0:00:02 > 0:00:05This week on the Culture Show, we're lurking in the depths of East London
0:00:05 > 0:00:07at the Wapping hydraulic power station.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Its days of heavy industry might be long gone,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13but it's been preserved as a place to come to eat, drink
0:00:13 > 0:00:14and look at contemporary art,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18all in a unique late Victorian industrial setting.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Coming up on tonight's show - Somali poetry in Cardiff.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28A closer look at your paintings.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30And the Hatchet Job of the Year.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39But first, Roy Lichtenstein's comic strip-inspired paintings
0:00:39 > 0:00:41caused a sensation in the 1960s
0:00:41 > 0:00:44and changed the course of American art.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46With a major retrospective opening this month,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51Alistair Sooke asks, just how well do we really know this trailblazer?
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Roy Lichtenstein produced arguably the most instantly recognisable work
0:01:02 > 0:01:04in 20th-century art.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08We all know his distinctive comic book paintings,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12but it took him years to discover his signature style
0:01:12 > 0:01:15as he struggled to find his artistic voice in post-war America.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22When Lichtenstein was starting out,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25New York's art world was completely dominated
0:01:25 > 0:01:26by the abstract expressionists.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30People like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34And in a sense, Lichtenstein was a victim of their success.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Because he found it quite hard to emerge from their shadow.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41He was making paintings that felt perfectly competent,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43but they weren't really original.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45They were hardly revolutionary.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51He was in his late 30s, working as an art teacher.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54A father of two and husband to an alcoholic wife.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57He was as far away from the style that would make him famous
0:01:57 > 0:01:59as he could possibly be.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04But then in 1961, Lichtenstein surprised everyone,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07including I reckon, himself, with Look Mickey,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10an oil painting of a couple of Walt Disney cartoon characters.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Here, as if from nowhere,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15were the hallmarks of his pop style, his signature look.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Flat colours, restrained palette, bold outlines.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20And actually, the use of dots, as well,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23to mimic mechanically-reproduced imagery.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25The kind of stuff you'd see in pictures,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27in newspapers and magazines.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32And by doing that, by imitating the real world, everyday culture,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36he was bringing reality into the realm of fine art
0:02:36 > 0:02:39in a way the abstract expressionists hadn't done before him.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47For the next four years,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50he entered the most explosive creative period of his life.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Producing some of his most definitive pieces,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56including the war series, based on comic books such as
0:02:56 > 0:02:57All American Men Of War,
0:02:57 > 0:03:02depicting gruff, grim-faced soldiers in combat situations,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05full of explosions and sound effects.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06And at the same time,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10he was drawn to a different series, the Secret Heart series.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12That was more about romance.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16The obstacles to relationships before they finally bag their man.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19The strips that he isolated, the moments he picked from Secret Hearts,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23always showed women in a quite passive position.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26They're crying, they're stumbling, they hesitate.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28They're uncertain. They're unsure of themselves.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31They're the antithesis of the really certain soldiers,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33the men in the Men of War comics.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37It's easy to see Lichtenstein's War and Romance series
0:03:37 > 0:03:39as blank and reserved.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43What was the point of making big oil paintings of something as throwaway as these comics?
0:03:43 > 0:03:46There must have been some level of irony.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Perhaps Lichtenstein was having a pop at gender stereotypes,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53the way they're reinforced in popular culture.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56But more recently, there's been a suggestion
0:03:56 > 0:03:59perhaps there's an autobiographical element to these paintings.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04At the time, Lichtenstein's life was undergoing huge turmoil.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08He was going through a divorce and he was very angry.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12I wonder whether those women are how he wanted the women who'd failed him
0:04:12 > 0:04:15and didn't behave like that in real life to actually be.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17It's almost like he was getting his own back.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20There's a revenge fantasy. A wish-fulfilment fantasy.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23So I just wonder whether with these famous images
0:04:23 > 0:04:25that we think are so familiar,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29which seem to be so removed and so cold and impersonal,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33whether at heart, there's something intensely personal about them.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37With his paintings gaining great attention,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39he also attracted criticism.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41His method of tearing out pictures,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44assembling them to make a new image,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47drawing a copy, then projecting it onto a canvas
0:04:47 > 0:04:52left him open to accusations of plagiarism from the art world.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55I think a lot of people, when they first see a Lichtenstein,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57assume he's copied something wholesale.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59But as soon as you start to get a handle
0:04:59 > 0:05:02on the creative process that went into these images,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05you realise that isn't strictly true.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07He's making these subtle tweaks and adjustments.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11So that he was right when he said in '63, almost as a defence,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14"My work is actually different from comic strips
0:05:14 > 0:05:16"and every mark really is in a different place,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19"however slight that difference seems to some."
