BBC and museum launch world history project
The British Museum and the BBC are collaborating on one of the most ambitious public history projects ever undertaken, with a programme of events and activities that has the potential to change the way that people all over the world think about the past.
Central to it is an online challenge for people to present heirlooms to museum curators and other experts who will examine how they feed into the story of civilisation. Mark Damazer, controller of Radio 4, described it as “an upmarket Antiques Roadshow without the cash”.
The anchor for the project is a landmark 100-part Radio 4 series called A History of the World in One Hundred Objects, written and presented by Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, which will begin on January 18. Subjects will include the Elgin Marbles, the Anglo-Saxon helmet from Sutton Hoo and a credit card, probably from Asia.
By emphasising objects Mr MacGregor will be able to tell a much more rounded history of the world than most people are used to. It will “recover the silent testimony of people who didn’t have writing or who were defeated by people who did and tell their story instead,” he said.
Read entire article at Times (UK)
Central to it is an online challenge for people to present heirlooms to museum curators and other experts who will examine how they feed into the story of civilisation. Mark Damazer, controller of Radio 4, described it as “an upmarket Antiques Roadshow without the cash”.
The anchor for the project is a landmark 100-part Radio 4 series called A History of the World in One Hundred Objects, written and presented by Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, which will begin on January 18. Subjects will include the Elgin Marbles, the Anglo-Saxon helmet from Sutton Hoo and a credit card, probably from Asia.
By emphasising objects Mr MacGregor will be able to tell a much more rounded history of the world than most people are used to. It will “recover the silent testimony of people who didn’t have writing or who were defeated by people who did and tell their story instead,” he said.