0:00:26 > 0:00:28Hello.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31I just quickly wanted to share a story with you.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Back in the early 1990s, I went in to the BBC for a meeting with a senior producer.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42It seemed to me that history just wasn't getting a fair crack of the whip.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46And so I talked animatedly about the discoveries that could be made,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48the insights shared.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I waxed lyrical about the natural connection
0:00:50 > 0:00:54between our lives and the lives of those who'd gone before us.
0:00:55 > 0:01:01But then came that awful moment when I realized that I was doing all of the talking,
0:01:01 > 0:01:06and what was coming from the other side of the desk was a chill wind of disapproval.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11Basically, my little speech was going down like a cup of cold sick.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15"Let me tell you something," the producer said.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19"One, no-one is interested in history any more.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23"Two, no-one watches history programmes on television.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28"And three, no-one wants to be lectured at by a woman!"
0:01:28 > 0:01:34Well, as you can imagine, that put a certain degree of fire in my belly.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Not just because the man in front of me was revealing attitudes to sexual equality
0:01:38 > 0:01:44that would have sat quite happily in the more repressive regimes of antiquity,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48but also because he was proving himself ignorant and out of touch.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Instinctively and intellectually,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54I knew he was wrong.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57But mind you, he wasn't alone.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01There were many at the end of the last century who thought that history in general,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03and TV history in particular,
0:02:03 > 0:02:04had simply had it.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07The vultures were circling.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14One academic, in 1992, published a book called The End Of History And The Last Man
0:02:14 > 0:02:17which argued that mankind's ideological evolution was over
0:02:17 > 0:02:22and that history itself had run its natural course.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Let's hear from him.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30But first, let me turn to you, Francis Fukuyama.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Now, let's get the thesis straight.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36You're not saying that history with a small "h" has ended,
0:02:36 > 0:02:37it's History with a capital "H".
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Now what is this History with a capital "H" that's ended?
0:02:40 > 0:02:43Well, that's precisely right.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Obviously, day-to-day events are not going to stop happening.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52History with a capital "H" is what you might say is the overall evolution of human society.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55It seems to be what you've seen happening in this century.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59When we began, there were many competitors to liberal democracy,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03left-over hereditary monarchies, fascist dictatorships,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05communist totalitarianism.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11And virtually all of those major competitors have now disappeared by the end of the twentieth century.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17Fukuyama was making a rather convoluted intellectual point about the progress of history,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19but it chimed with the age.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23On TV and on the streets there was a fascination with youth culture
0:03:23 > 0:03:27that implied that the past was somehow ridiculous and pointless.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32And you can just tell that from the TV output of the '80s and '90s.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38Benighted producers were trying painfully hard to make history relevant
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and more than a little funky.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44So just let's look at a couple of programmes from that period.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48The first, a format show called That Was The Year,
0:03:48 > 0:03:55and the second, a snippet from a 12-part series charting the history of every country in the EU.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09The headlines for Monday January 27th.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Fire broke out at the new House of Commons this afternoon.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Work was interrupted for two hours whilst the flames
0:04:16 > 0:04:19in the unfinished clock tower were brought under control.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23The MPs continued their debate in Westminster Hall nearby.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26It's thought the fire was started by the plumber's soldering equipment.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:41 > 0:04:47Grundtvig preached enlightenment. No war or need or ignorance.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52A working idyll where the best of everything was for ordinary men and women.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57Jazz dance,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59it's not the obvious way forward, is it?!
0:04:59 > 0:05:04It is rather gratifying that it's history itself that has proved
0:05:04 > 0:05:06those 20th century naysayers wrong.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Because although history did feel a little beached in the '80s and '90s,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17this century, TV history has been swimming very successfully
0:05:17 > 0:05:21against the tide, particularly in the last couple of years.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23The figures are impressive.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Last year, the BBC produced around 130 hours
0:05:28 > 0:05:31of original history content for TV,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34way more than any other year in the last two decades.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39Recent research tells us that over half the population,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41a staggering 30 million people,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45have watched history on BBC One over the last 18 months,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48while the kids' show Horrible Histories has been seen
0:05:48 > 0:05:52by more than 50% of all six to twelve-year-olds in the UK.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55What's more, a number of British-made history programmes
0:05:55 > 0:05:58regularly sell to more than 50 territories worldwide.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02And other broadcasters including Channel 4, ITV, Discovery
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and National Geographic are planning major new series
0:06:06 > 0:06:08about the past for next year.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13So, how do we explain this renaissance,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16you could even argue, this golden age, for the genre?