0:05:20 > 0:05:22This comic dates from the end of 1962.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Lichtenstein had only been painting in his pop style for a year or two.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31To the end of this issue, there's an amazing advert for this contraption.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35It says, "Draw any person in one minute. No lessons, no talent."
0:05:35 > 0:05:38I bet if he'd seen this, it would have made him smile.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40He would have relished this.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42There's an example of how to use
0:05:42 > 0:05:45this magic art reproducer towards the bottom.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48It says, "You can copy all cartoons, all comics."
0:05:48 > 0:05:50How perfect is that?
0:05:50 > 0:05:52He didn't do many self-portraits,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54but if he'd wanted to start doing self-portraits early,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56this would have been the perfect source.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Although Lichtenstein is best known
0:06:05 > 0:06:08for his depictions of all-American culture,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11he did produce more unusual works,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14including one of his very few self-portraits.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17It's called Self-Portrait.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20But what you see in place of his face, there's a mirror
0:06:20 > 0:06:22and a blank white T-shirt with no logo.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25And there's even a label stitched into the back,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28but there are no words, there are no brand names at all.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's curious, because, of course, traditionally,
0:06:31 > 0:06:36portraits are things which supposedly offer insight into the artist's soul, if you like,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38but here, there's nothing.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It's blank. It's anonymous.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42In one sense, Lichtenstein's clearly saying,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I am a mirror to the culture.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48But in another sense, I think he's saying something again about style.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51The really intriguing paradoxical thing about this painting
0:06:51 > 0:06:54is that even though all of the objects in it,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57the T-shirt, the mirror, the blank-ish background,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59don't make sense as a person,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03we know at once that this is by Lichtenstein.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07The way in which it's been represented is full of identity.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15This style is reduced to its most essential form in his landscapes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Often just strips of coloured dots.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22It's curious that he's created an aesthetic
0:07:22 > 0:07:24which allows him to stamp anything.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27It doesn't matter what it is. It could be a comic strip, a tank,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30it could be a landscape, it could be a seascape.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33You still know at once that it's by Lichtenstein.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45We could define the paradox of his paintings as Lichtenstein's law,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48when an artist creates an unmistakable style
0:07:48 > 0:07:51by appearing to vanish into thin air.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05Lichtenstein: A Retrospective, opens at Tate Modern on 21st February.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10And on 24th, Alastair Sooke presents an hour-long exclusive show
0:08:10 > 0:08:13from the exhibition on BBC Four.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Next tonight, a trip to the library.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Since emerging in the mid-19th century,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20crime fiction has become so popular
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that it now accounts for a third of all fiction
0:08:23 > 0:08:25published in the English language.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Crime writer Val McDermid visits a new exhibition
0:08:28 > 0:08:30to trace the development of the phenomenon
0:08:30 > 0:08:35and to explain why we still can't get enough of a good murder mystery.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45The art of good crime fiction, circa 1928.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49"Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55"No accident must ever help the detective.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59"The detective must not himself commit the crime."
0:09:01 > 0:09:03These are the golden rules laid down
0:09:03 > 0:09:07by a Catholic priest come detective story writer called Ronald Knox.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Some of Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments are valid today for crime writers like me.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16The one about not allowing supernatural intervention
0:09:16 > 0:09:18when you get caught in a tight corner.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Quite right, too. For me, that's just cheating.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24But now his rules are pretty much irrelevant.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26You mostly would just laugh at them.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30Like the dicta that, "No Chinaman should figure in the story."
