Valete: This Week

For those of you who happen to be of a certain vintage, Sir Robin Day was the BBC's Questiontime, the original and best chairman.

My enthusiasm for the show dissipated thereafter.

I hear that the BBC is "pulling the plug" on its current affairs programme, This Week, at the end of its present series.

The broadcaster and journalist, Andrew Neil, has been presenting This Week since its inception in 2003.

I never tire of enjoying his customary Dixon-Of-Dock-Green Evenin' All when it starts.

My conversion to This Week has been quite recent, though I have seldom missed a show in over a year.

Given its very late slot at eleven forty-five, I tend to watch on my iPad in bed.

Messrs Johnson & Portillo

This Week has been blessed with a Dream Team of Andrew Neil, two former cabinet ministers, viz. Michael "Choo-choo" Portillo and Alan Johnson, and guests.

Even Mr Neil's golden retriever, Miss Molly, has featured occasionally.

All good things must come to an end, eventually, I suppose.

Glyndebourne Opera

The intention had been to view Tropic of Cancer on BBC2 last night; followed by Antiques Roadshow.

However, I switched channels, to BBC4, and began watching a documentary called Glyndebourne: The Untold History.

How glad I am that I saw this wonderful programme. It was utterly fascinating.

They are celebrating their 80th anniversary this year, 2014.

John Christie CH MC, a remarkable character, was, of course, the founder and driving force behind Glyndebourne's opera.

His grandfather was William Langham Christie (a distant cousin of the Langham Baronets).

The Christies are still seated at Glyndebourne (near Lewes, East Sussex) today, and of course that excellent opera festival flourishes.

Northern Ireland used to have a country house opera season for three weeks in June, for almost thirty years, Castleward Opera.

It did have plenty of individual support and I was very fond of it.

A few years ago, funding for Castleward Opera was withdrawn by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

It's just a shame that they didn't have more private or philanthropic sponsorship.

I have no idea whether Glyndebourne Opera receives support from the Arts Council of England; perhaps they don't need it.

There's been a void in Northern Ireland since Castleward opera ceased, however.

Jamaica Inn

How remarkable. I thoroughly enjoyed the BBC's first episode of Jamaica Inn last night.

Within five or ten minutes, I found it difficult to pick up parts of the speech.

This necessitated turning on subtitles.

I wondered whether it was just me, or if I ought to consider a hearing test.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that the BBC adaptation of Jamaica Inn suffered from “sound issues”, the corporation has admitted after hundreds of viewers complained they were unable to make out the mumbled dialogue.

The three-part Daphne du Maurier drama starring Jessica Brown Findlay began on BBC One last night.

When the Lord Hall of Birkenhead, CBE, was appointed as director-general of the BBC, he singled out poor sound quality as one area he was determined to tackle:

“I don’t want to sound like a grumpy old man, but I also think muttering is something we could have a look at. Actors' muttering can be testing – you find you have missed a line. You have to remember that you have an audience."

Jamaica Inn drew an audience of 6.1 million, but the BBC’s online messageboard was filled with complaints from disgruntled viewers.

The negative reception from viewers will be a huge disappointment to the BBC, which had marked Jamaica Inn as one of 2014's flagship period dramas. 

37 Days Locations

Whilst viewing the BBC's excellent drama, 37 Days, I was almost certain that I recognized Ballywalter Park, County Down.

Having read the Ballywalter Park blog, I now know that a number of outdoor scenes were filmed here.

Incidentally, Brownlow House, in County Armagh, former seat of the Lords Lurgan, was also used as a location for 37 Days.

The girls' boarding department at Methodist College, Belfast, was also used as a setting for the Foreign Office.

Colonel Dick

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard "Dick" Strawbridge MBE, a former Army engineer-turned-environmentalist, has come a very long way since his time in the Army in 2001.

I know there are Strawbridges in County Londonderry; however Dick Strawbridge was born in Bangor, County Down.

The former army engineer knows a thing or two about incredible feats of construction, reports BBC Northern Ireland.