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Is it perhaps calendrical?
0:06:19 > 0:06:22At the end of the 20th century, the approach of the millennium
0:06:22 > 0:06:25seemed to promise a new dawn.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30But then, of course, we all realised that the year 2000 would NOT usher in
0:06:30 > 0:06:34a miraculous epoch of bright, shiny, novel solutions to the challenges
0:06:34 > 0:06:38that our species has had to deal with for close on a million years.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44We realized that not all the answers lay in the future.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Could it also be that heritage and nostalgia provide a refuge,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53somewhere warm and safe to scurry to as our conflicted modern
0:06:53 > 0:06:56society hurtles its way towards an uncertain future?
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Or is it simply that TV now tells the stories denied airtime
0:07:01 > 0:07:03in our pressed education systems?
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Well, although all of these are important factors, I actually think
0:07:07 > 0:07:12there is something more fundamental, more interesting going on here.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17What I'd like to argue today is that the popularity of TV history
0:07:17 > 0:07:21is not simply the result of a fashion amongst TV commissioners,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23critical though that is.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27It's not even just an indicator of the preoccupations of our anxious age,
0:07:27 > 0:07:32but a function of the fact that history has finally begun
0:07:32 > 0:07:35to fulfil its true potential on screen.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41I believe television and history share a stem-cell,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45that they were both created with the same purpose -
0:07:45 > 0:07:48to understand not only those immediately around us,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51but what lies beyond our direct experience.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55And I'm going to argue that when TV history is true to these
0:07:55 > 0:07:59historical roots, it becomes more dynamic, more charismatic,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02in fact, essential viewing.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05So in this lecture I am going to explore great ways of putting history
0:08:05 > 0:08:10on television, and explain how, to my mind, a formula for winning
0:08:10 > 0:08:17a modern audience to the genre can be found deep in our prehistoric past.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Now I'm not saying all of this in a mildly messianic way just because
0:08:21 > 0:08:25that pesky producer traumatised me when I was a young woman.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Let me put some evidence in front of you.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30If you like, a short history of history.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35History was famously invented along the coast of Asia Minor
0:08:35 > 0:08:40by Herodotus, the father of history, in the 5th century BC.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Herodotus was part of a radical movement that sprang
0:08:43 > 0:08:46from Western Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean
0:08:46 > 0:08:49in what's been described as the Ionian Revolution -
0:08:49 > 0:08:54a time when a blind belief in fate and the power of the gods was nuanced
0:08:54 > 0:08:58by a new and rather wonderful idea.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02The Greek word for it was historiai,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07and originally it simply meant any kind of inquiry into the world.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12Well, Herodotus was a convert to the enquiry cause.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16He was a bright lad from the pretty coastal settlement of Halicarnassus,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18modern-day Bodrum in Southern Turkey.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21We think he spent much of his youth in exile,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25tossed across the Mediterranean by the warring politics of the age.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29But Herodotus looked up from his troubles,
0:09:29 > 0:09:34stared out across the sea and came to a game-changing decision,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39to make beyond the horizon his business.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44Travelling through exotic lands, interviewing those he met along the way,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47drawing contextual conclusions from his discoveries,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and then writing all of this down so it could be shared by others,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Herodotus invented a new form of human expression.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Herodotean history,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02historiai, was a combination of observation, analysis,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04enquiry and muthoi -
0:10:04 > 0:10:07both myths, stories, as we understand them, and facts,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11points of information that helped humanity navigate through life.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Historiai was a set of discoveries best made by taking real-time journeys.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20It was a discipline that jigsaw-puzzled together all kinds of evidence -
0:10:20 > 0:10:25oral, material, political, geographical,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29anthropological, and it relied, above all, on vivid landscapes
0:10:29 > 0:10:33and the irresistible stories of the people within them.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36This fledgling hybrid of arts and science
0:10:36 > 0:10:39had characteristics remarkably similar to another mode
0:10:39 > 0:10:43of communication that would be born 25 centuries later.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48The televisor, what we now call the television.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Really, it should be no surprise that as soon as TV is invented
0:10:52 > 0:10:54history has a presence.