0:09:30 > 0:09:33But then us writers have never liked being bossed around by rules.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Forget Knox. Crime fiction doesn't fit one mould.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43It's a rich and diverse genre,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46as shown by the British Library exhibition,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49which charts its development since the Victorian age.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The very first crime fiction novel was penned in 1841.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59Set in Paris, its author was the romantic writer Edgar Allan Poe.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Murders in the Rue Morgue is the ultimate mystery.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05The victim's dead inside a locked room. The key's on the inside.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08The only clue, a single strand of hair.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12And when it's finally revealed, the killer isn't even human.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14It's a giant orang-utan.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Early crime fiction was all about setting an intellectual puzzle
0:10:20 > 0:10:23for the reader to work out who done it.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26By the '20s, there was a fad for jigsaws
0:10:26 > 0:10:28to be included alongside the novel
0:10:28 > 0:10:31which had to be pieced together for clues.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36And then a new breed of crime fiction took it a step further.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Murder Off Miami was a solve-it-yourself crime dossier
0:10:39 > 0:10:41devised by Dennis Wheatley.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43There was no narrative as such.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46The reader was presented instead with an array of evidence
0:10:46 > 0:10:47to solve the mystery,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49including some human hair.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53I actually worked my way through a facsimile of this.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Must be about 35 years ago now.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57I remember it being great fun.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I worked my way through all the clues to the solution at the end.
0:11:00 > 0:11:01It comes in a sealed envelope.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03And I'm glad to say that I got it right.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06But I look at it now, and I think,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08this was an idea that was 80 years ahead of its time.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11How much better it would work in the internet age
0:11:11 > 0:11:13with that level of interactivity.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19More often than not, the reader is aided by a fictional detective.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Whether hard-boiled PI or bumbling policeman,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26or a female sleuth, who first appeared in the 19th century.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31One of the earliest was a Mrs Paschal who carried a coat revolver
0:11:31 > 0:11:33and thought nothing of ripping off her crinoline
0:11:33 > 0:11:36to squeeze through a narrow hatch and climb down a ladder.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40She was definitely a precursor of the feisty female PI.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Mrs Paschal is pictured smoking and showing a bit of ankle.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Outrageously daring for the 1870s.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51But there's one lady detective that is particularly close to my heart.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53Sara Paretsky's Indemnity Only.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57That's the book that got me off my arse and writing crime fiction
0:11:57 > 0:11:59instead of just thinking about it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05And one villain that has left an indelible mark on the genre
0:12:05 > 0:12:09is Sax Rohmer's evil oriental scientist.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Fu Manchu, the ultimate fiendish mastermind.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19With the brow of Shakespeare and the face of Satan.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21Perhaps it's no coincidence this villain was dreamt up
0:12:21 > 0:12:24by an English novelist in 1912,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28at a time when the West feared the yellow peril from China.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31There's no end to imaginative stories here.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35By best-selling authors, titled aristocrats,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38even football stars.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Not to mention a racy number by a burlesque dancer.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46For more than 170 years, we've been enthralled by the murder mystery.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Today, it's a tradition kept alive by our most popular crime writers.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Now, that's just wrong.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57While PD James and Ruth Rendell are still alive and writing,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59I can't be a Queen of Crime.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01I'll settle for being Crown Princess, though.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Next tonight, National Theatre Wales
0:13:06 > 0:13:09is turning the spotlight on creative talent
0:13:09 > 0:13:13emerging from one of the largest Somali communities outside Somalia.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Butetown in Cardiff.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Cerys Matthews went back to her hometown
0:13:18 > 0:13:21to find out how its multicultural history
0:13:21 > 0:13:24is inspiring a new approach to performance.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31# Tiger Bay
0:13:31 > 0:13:34# Tiger Bay
0:13:35 > 0:13:41# It's not very far from the door. #
0:13:41 > 0:13:45This is Tiger Bay, or used to be.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Back in the day, the name just fitted somehow.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51It was dangerous, ferocious and fun.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55It was the best and the worst place to go on a Saturday night.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Bars, brothels, bruisers, this place was teeming with them.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01But when the developers moved in a few years ago
0:14:01 > 0:14:03with their swanky restaurants and bars,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06they wanted to distance themselves from the bad old days.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08They renamed it Cardiff Bay.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Somehow, the old tiger had lost its bite
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and it was in danger of losing its past.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Once upon a time,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Cardiff was the biggest exporting coal port in the world.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21And 54 different nationalities
0:14:21 > 0:14:25crammed in here in this little corner of Wales.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Irish, Africans, Europeans, Arabs, Americans
0:14:27 > 0:14:31all working hard and playing hard together.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Someone once said you could find the whole world in one square mile here.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39But the last coal left Tiger Bay in 1965,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43along with most of its workers. But some stayed.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44One of the largest groups of people
0:14:44 > 0:14:47to make this area their home were the Somalis.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50This part of Tiger Bay is called Butetown.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54And the first Somali man settled here in 1890 during boom time.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Then, it was a thriving port.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01Now, it's one of the poorest areas in the whole of Wales.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Jobs are scarce and for the Somalis and others in Butetown,
0:15:04 > 0:15:05life is far from easy.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09But it was right here in the deserted docklands of Cardiff
0:15:09 > 0:15:10that National Theatre Wales
0:15:10 > 0:15:12found inspiration for their next production,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16De Gabay, which in Somali, means The Poem.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19I have been colonised.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22I have colonised.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Speaking all languages, translating you.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30I am the cipher you exhale, the parts of you put together.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Cardiff hasn't seen anything like De Gabay.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36A promenade performance across 60 locations
0:15:36 > 0:15:41with 300 participants over one epic eight-hour day.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44And with poetry at its heart.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48The tone of my voice speaks the music of your thoughts.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52My posture coils and springs,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56mimes and sings, the echoing vibrations of your heavens.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58My name is De Gabay.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03'It all began when a group of young poets
0:16:03 > 0:16:06'realised they had something to say.'