When he was asked about where Belfast Harbour ranks in terms of ingenuity, there was no hesitation:- 

"People talk about the efforts that went into building for the 2012 Olympics or the Channel Tunnel? Pah! They're just not on the same scale as Belfast Harbour. It really is amazing."

The feat of engineering is made clear in the documentary Belfast City: Mud, Sweat and 400 Years, made for BBC television.

Colonel Strawbridge has had a fascination with the harbour for over four decades:

"I can remember travelling up from Bangor to Belfast when I was a child. I was fascinated by the sheer size of the place and all the activity. It's been in my consciousness ever since."

Mud, Sweat and 400 Years allowed him to dive into the murky depths of time to explore why the harbour came to exist and how its success drove Belfast on to become one of the UK's most important cities.

Created after Belfast was granted a Royal Charter in 1613, the port was originally a tiny operation on the banks of the River Farset, which ran along what is now High Street.

It was dwarfed by the larger, more important harbour at Carrickfergus, County Antrim.

However, the ambitious, emerging merchant classes decided a larger port was needed, setting in motion events that brought about the huge commercial facility that endures today.

Belfast was completely ill-suited to a large harbour, Strawbridge said:

"The most amazing thing to understand is Belfast was not the right place for a port this size. It makes no sense. It's an amazing engineering achievement. Remember, too, workers dug up land everyday but the tide would fill it with water again. These guys were fighting one of the most powerful natural phenomena in the world. Imagine Belfast is still a sandy estuary today. And someone said: 'We'll build a huge port.' There would be an incredible gnashing of teeth. "People wouldn't believe it could be done and it would cost billions. But back then they said: 'Let's go and do it because we need the resources.' I just love that attitude."

The programme also allowed Strawbridge to throw himself into modern day harbour life, from clambering into the tunnels underneath Belfast's High Street to climbing the dizzying heights of Harland & Wolff's huge cranes.

However, he said his favourite moment was meeting retired dockers in Belfast's historic Sailortown area.

Strawbridge says the story of Belfast Port is a great example of remarkable determination,

"It's an encouraging, positive story. I hope the programme communicates the sheer work that went into this port. I started off in a position of some knowledge about the port and with a real interest. However, now I have added respect that has come from understanding fully what this harbour required from people. It doesn't half make you think. Along with respect, comes pride. There's a lot here for Northern Ireland to be proud of."

Belfast City: Mud, Sweat and 400 Years will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland, Monday 27 January at 22.35 GMT.

Railway Journeys: V

The Right Honourable Michael Portillo begins another new series of his Great British Railway Journeys this evening, on BBC Two, from 6.30-7pm.

I'll record the entire series and view it at my leisure.

Series Five commences with a trip from Manchester to Birkenhead.

David Butcher writes:

Wearing one of his uniquely wince-making shirt/jacket pairings, Michael Portillo settles into a standard-class seat for another trip. There’s none of the sun-kissed romance of his continental railway journeys here: this week, he’ll follow a looping circuit from Manchester to Chesterfield via Birkenhead, but his (or his producer’s) ability to find diverting detours is undimmed.

Today our guide visits a beautifully murky Victorian library where, in a gothic alcove, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels dreamt up a philosophy not close to Portillo’s heart. He also visits Old Trafford stadium where a Manchester United guide tells him, in a segment not recorded recently, “We just seem to go from strength to strength.”

1/20. New series:-

Armed with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook, Michael Portillo embarks on another journey around the country to discover how the railways have affected people and communities, and the legacy they have left behind.

He begins in Manchester, where he finds out how the world's first industrialised city produced a revolutionary political movement, and learns about the railway workers who founded one of the most successful football clubs of all time.

Along the way, the presenter does the washing in Port Sunlight - a model village on the Wirable - and hears stories about the aptly named George Francis Train's time in Birkenhead, Merseyside.

Father Brown Returns

A brand new series - the second - of Father Brown begins tomorrow, Monday, the 6th January, almost exactly one year since the first series.

The first series was excellent and I shan't miss the new series, which runs on BBC One at two-fifteen, Monday to Friday.

I've set my system to record the entire series; so I'll be able to view it at my leisure.

Lucan Week

The 7th Earl and Countess of Lucan

An ITV two-part drama entitled Lucan is to be broadcast next week. I gather that the Lucan family and, indeed, the hapless Sandra Rivett's family, have not endorsed the production.

Nevertheless, given that it is being shown next week - possibly on Wednesday, the 11th December - I will re-issue my articles on the Binghams, Earls of Lucan.

It is my firm belief that the missing 7th Earl fell on his sword on a motor-boat in the English Channel within 48 hours of the murder of his children's nanny, the unfortunate Sandra Rivett.

Personally, I remain unconvinced that the 7th Earl committed the murder himself.

A more cogent explanation might be that Lord Lucan hired a hit-man to carry out the heinous deed.

Tonight's Viewing

Timothy Belmont is at home this evening. I shall watch television, viz. Music & Monarchy, presented by Dr David Starkey CBE, on BBC2 HD.

At nine, I will switch to ITV3 and view Poirot, played of course by the inimitable David Suchet CBE.

David Suchet encapulates Hercule Poirot, as the late Jeremy Brett epitomized Sherlock Holmes. Other pretenders are negligible.

I daren't mention it to my relatives, though so-called "reality" shows and populist television in general bore me greatly.

Sorry!

ROBINSON & CLEAVER has opened as a restaurant in central Belfast, at the venerable old department store premises which bore the same name.

I wish them good fortune. Their location is propitious.

I still possess a navy blue polka dot tie, which was purchased at Robinson & Cleaver's, of Belfast and London, in the 1970s.

BBC HD

The BBC has announced it plans to launch five new high definition channels by early 2014.

There will be HD versions of BBC News, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBeebies and CBBC.

They will be available over rooftop aerials via Freeview receivers as well as satellite and cable services.

The news coincides with regulator Ofcom's announcement that is making it possible to launch a total of ten new HD channels using airwaves freed up by the switch off of analogue TV.

The Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE, Director-General of the BBC, commented:

BBC One HD and BBC Two HD have already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I'm delighted that we're able to follow this with the launch of five new subscription-free BBC HD channels by early 2014. These new channels will allow us to showcase more of our programming at its very best.

Lord Shaftesbury

The Aristocrats, on More4 this evening at 8pm, follows the Right Honourable Nicholas Edmond Anthony [Ashley-Cooper], 12th Earl of Shaftesbury, Baron Ashley, Baron Cooper, and 13th Ashley-Cooper Baronet, coming to terms with his sudden and tragic assumption of the earldom and other titles.

His father, the 10th Earl, was brutally murdered in France.

 I wrote an article about this incident three years ago.

The 8th Earl wedded Lady Harriet Chichester and thereby acquired part of the Donegall Estate and Belfast Castle. The 9th Earl was sometime Lord Mayor of Belfast, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast and Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast.

Lord Shaftesbury endeavours to rescue the family name, famed for philanthropy and acts of charity down the centuries, from bankruptcy and ruin.

This is the first documentary made with access to Lord Shaftesbury and his family.

The 12th Earl thought he was going to be a disc-jockey, and was enjoying success in New York, when his father Anthony, 10th Earl, was murdered by his Tunisian wife's brother.

Lord Shaftesbury's brother Anthony, who had become 11th Earl a month earlier, when their father's body was discovered, then died tragically of a sudden heart attack, aged just 28.

The death of his father and brother left Nick facing an appalling challenge.

The family seat at Wimborne St Giles was in such bad condition that English Heritage had placed it on their at-risk register.

The film follows the 12th Earl as he decides that he will rescue it, borrowing millions from the banks to do so.

Antiques Roadshow

The flagship BBC series Antiques Roadshow today revisits Castle Coole, a property of The National Trust near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. It is broadcast at 8pm.

Fiona Bruce and the team of experts welcome visitors as they bring their family treasures for inspection.

Pieces featured include a poignant reminder from the battlefields of World War One, a beautiful and valuable modern painting of an Irish landscape, and a collection of compacts with a jaw-dropping valuation.

A lady brings in an exquisite diamond brooch with a fascinating story attached; there’s a clever novelty Victorian bracelet and a pair of earrings that sends the expert into raptures.

Elsewhere, there’s a poignant First World War battlefield cross accompanied by a sad tale from the Somme, and two lovely Irish paintings.

A collector with a passion for ladies’ powder compacts brings in just a fraction of her enormous collection.

Kevin Whately

I have long considered Inspector Morse to be one of the best contemporary detective series.

Indeed I have the entire DVD box set; and the more recent series, Lewis, continued the tradition.

Kevin Whately's great-great-great-great-grandfather was a director of the Bank of England.

His great-great-grandfather happened to be none other than the Most Rev and Rt Hon Dr Richard Whately, DD, Lord Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland and Metropolitan, 1831-63.

His Grace is seen wearing the Chancellor's badge of the Order of St Patrick.

Wodehouse in Exile

Although I'll be viewing Boris Johnson: The Irresistible Rise this evening on BBC2, I will be recording Wodehouse In Exile at 9pm on BBC4.

Wodehouse In Exile is set during the 2nd World War, focusing on how that distinguished author, Sir PG Wodehouse, came to face a charge of Treason that led to his exile from the United Kingdom.

I notice that the character Leonora Cazalet is played by Flora Montgomery, daughter of William Montgomery, of Grey Abbey House, County Down.

TV Highlights

Freddy Fox was wailing to his heart's content outside Belmont GHQ forty-five minutes earlier this morning, at three forty-five.

The thing is, dear readers, I am quite a light sleeper.

Our vulpine pal must sense this and make return calls.


I HAVE been viewing the brand new Father Brown series on BBC One this week. So far, I am enjoying it hugely. I'm recording the series, and watch individual episodes later.

At Campbell, the then College Chaplain, the Reverend David Erskine, used to sit atop an ancient wooden chair and read us G K Chesterton's Father Brown novels at the end of term.

BBC Four's Lost Kingdoms of South America, presented by the very enthusiastic Dr Jago Cooper, is also a great series.


DO ANY readers find it tiresome that the BBC has this ridiculous policy, doubtless supported by legislation, at some European Union directive, that metric values are used throughout their broadcasts?

Summit heights in metres; distances in kilometres. One gets "the drift". This must be condemned; especially since distances on our roads are measured, still, in miles and inches.

Alas, Timothy Belmont must ~ in a cognitive sense ~ convert kilometres into the best of British miles!

TV Guides

I'm keen to hear from readers re their views on TV guides; particularly the "free" ones which come with weekend newspapers.

I'd be a Daily Telegraph reader (despite reading nearly everything online these days).

I have been told that The Daily Mail has a fairly good listings guide, on Saturdays presumably.

I presently receive the Radio Times by mail order, the London edition, in order that I can obtain the London channel listings. It costs £1.60 per week, as I write.

I assume that all newspapers sold in Northern Ireland have local editions; hence, The Times, Telegraph, Mail etc sell local editions in Ulster.

Blandings at Crom

I'll be tuned in to BBC One this evening at six-thirty for the first episode of the brand new comedy drama series, Blandings, based on the Wodehouse novels.

It has been produced on location at Crom Castle, County Fermanagh.

Period Comedy

I'm eagerly anticipating the new period comedy series to be broadcast on BBC One shortly, Blandings, based on the books by Sir P G Wodehouse KBE.

As far as I know, the first episode begins on Sunday, 13th January, 6.30-7pm.

Many of my friends and readers will be aware that Wodehouse is possibly my favourite writer of his genre; and that I am particularly fond of Crom, too.

Set in 1929 in the fictional Blandings Castle, Timothy Spall OBE plays the amiable but befuddled 9th Earl of Emsworth (Clarence to his friends).

Jennifer Saunders stars as his indomitable sister, Lady Constance Keeble (Connie).

Blandings was filmed on location at Crom Castle, County Fermanagh, with the support of Northern Ireland Screen.

THE EARL OF ERNE KCVO; NOEL JOHNSTON; JENNIFER SAUNDERS; ARLENE FOSTER MLA; JOHN, VISCOUNT CRICHTON

Crom Castle is the seat and family home of the Earl and Countess of Erne.

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.