0:10:54 > 0:11:00Cue TV's first telly don, AJP Taylor.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05Here's a clip from 1961 and his ITV lecture on the First World War.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13You must imagine a civilised world which moved, in one sense,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16very fast, much faster than its ancestors had done
0:11:16 > 0:11:20in the sense that it went by rail, but also very slow.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22When you arrived at the railway station,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26you still had to rely on horses or your own feet.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30The whole pattern of the First World War, all the way through,
0:11:30 > 0:11:36you see me coming back to this, is of enormous quantities of men,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40munitions, machines being delivered to the front line
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and then the actual rate of battle
0:11:43 > 0:11:48just the same as it had been in the days of Napoleon or the Romans.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Great stuff. And no notes or autocue!
0:11:52 > 0:11:57AJP Taylor set the bar for TV history through the '60s and '70s.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Charismatic storytellers like Mortimer Wheeler, Alistair Cooke
0:12:01 > 0:12:03and Kenneth Clark followed.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07It's a period that has often been cited as TV history's true golden age.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13But I think that's over-romantic, nostalgia-tinged selective memory.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Because, to be honest, there were an awful lot of history duds
0:12:18 > 0:12:23on air at that time too, people who were pompous and stilted and narrow-minded.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27I've spared their blushes by not including the clips.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31These lecturers don't, I think, reach a gold-standard
0:12:31 > 0:12:34because in production's terms, and in history's terms,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37there is something key missing.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Obviously, early TV historians were constrained by the immaturity
0:12:41 > 0:12:45of their medium and their budgets, but what is lacking from a lot
0:12:45 > 0:12:49of the programmes, and what can be exploited by producers today,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54is a sense of the fresh-air adventure you find in Herodotus's works.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56For my money, TV history works best
0:12:56 > 0:13:01when it exploits the ancient tricks of the trade.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Discovery, first-hand experience, contact with ordinary people,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09compelling communication and analysis.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12And one of the masters of the Herodotean art,
0:13:12 > 0:13:18one who raised me and a whole generation of history-starved teenagers was,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and still is, Michael Wood.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27Here's a clip from Michael's 1998 series, In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29where he traced the 20,000-mile journey
0:13:29 > 0:13:33taken by the Macedonian leader in his bid to conquer the world.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37We meet him here, in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan
0:13:37 > 0:13:39and the Makran desert in Iran.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48As he came over these passes,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52he'll have remembered the words of his tutor, Aristotle, who said
0:13:52 > 0:13:55from this point, it ought to be possible to see the ends of the Earth,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and the great ocean the Greeks believed surrounded it.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Alexander now knew for sure this was wrong,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04that vast and densely-populated lands lay ahead.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06He was driven to see them.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10The question now becomes not, when is he going to stop,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12but how far can he go?
0:14:16 > 0:14:22Out here, you really do wonder why on Earth he brought his army
0:14:22 > 0:14:24through this appalling wilderness.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28It almost makes you wonder whether he wanted to punish them
0:14:28 > 0:14:31for what happened at the Beas River, for not following him
0:14:31 > 0:14:33to the ends of the Earth.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Among the Greeks, the most popular explanation was this.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Simply, that it was there.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42He'd been told the journey was impossible for an army,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47and because of his inner demon, he just had to do it.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52He had to excel everybody. He had to do what nobody else had done.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Michael travelled through 16 countries to make that show,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00including Israel, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05All places of course still on the fault-lines of history.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09But what makes this great TV history is the fact that Michael meets
0:15:09 > 0:15:13and talks to locals along the way, just as Herodotus did,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17immersing himself in their cultures and world-views.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Because surely just as important as a physical exploration,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25TV should sponsor a cultural and intellectual adventure.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28This, I think, is key.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32It's a notion found in one of the earliest words on earth -
0:15:32 > 0:15:35ghosti.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Ghosti, which, by the way, gives us our words "guest" and "host",
0:15:39 > 0:15:45is an ideology, a word idea that emerged around 6,000 years ago.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50It's part of the prehistoric language system Proto-Indo-European,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54a kind of international mother tongue whose influence stretched from Ireland to Iraq.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Back then, people realized that in order to survive and to progress,
0:15:59 > 0:16:05they had to develop a code of ethics that favoured xenophilia rather than xenophobia.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09A kind of international etiquette, a default position
0:16:09 > 0:16:13of interest and trust rather than suspicion and aggression.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Just imagine it.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19A stranger approaches you on the distant horizon, but instead
0:16:19 > 0:16:23of slaughtering him from a distance, you welcome him into your home.