0:16:06 > 0:16:09ANIMATED CHATTER
0:16:09 > 0:16:11'But here in the heart of the Somali community,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15'putting on a piece of theatre didn't seem the obvious choice.'
0:16:15 > 0:16:18At first we were like, "Theatre? No.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22"We're not going to get into theatre. We should stay out of it."
0:16:22 > 0:16:24And then people were, like, "No. Have a look at this."
0:16:24 > 0:16:27And then we seen a whole different side to theatre.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It was participatory art.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32And people put on participatory performances and everything.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34And then we thought, "Great! We could do something like this.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"We should create our own show."
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Because it's like a nomadic journey around this area of Cardiff.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43You're taking people on a trip to people's houses.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45We want them to go on a journey
0:16:45 > 0:16:50and leave their own identity behind, just for that day.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54And we want them to taste the words.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57From Wales to Somalia,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00to across the world, nation of poets to nation of poets.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06One of the major themes of De Gabay is identity
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and how young British Somalis are perceived.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Most things I hear these days
0:17:13 > 0:17:15are about how people hate things staying the same.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Why are some people so hard to change?
0:17:17 > 0:17:19It's the same picture, just a different frame.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26There is a negative stereotype of Somali people in Cardiff,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28certainly growing up in Cardiff.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31And you hope to deal with that head on.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33The way we hope to deal with it
0:17:33 > 0:17:36is not even by acknowledging it directly.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It's by showing the truth. We're showing that we are artists.
0:17:39 > 0:17:40We are poets first.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44The way people see me has turned fake.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47"Oh, he's Somali, he might be a pirate."
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Instead of seeing my scripts and thinking that we're poets.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52But, no, people can't take the good with the bad.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55They just believe what they see and start to flee
0:17:55 > 0:17:57when they see a brother with a bag.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Am I British? Am I Somali? Am I a poet?
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Am I a terrorist as you know it?
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Tell me how important poetry is to the Somalian culture.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12History, normally we see it from books and documentaries.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15But in Somali, it's oral.
0:18:15 > 0:18:21So a lot of the history that happened at certain times is in poetry.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Not only has it got that really important place in society,
0:18:24 > 0:18:29where it's the record keeper, it is a living memory of the people,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32it's also fun and enjoyable.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33It's a part of entertainment.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37A comparison would be almost like slam-poetry sessions
0:18:37 > 0:18:40- between poets in Somalia where... - Competitions?- Competitions.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42From village to village.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44It's the same in Wales, too.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46There used to be competitions of poetry in pubs.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Public get-togethers.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50This would be in cafes.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53De Gabay means poetry and music, too.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57- The same thing. The same in Welsh. - It is the same thing.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00# De Gabay, De Gabay, De Gabay, De Gabay, De Gabay
0:19:00 > 0:19:03# De Gabay, De Gabay, De Gabay, De Gabay. #
0:19:03 > 0:19:06To have two cultures so close, living so closely
0:19:06 > 0:19:09and for us not to know that about each other, it's just...
0:19:09 > 0:19:14That's why we have said that our elders felt comfortable here.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15There was that connection,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18but it hasn't been pointed out, it hasn't been labelled.
0:19:18 > 0:19:19And maybe that's De Gabay.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22It's been absolutely lovely meeting you.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25I'm so proud of this. And I really wish you well on 3rd March.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28I hope the whole of Cardiff turns up. It's lovely meeting you, Ahmed.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30And Hassan. Good luck.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36APPLAUSE Wahey!
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And De Gabay takes place on Sunday, 3rd March.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Now, the remarkable story of two maverick art lovers
0:19:47 > 0:19:49who last month finally achieved something
0:19:49 > 0:19:53many professionals in the museum and art world thought impossible.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Nobody thought we could do it.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02It took 10 years, and we've done it.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07We photographed over 211,000 paintings
0:20:07 > 0:20:10in 3,000 different locations all over the UK.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12In town halls and schools,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15in hospitals, big galleries, small galleries,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19all of them holding works of art owned by us, the British public.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24The vast majority were locked away in storerooms or lofts,
0:20:24 > 0:20:25unseen for 20 years or longer.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28And we compiled them into 90 printed volumes.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33And now they're online, free, for all the world to see.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Nobody's ever done anything like it before.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43You can see online, 24 hours a day, every painting you own.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49And it's this marvellous record of us!
0:20:49 > 0:20:50This could never have been done
0:20:50 > 0:20:54hadn't some really rather brave people who were in that profession
0:20:54 > 0:20:56risked their reputations on me.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Alan Borg, who was, at the time, director of the V&A,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03was key to setting up the thinking of it.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06The first time I talked to him about it, he said, "You're absolutely mad."
0:21:06 > 0:21:10If he'd been nice and said, "I don't think it's worth your while,"
0:21:10 > 0:21:12I think I'd have probably stopped.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16But I was so hurt by what he said, that I thought, "Bugger this..."
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Oh, sorry. I'll take that back.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25It's almost 10 years to the day when I met Fred.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28It was a sort of job offer that you really couldn't turn down.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31And fortunately, having had no relevant experience,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35I was completely oblivious as to how ambitious
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and how eccentric an idea this was.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43UCL Art Museum is one of over 3,000 collections
0:21:43 > 0:21:47that have participated in the Your Paintings project.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49And it's an interesting one because it combines
0:21:49 > 0:21:53both the museum, university and art school.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57So over here, we have two works by Stanley Spencer.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00The one on the right is a later work.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02It's a bequest to the university.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05But the one on the left is one of his student works.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08What I think is so important about the website
0:22:08 > 0:22:10is it allows you to see the early works,
0:22:10 > 0:22:15the less-known works, together with the more famous ones.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19In total, there are approaching 200 works by Spencer on the site.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22There are hundreds of works by Gainsborough, by Rubens,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24by Joshua Reynolds.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28The site allows one to see the full picture across their earth.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36There are far too many paintings in our national collection for us to show.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41In actual fact, probably 80 percent of the 200,000 or so paintings
0:22:41 > 0:22:42in the National Collection
0:22:42 > 0:22:44are either in storerooms like this
0:22:44 > 0:22:48or in buildings where there isn't routine public access.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52So one of the big benefits of this project
0:22:52 > 0:22:55is that all the paintings, whether they're in store,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57whether they're on show,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01irrespective of the perceived quality, irrespective of condition,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04they're shown on the Your Paintings website.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11There are 30,000 paintings where we have no record at all
0:23:11 > 0:23:15of an artist being associated with that particular painting.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20Here's an example of a painting where we don't know the artist
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and we don't know the name of the sitter.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25That looks like a very distinctive face.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Someone out there, I'm sure, probably knows who that man is.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32One of the great things about this project
0:23:32 > 0:23:35is that on the site, there's a little art detective feature.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And if you know something specifically about a painting,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40you can tell us what you know.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Hopefully, over time, we'll be able to fill that information in.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55I think that there was a realisation in me
0:23:55 > 0:23:59that this was a job which just had to be done.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03I just had this feeling that if I didn't do it, nobody would do it.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07And I suppose I wanted to show my children
0:24:07 > 0:24:09that, you know, even aged 60,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13if there's something which has to be done and nobody else is doing it,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15you damn well get out and do it yourself.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17I suppose that was it.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Your Paintings is live now.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23And staying online, the Omnivore website
0:24:23 > 0:24:26was set up by Anna Baddeley and Fleur MacDonald
0:24:26 > 0:24:28to compare and contrast reviews.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Last year, the pair were so frustrated
0:24:31 > 0:24:34by lazy, misleading literary criticism
0:24:34 > 0:24:37that they set up the Hatchet Job of the Year Award
0:24:37 > 0:24:40to celebrate journalism that isn't afraid
0:24:40 > 0:24:42to stick the knife into the book world.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45# It's the Hatchet Job
0:24:45 > 0:24:47# And it's coming for you
0:24:47 > 0:24:49# It's the Hatchet Job
0:24:49 > 0:24:51# And it's credibly true
0:24:51 > 0:24:54# Finest reputation crushed in one blow
0:24:54 > 0:24:58# Ladies and gentlemen let's get on with the show. #
0:25:00 > 0:25:03We asked Lynn Barber, Francis Wheen and John Walsh
0:25:03 > 0:25:06to select the year's best bad book reviews.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08They picked a shortlist of reviewers
0:25:08 > 0:25:12who weren't afraid to take on the titans of the literary world.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17- Titan number one...- Martin Amis.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Ron Charles of the Washington Post savaged Lionel Asbo.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"Does any other truly great writer make us wonder
0:25:24 > 0:25:28"whether his brilliant parts are worth the wearisome whole?"
0:25:28 > 0:25:33Ouch! Most of the UK reviews for Lionel Asbo were very polite.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36It took an American reviewer to see past the hype.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37We book lovers need reviews
0:25:37 > 0:25:40by people who know what they're talking about.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Especially when it comes to non-fiction.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Take Professor Richard Evans,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49who reviewed AN Wilson's Short Biography of Hitler in the New Statesman.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51"It's hard to think why a publishing house
0:25:51 > 0:25:53"that once had a respected history list
0:25:53 > 0:25:57"agreed to produce this travesty of a biography."
0:25:57 > 0:26:01In one fell swoop, Professor Richard Evans savaged the book,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03the publisher and the whole industry.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07A literary reputation doesn't guarantee
0:26:07 > 0:26:10that you're impervious to criticism.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Craig Raine is a poet.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16And The Divine Comedy can be described as a poet's novel.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18This is not necessarily a good thing,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21in critic Allan Massie's view.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26"A shameless exercise in marketing old rope", according to Craig Brown.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Claire Harman was not impressed by Andrew Motion's Silver.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35"Characters as wooden as absent Silver's leg."
0:26:37 > 0:26:40The judges also chose Suzanne Moore's Guardian review
0:26:40 > 0:26:42of Naomi Wolf's book, Vagina.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46"My problem with Wolf is longstanding.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50"And is not about how she looks or climaxes,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54"but it's about how she thinks, or rather doesn't."
0:26:56 > 0:26:59The winner of Hatchet Job of the Year doesn't get a big fat cheque.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03On top of fame, glory and literary recognition,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05they also get a year's supply of potted shrimp.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07The book that inspired this year's winning review
0:27:07 > 0:27:10was Rachel Cusk's Aftermath.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12A candid account of her divorce.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15It may have got five stars in the Sunday Telegraph,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19but Camilla Long of the Sunday Times begged to differ.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23"Can a tray of vol-au-vents really be steeped in rejection?
0:27:23 > 0:27:26"In Cusk's world, even the canapes are victims.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29"She can certainly be overdramatic."
0:27:29 > 0:27:32She was on point. She was vitriolic,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and more importantly, she was funny.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36A very worthy winner.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41And congratulations to Camilla Long.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I just hope she likes potted shrimp.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Next week, Mark Kermode will be revealing the winners
0:27:46 > 0:27:48of the coveted Kermode Awards.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52But to play us out, here are the godfathers of electronic music.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Named after the German for power station,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Kraftwerk are celebrating nearly 40 years
0:27:57 > 0:27:59since they revolutionised the music scene
0:27:59 > 0:28:01with a run of performances in London.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05So here's a sample of their sold-out residency at Tate's Turbine Hall.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Good night.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18# We're charging our battery
0:28:19 > 0:28:23# And now we're full of energy
0:28:23 > 0:28:26# We are the robots
0:28:27 > 0:28:29# We are the robots
0:28:31 > 0:28:34# We are the robots
0:28:35 > 0:28:37# We are the robots
0:28:39 > 0:28:41# We're functioning automatik
0:28:43 > 0:28:46# And we are dancing mekanik
0:28:47 > 0:28:49# We are the robots
0:28:51 > 0:28:53# We are the robots
0:28:55 > 0:28:57# We are the robots
0:28:57 > 0:29:00# We are the robots. #
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd