So you have to be a bona fide historian with a degree in the subject to present a tv programme on the subject? Surely the idea is to get the subject out there so it piques the interest of the viewer rather than to criticise the presenter on their supposed lack of knowledge.
Yeah, in my opinion you do. There are plenty of people working in related fields who could present the information in interesting and engaging ways whose credentials for talking in an informed way on the subject are greater than some bloke who played a scruff in a sitcom once.
So using that logic, John Motson was a crap football commentator because he never played the game professionally. Brian Johnston should never have commentated on the radio for the cricket because he never played professionally. To the best of my knowledge Sandy Toksvig has bollocks all qualifications as a pastry chef. Should she not be allowed to present The Great British Bake-Off? Tony Robinson is the front man. Do you think he just turned up at a few places with a camera crew and started presenting just for the hell of it? Or do you think that the programmes he presented had a team of qualified researchers giving him the information to present?
I'm not entirely sure why you're getting yourself so worked up. The initial point about Robinson is that Terry Jones was a better historian than him. Anyway, your analogy doesn't work. Motson describes what he's watching which doesn't require an in depth knowledge of the subject, although it helps. Toksvig is a host and merely provides segues and filler between the contestants and the real experts talking. Tony Robinson (and any other presenter of a historical documentary) regurgitates information that is the result of many thousands of hours of research, excavation, and survey as if he is an expert in the subject. Which he isn't. Why not allow someone who has put the effort in to find out this information, who really understands it, and has, in many cases, devoted their lives to it and who has a really passion for it to present that information to the public? They could describe it all with more verve and passion than some minor celebrity.
I watched a couple of Ripping Yarns last night, started with my favourite 'Curse of the Claw' then 'Golden Gordon' "8-1", "8 bloody 1" Fantastically written and acted, a joy to watch. I'm laughing now as I'm writing this and I'll watch the rest of them this weekend. Thank you for the laughs Terry RIP.
It’s only your opinion that Tony Robinson passes himself off as an expert. And why does having a qualification mean that you are an expert? It doesn’t. So my point still stands. I’m a fully qualified mechanic, City & Guilds, the lot, but I wouldn’t trust me at all to dish out advice on how to fix a car any more. There are plenty of people out there who have studied a subject diligently for years, but have no qualifications so therefore they aren’t experts. It shouldn’t matter who presents it, as long as the information is correct and it’s got out to a wider audience. Let’s face it, and I know it’s a cliché, there are 30000 referees at the SOL whenever Sunderland play there.
But as there are people out there who have demonstrably engaged in the kind of work that allows you to become an expert in these subjects who could present these things just as well as Tony Robinson, why shouldn't they be given a chance instead of him? People who really know what they're talking about. Why should he get the gig just because he was in a historical comedy? Perhaps Arthur Lowe should have been put in charge of the armed forces...
The Norton Cat and Evil Jimmy Krankie, is this your modern interpretation of the Monty Python Argument sketch? Cos if it's not will you **** off with your petty squabble.
Because during his career Balders has bumped into historical figures along the likes of Richard III, Elizabeth I, Walter Raleigh, George IV, Duke of Wellington, Lord Flasheart etc.
I'm not a frustrated anything but, yeah, I work in a related field and I've had screen tests for that kind of TV work. It's the kind of thing that people think they can just 'have a go at' but people put in huge amounts of effort to be considered even just competent in this kind of thing and they often get ignored because of the public's attitude to it. I see people everyday who really know their stuff and would be excellent explaining it on telly but they'll never get the chance. Mind you, there are also people doing it who should never be allowed anywhere near a television camera!
the ripping yarns which he co-wrote with michael palin 'Tomkinson's schools days where Michael builds a scale model of a ship is hilarious, if you have never seen it buy the series on ebay. I have all monty python and rippon yarns and Fawlty towers episodes. That one above was brilliant as well just what we feel like when we get beat.