0:16:23 > 0:16:29It's a way news, new goods, new ideas can be exchanged.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Ghosti stems from a conviction that man flourishes best
0:16:32 > 0:16:36when he invites the unknown across his threshold.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40TV history, to my mind, has a responsibility to put
0:16:40 > 0:16:45ghosti into action, to do the beyond-the-horizon business on our behalf.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48To encourage new experiences, new cultures,
0:16:48 > 0:16:54new worldviews, if you like, the future, into each and every living room.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59And I think this is particularly pertinent in our increasingly globalised and democratic world.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Today, not only do we have to understand what our global neighbours are doing,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08but there is a burning issue of whose story we are telling
0:17:08 > 0:17:11and who has been chosen to tell it.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Of course, TV histories should be generated by a representative quota
0:17:17 > 0:17:19of those people who make history.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Er, that's all mankind!
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Seems obvious, doesn't it?
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Well, one thing you may have noticed in the clips so far
0:17:28 > 0:17:31is that all the faces you'll have seen, great as they are,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35demonstrate an excess of the Y chromosome.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38They're all blokes.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Women were allowed on TV to present history,
0:17:42 > 0:17:47in fact, as early as 1957, but the first female historian's outing was,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51wait for it, a history of frocks.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56It was presented by one Doris Langley Moore.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58And you just have to take a look.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09This is a hat, and this is a hat.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16There seems to be a certain, slightly crazy streak in most fashions.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20We notice it quite clearly in clothes that have gone out of date,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23but in each generation, only a handful of people,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25who are seldom very popular,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29can see just how irrational they and their contemporaries are.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33It's easy for us to see, for instance, that there's
0:18:33 > 0:18:37something a trifle unreasonable about a feminine outline like this.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42Women whose heads were shadowed by huge hats like this 1911 model
0:18:42 > 0:18:45laugh at women who wear theirs
0:18:45 > 0:18:47perched on the top of their heads, as in the 1890s.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51And women who wear their hats on the top of their heads think a hat
0:18:51 > 0:18:53on the back of the head is comical.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56The date of this one is 1878.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00But to anyone who never wore a hat at all,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03all three would appear equally demented.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Excitingly for milliners around the country,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13that was the first British television series shot in colour.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Although with no ability to transmit in colour for another decade,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20only the Queen Mother got to appreciate the full gaudy splendour
0:19:20 > 0:19:23of the show, in a private viewing.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Good for her, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with frocks,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30or programmes about frocks, per se.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The history of fashion and of the minutiae of life,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37broader social histories, are a vital part of the human story.
0:19:37 > 0:19:43But that male-preponderance, and, then dare I say, stereotyping,
0:19:43 > 0:19:44does beg the question,
0:19:44 > 0:19:50is there a danger that TV history can close, rather than open minds?
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Does it sometimes deny historiai and ghosti?
