor, with 187 rooms, the palace was given to the Marlboroughs as a gift from a grateful nation after the 1st Duke fought the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

But after the Duke fell out with Queen Anne, he was saddled with paying for the rest of the construction, and the family joke that they have been fighting the 'Battle of Blenheim' ever since.

His Grace's solution was to open it up to mass tourism, and every year Blenheim receives 500,000 visitors.

Worried about the potential repercussions for Blenheim of his son's addiction, the Duke went to court in 1994 to disinherit his son: the first time an aristocrat had done so for 100 years.

Lord Blandford contested the case and eventually the two men reached a compromise: when his father died Jamie would inherit the title and the right to live in the palace, but a group of trustees would control the place and decide how much influence any Duke has.

NOW CLEAN, and reconciled with his father, Jamie, eventually to inherit the titles as 12th Duke of Marlborough (the title is customarily pronounced "Mawl-bro"), is back living on the estate, hoping to prove to Sunny and the all-powerful trustees that he is fit and able to take on the 'Battle of Blenheim'.

The cameras are there during the peak tourist season, often thwarted with bad weather, and in the run-up to the completion of a £2 million new block at the palace, opened by the constituency MP, the Rt Hon David Cameron.

Jamie Blandford speaks openly about the regrets about his past, feeling daunted but ambitious about running this incredible and grandiose estate. But will his father entrust him with his life's work and the Marlborough legacy?

Classic Car Rescue

Earlier this week I watched a programme on Channel 5, which I thought sounded interesting, called Classic Car Rescue.

I was right; it was marvellous. You do not even have to be a classic car enthusiast to enjoy it.

Bernie Fineman and Mario Pacione try to restore a vintage MGB GT, a sports car whose high performance, elegant design and low price made it highly popular with the British motoring public.

However, the model they set to work on is rapidly falling apart, leaving them with little time to bring it back to its former glory.

The two presenters are as alike as chalk and cheese. The follicly challenged one, Bernie, has a fierce temper.

I enjoyed this programme immensely and found parts of it amusing.

It is repeated on Thursday, 11th October, at 7pm on Channel 5.

Do not miss it!

Show of the Week

This excellent series on BBC Two and the BBC HD channel, presented by the admirable Dan Cruikshank, features Clandeboye in County Down this week. It is shown at 9pm on Tuesday (except NI (analogue); Wales (analogue)).

I have written about Clandeboye.

The Most Honourable Sheridan Frederick Terence Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood was the 5th and last Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. The Marquessate became extinct in 1988 on his death.

The late Lord Dufferin's widow Lindy, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, has been châtelaine of Clandeboye since 1988.

There are few other houses in Britain like Clandeboye - a monument to a man (1st Marquess) whose life was like a Victorian fairy tale of adventure, and a monument to the golden age of the largest and most far flung empire the world has ever seen.

Clandeboye House and estate was, like the empire itself, an epic creation - but unlike the empire, it still endures, a vignette of a now almost forgotten age and surprisingly little altered since the 1st Marquess died in 1902.

The house is overflowing with relics from the empire and Dufferin's aristocratic adventures - stuffed baby bears, Egyptian monuments, tiger skins and weaponry from India, Canada and Burma to mention just a few, with extraordinary photographic albums that document the collecting of these unique 'souvenirs'.

Clandeboye is a genuine treasure trove and remains one of Northern Ireland's greatest private homes.

Show of the Week

This evening at eight-thirty on BBC Four a new series, Petworth House: The Big Spring Clean begins. Andrew Graham-Dixon goes behind the scenes at one of our most beautiful stately homes, spending a winter working with the National Trust's conservation team at Petworth House in West Sussex.

Graham-Dixon joins the expert conservation team as they commence the epic task of 'putting the house to bed' for the winter. He gets up close and personal with a Turner painting; does the dishes the National Trust way; vacuums one of the UK's rarest rugs; and learns the secrets of a book which pre-dates the invention of printing.

Though now owned by the National Trust, for the past 250 years the house and the estate have been in the hands of the Wyndham family — currently 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont (born 1948), generally known simply as Max Egremont, a direct descendant of Sir John Wyndham. He and his family live in the south wing, allowing much of the remainder to be open to the public.

Incidentally, the Barons Leconfield were the largest landowners in County Clare, Ireland, in Victorian times.

Show of the Week

I recorded Country House Rescue on Sunday and viewed it last night. This is a programme I invariably look forward to. I like Ruth Watson, the presenter: She is cheerful, very positive, proactive, firm and forthright.

In fact I ceased watching The Hotel Inspector when Ruth Watson left.

Country House Rescue is an observational documentary series; and in each episode Ruth Watson visits a struggling country house and tries to turn its fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owners.

I viewed the Kentchurch Court episode last night.

Ruth Watson and her husband live in a 16th century farmhouse 20 minutes away from the Crown and Castle Hotel, which has a 120-acre organic farm harvesting some produce for the Crown and Castle.

Show of the Week

I've been recording an agreeable little series, on BBC Two at six thirty this week, called Royal Upstairs Downstairs.

The Victorian aristocracy certainly knew how to "pull out all the stops" for royal guests in those days.

Such stately piles as Chatsworth, Belvoir Castle, Castle Howard, Warwick Castle and Hatfield House have featured.

Show of the Week

I've been recording the 1969 documentary series, Civilisation, by the late Kenneth Clark (the Rt Hon the Lord Clark OM CH KCB).

Needless to say, Lord Clark was illustriously decorated:

• Member of the Order of Merit
• Companion of Honour
• Knight Commander of the Civil Division of Most Honourable Order of the Bath

Kenneth Clark's landmark series tracing the development of civilisation is being shown in high definition for the first time on the BBC HD Channel.

The acclaimed thirteen-part series was first shown on BBC Two in 1969 and swiftly became one of the most important arts series of its time.

Civilisation is being shown weekly on BBC HD, Wednesdays at 10pm.

Kenneth, Lord Clark, was a remarkable character, having been appointed Director of London's National Gallery at 30 years of age.

Clark's elder son, the Rt Hon Alan Clark, became a prominent Conservative MP, a writer-historian and celebrated diarist; and I have to say, as I have stated on previous occasions, I hold a sneaking admiration for him despite his flaws and perceived caddishness. I certainly share some of his sentiments with regard to politics.

I have Alan Clark's collection of Diaries and a terrific book about motoring (from Clark's perspective) and his collection of classic cars entitled Back Fire, which I thoroughly recommend.

Show of the Week

This is my Programme of the Week: One Man And His Campervan. I've been recording it because I'm usually swimming at the time that it's broadcast.

It is broadcast on BBC Two at six thirty on most evenings. Over one glorious summer, the camper-van lover and passionate "foodie", Martin Dorey, journeys around Great Britain on the ultimate escapist adventure - celebrating the freedom of camper van living.

Travelling to ten very different regions, in each self-contained episode we see Martin immerse himself in the idyllic places camper van living allows him to reach, befriending the locals and cooking some great local food along the way.

The journey will take Martin to some truly stunning settings on beaches, in woodlands and on cliff tops, taking in regions including the north-east of Scotland, the Lake District, Yorkshire, Devon, Norfolk and more.

I find this little programme cheerful and diverting.