0:19:54 > 0:19:59Because I just have to tell you something. Researching this lecture
0:19:59 > 0:20:03I asked the kind people at the BBC to pinpoint exactly when
0:20:03 > 0:20:08a female historian was first allowed to present a BBC history series.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12We looked right through the archive from the '50s onwards.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15There were some excellent single programmes,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18but no substantial, long-running documentaries
0:20:18 > 0:20:22presented by a historian who was also a female of the species.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Until, finally, in February 2000, Breaking The Seal was aired
0:20:29 > 0:20:34on BBC Two presented by Bettany Hughes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39Now, I include that factoid not, I promise you, with self-referential
0:20:39 > 0:20:46triumphalism, but simply because it is so staggering, so shocking, isn't it?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49I know the hurdles I had to leap over to be allowed on air.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54So my rallying cry to the TV industry is to remember TV should expand
0:20:54 > 0:20:58rather than contract society's horizons.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01It should break through the limits of the present.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05Don't just stick with the tried and tested, be ahead of the game.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Because look at what's happening now.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Female historians are, and not before time,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13being allowed on TV to present meaty stuff.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19The TV ecology is finally looking more representative, more mixed.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22In the last year, we've see bumper history series
0:21:22 > 0:21:28presented by Amanda Vickery, Lucy Worsley, Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Mary Beard.
0:21:28 > 0:21:34All on prime time, winning great audiences and critical acclaim.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37So, here is one mother of history.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Mary Beard in last year's hit Pompeii.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42On a mission to investigate not just the deaths
0:21:42 > 0:21:46but the lives of the people of that traumatized city.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And I hope she won't kill me, but I've chosen a clip where
0:21:50 > 0:21:54she is doing almost the frock thing, trying on jewellery,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59but bringing a whole lot more to it than the story of hats.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08This is really exciting for me, it's the first time I've ever touched
0:22:08 > 0:22:10any jewellery from Pompeii.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12I'm going to be naughty and put the bracelet on,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17and however cynical you are, no matter how much of a boring, old academic you are,
0:22:17 > 0:22:24it's still exciting to wear a bracelet worn 2,000 years ago, and nothing will stop me
0:22:24 > 0:22:26thinking that's exciting.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32I think this is very attractive, actually.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37Picking it up, you can feel instantly it's heavy, it's a solid bangle.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41But what strikes you about it instantly, is it's so big.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45It's not only women who wear bracelets, this could be men's jewellery,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47for this big, hunking man.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52That show attracted more than 3.5 million viewers.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54It seems, at times,
0:22:54 > 0:22:59the audience positively enjoys being lectured at by a woman!
0:22:59 > 0:23:02I know one of the things that Mary was keen to do was not to lay
0:23:02 > 0:23:06out a single, grand tablet of stone in her thesis,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08but a number of smaller truths,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12if you like, to experience her way towards historical authenticity.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15And this approach chimes with my second challenge to
0:23:15 > 0:23:20the TV of the future to remember that when TV history is produced,
0:23:20 > 0:23:25the budget should ultimately not just hang on to historiography's coattails,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29but fund an advance in historical discovery itself.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34TV should be an active agent in the historical process.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37The resources available to the medium, the technologies used
0:23:37 > 0:23:41and the sheer brain-time spent in TV production,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43should encourage TV to sponsor discoveries,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48to interrogate the past in a way that yields new historical truths.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52One way of doing this is to encourage men and women
0:23:52 > 0:23:53to be in two times at once.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Its so-called living history.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Channel Four had a big hit with The 1900 House
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and others eagerly picked up the baton.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06From Victorian Farm to Rome Wasn't Built In A Day,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09all have given us history as reality TV.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14We think of these as vogueishly modern formats,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19but TV caught the reality bug back in the 1970s,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22with a bit of free-love nudity thrown in for good measure.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Living In The Past was an experiment in reconstructing an ancient way of life.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40For one entire year, a group of 12 young people and three small children
0:24:40 > 0:24:45first built, then lived and worked on a replica of an ancient British farm,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47cut off from the modern world.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52They didn't attempt to become ancient Britons, that was obviously impossible.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55But for the whole year, they wore, or didn't wear, the same kind of clothes,
0:24:55 > 0:25:01lived in the same kind of buildings, raised the same crops and livestock and use the same tools
0:25:01 > 0:25:07which archaeologists and historians tell us were used more than 2,000 years ago in the Iron Age.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12A year on an Iron Age farm! I like history but I have to say,
0:25:12 > 0:25:13rather them than me!
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Well-made experiential history clearly has enduring appeal.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23The great Roman orator Cicero declared, "History is
0:25:23 > 0:25:26"the witness that testifies to the passing of time.
0:25:26 > 0:25:33"It illuminates reality, vitalizes memory and provides guidance in daily life."
0:25:33 > 0:25:39Which perhaps in part explains why TV history succeeds when transparently,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43on the screen, people are shown working their way through the past
0:25:43 > 0:25:47to understand more about the lives of their ancestors and their own.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50But living history isn't, of course, the be all and end all
0:25:50 > 0:25:53of on-screen historical discovery.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Although for 60 years, TV and academia
0:25:56 > 0:26:00have frequently elected to speak different languages,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02now there's a lingua franca,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06in the form of scientific exploration and digital technology.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Satellite imaging, holograms,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13MRI scans of artefacts and bones, RED technology
0:26:13 > 0:26:16computer generated imagery, forensics like DNA testing.
0:26:16 > 0:26:23All techniques now used extensively by academics and media executives.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Rather than being uncomfortable bed partners,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29the union between techno-savvy history and TV
0:26:29 > 0:26:31can be very productive.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Here are two fantastic examples from this year.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Back From The Dead: Nelson's Navy, made by Channel 4,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and Egypt's Lost Cities on BBC One.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Channel 4 collaborated with bone experts
0:26:45 > 0:26:47to bring the dead back to life,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50while the BBC used satellite space imagery
0:26:50 > 0:26:54to track archaeological remains lost deep underground.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59And the results are genuinely ground-breaking.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03What I found so remarkable
0:27:03 > 0:27:04in the skeleton
0:27:04 > 0:27:07was when we examined the jaw.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11When we look at the normal side, we see a nice, square angle.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14When we look at the other side,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17the angle of the jaw has become very reduced in size,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19and very abnormally shaped.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23This abnormality is the result of a savage cut wound.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26This injury would have been caused by a vertical slash,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29probably by a heavy blade like a cutlass or sword,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and this would be a vertical slicing down the face,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36cutting through his cheekbone and cutting right through into his jaw.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Sarah is a pioneer in the new science of space archaeology.
0:27:45 > 0:27:52What we've done is we've taken the high resolution space photographs,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57and I've combined it with state of the art infrared technology
0:27:57 > 0:28:03and, lo and behold, the map of a whole city.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07- Holy sh...- Cow!- Cow!
0:28:11 > 0:28:13It was very densely occupied.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17- You can almost see hints of city streets.- Yeah!
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Elite housing.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22You get almost like a complete architectural plan of the city.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26All in all, using that NASA technique
0:28:26 > 0:28:28originally developed for spying,
0:28:28 > 0:28:33Dr Sarah Parcak discovered 17 potential new pyramids,
0:28:33 > 0:28:383,000 ancient settlements and 1,000 burial sites.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Other archaeological projects have now got access to this data.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45So it is a genuine contribution to history.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49As a first principle of TV-making, history, it's clear,
0:28:49 > 0:28:54should be discovered not just via TV, but thanks to TV.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59And this isn't valuable just because it's all quite interesting stuff.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Today, we are bombarded with news stories,
0:29:03 > 0:29:05high-octane versions of current affairs
0:29:05 > 0:29:08and the reports of citizen journalists 24/7.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12Voltaire called history a "tableau of crimes,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14"follies and misfortunes",
0:29:14 > 0:29:17and he could have been describing some of today's news channels
0:29:17 > 0:29:18and web offerings.
0:29:18 > 0:29:24Well, I reckon the TV industry has a duty to fight fire with fire.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28As news departments soak up the latest equipment,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30vast budgets and escalating TV hours,
0:29:30 > 0:29:35we surely have to invest in TV histories to help comprehend
0:29:35 > 0:29:39the back story of what we are seeing played out in front of us.
0:29:39 > 0:29:44To learn not just the what, but the how and the why.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49The events of 9/11, the crash of 2008 have forced us to realise
0:29:49 > 0:29:54we can't take a steady lifetime of predictable events for granted.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58We have to wise up, to understand why bad things happen,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00to explore the shared foundations
0:30:00 > 0:30:03of our increasingly internationalist lives,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06sometimes so we can shore up the cracks
0:30:06 > 0:30:09before the whole edifice comes tumbling down.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14Now, some politicians have already realised the value of doing this.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Let's hear from Boris,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22the man who puts the polis back into political comment.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24And here he zones in on the Crusades
0:30:24 > 0:30:29to explode some myths about the so-called Clash of Civilisations.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35In November 1095,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Pope Urban II made the single most provocative speech of all time.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41He called for a crusade,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44a campaign to speed up the second coming of Christ,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48by recapturing the holy places where Jesus had died on the cross
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and wrestling them from Muslim control.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Pope Urban thereby launched two centuries of intermittent mayhem
0:31:01 > 0:31:05featuring greed, treachery, sadism and religious mania,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10and he created a symbol of Western aggression in the Middle East,
0:31:10 > 0:31:11a symbol so potent
0:31:11 > 0:31:16that some Muslims believe the Crusades have never actually ended.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21And that's why we need to understand that bizarre conflict.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26The massacres, the cannibalism, the blood that flowed down these streets,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30if we are to understand how it is that the word "crusade"
0:31:30 > 0:31:37still contaminates the Muslim idea of the West and of Western intentions.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Without this kind of long-view analysis of current affairs,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45there is a terrible danger of living in
0:31:45 > 0:31:49what the historian Eric Hobsbawn described as
0:31:49 > 0:31:51a sort of permanent present.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54If you ignore the laws of cause and effect,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58laws which form the foundation of historical enquiry,
0:31:58 > 0:32:03you end up high on the rarefied air of the here and now.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06The recent riots brought that home to all of us.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10Looting, violence and destruction
0:32:10 > 0:32:14seemed a valid route to a new pair of trainers.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17The bloodstains of one of the riot's casualties
0:32:17 > 0:32:21still mark the pavement at the top of my road.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23It's a reminder of how quickly,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26without any sense of the consequences of our actions,
0:32:26 > 0:32:28society can descend into barbarity.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34TV is often blamed for de-sensitising the next generation,
0:32:34 > 0:32:40but how great would it be if TV history could re-sensitise,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44could steer us away from that permanent present
0:32:44 > 0:32:46that Hobsbawn cautioned against?
0:32:46 > 0:32:50History's job is not just to catalogue the world,
0:32:50 > 0:32:51but to try to comprehend it.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55One of Herodotus' fellow countrymen,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Dionysius of Halicarnassos,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00maintained that history is philosophy.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Teaching by example.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05And I agree.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10History can and should act as a moral agent.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13So, my last plea for the night.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16It seems axiomatic that a knowledge of the past
0:33:16 > 0:33:19can foster a more acute understanding of the present
0:33:19 > 0:33:21and of the future.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24In fact, this is physiologically proven.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29We store memory across our brains and reconstruct the past creatively.
0:33:29 > 0:33:36Memory is, neurologically, a foundation for future thinking.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40History exists, because history reminds us
0:33:40 > 0:33:43to remember to think better.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48There's also an interesting linguistic seam to follow here, too.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52The word "historie", enquiry, stems from the word "histor",
0:33:52 > 0:33:54a wise man or a judge,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58and that in turn has its roots in Indo-European "widtor".
0:33:58 > 0:34:01"Wid", to know, to see, to understand,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and "tor", the agent of the knowing, seeing and understanding.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08This gives us our words "vision", "video",
0:34:08 > 0:34:10"visual" and, of course, "television".
0:34:10 > 0:34:15Linguistically, a historian and a televisual demonstration
0:34:15 > 0:34:19of well-judged ideas are one and the same thing.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Early historians chose to tell tales that mattered,
0:34:23 > 0:34:28stories from which whole communities could learn something.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31So too TV history should put material out
0:34:31 > 0:34:35into the shared public space that makes a difference.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Recently in a programme
0:34:37 > 0:34:40where I looked at the history of the idea of forgiveness
0:34:40 > 0:34:41over two millennia,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43I discovered that this particular word idea
0:34:43 > 0:34:46could have tangible benefits for society,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48that a praxis of forgiveness
0:34:48 > 0:34:53has in fact been essential to our health and survival.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56It was a thought that was driven home hard when I went to New York,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59to meet the widow of Tom McGuinness,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03the pilot of the first plane that was flown into the Twin Towers.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08Despite massive criticism from her compatriots,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Cheryl has chosen not to forget what happened,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15but to forgive the men who killed her husband.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18This is just a very brief moment at the end of that interview
0:35:18 > 0:35:19down at Ground Zero.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28I know that this is only the second time that you've come back here,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31and I can only imagine how hard it must be for you.
0:35:31 > 0:35:37It's difficult. Quite frankly, it takes me right back to that day,
0:35:37 > 0:35:42and I just remember it so vividly still, especially being right here.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47What you hear sometimes is people saying if you don't forgive,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51if you just seek vengeance, then you're always trapped in the past.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54I think that's absolutely true.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57I think you need to forgive to be able to move forward in your life.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Forgiveness does have a point.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08It's more than just an ideal or a comforting idea.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11It's a dynamo that has real power to change lives,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and so forgiveness is all that we have
0:36:14 > 0:36:18to break the cycle of retribution and vengeance
0:36:18 > 0:36:21that I see in play from the beginning of history itself.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24A cycle which, if it's taken to its logical conclusion,
0:36:24 > 0:36:30can only result in a zero-sum endgame for all of us.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Forgiveness is a gift.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36It allows us to move on and to let go.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Understanding another's pain
0:36:45 > 0:36:49is one of the most humanising acts our species can engage in.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53History allows us to empathise with men and women
0:36:53 > 0:36:55from other parts of the world and across time.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59It's one of the reasons I think TV history
0:36:59 > 0:37:01is not just an optional extra,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06not just the icing on the cake, a bit part in human culture,
0:37:06 > 0:37:12but has a vital job to do, as a tool to help us live our lives well.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14In the course of this lecture,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18I've explored the huge potential for history on TV.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21I've shown how TV history is at its best
0:37:21 > 0:37:23when it remains true to its ancient roots,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25while keeping a weather-eye on the future,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28embracing cutting edge technology and science
0:37:28 > 0:37:31and engaging with contemporary issues.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34It's something we're more confident about doing now,
0:37:34 > 0:37:39which is why I think TV history is enjoying such a rich renaissance.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42But we can go further.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Like the prehistoric concept of ghosti,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48which encouraged men and women to expand their own horizons,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51intellectual, material and physical,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55so TV history should encourage the viewer to step over battle-lines,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59across national borders and beyond the ring-fences of ignorance,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02prejudice and xenophobia.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04Just before I finish,
0:38:04 > 0:38:10I forgot to mention that pesky producer's parting shot.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13I'd ended our meeting by mumbling something about good history
0:38:13 > 0:38:16being essential to nourish the next generation.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20And as I walked, dejected, out of the door, he called out,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24"We don't want missionaries in this business."
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Well, I think, in one sense, we do.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32We want historians on TV who have a mission to discover
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and to understand, together with the viewer.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38That producer's lack of vision can perhaps be forgiven,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42because in the 1990s, history was struggling.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47But his scepticism proved him to be of his age and not ahead of it,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51and that, in itself, is anti-historical.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54The very purpose of history is to allow us to look, confidently,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56to the future.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00As these young revolutionaries in Tahrir Square reminded us.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09It was uninhibited, raucous joy.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11We've been here every single day,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and today we brought our son to see this historic moment.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16He will read about this in books when he grows up.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22The fall of President Mubarak
0:39:22 > 0:39:25is a moment of great historical significance,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27not just for Egypt, but for this entire region.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32In just over two weeks, the people have taken on a brutal police state
0:39:32 > 0:39:37and overthrown an authoritarian leader who appeared to be in control.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Their achievement will change the Middle East.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46History derives from the word for a wise agent.
0:39:46 > 0:39:52We need to keep TV history smart, vigorous and forward-thinking.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56As creatures of memory, we should cherish our discipline
0:39:56 > 0:39:59in its increasingly democratic, digital form,
0:39:59 > 0:40:04because televisual communication, doesn't just relate history.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Now, it can make history too.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Thank you.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:40:42 > 0:40:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk