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Victoria Regina: Spring (1.1, Granada, 1964)

"I don't know what to think of it."

"It, meaning what?"

"Female. On the throne. King would have been so much better."

"Oh, I don't know, my lord: heirs male of the last generation have not been a conspicuous success."

"No English king has been a conspicuous success since Edward I."

"Yet the monarchy has gone on."

"Yes. And it's gone off."

#victoria regina #spring #granada #classic tv #1964 #laurence housman #peter wildeblood #stuart latham #patricia routledge #joachim hansen #geoffrey dunn #max adrian #michael bilton #cyril luckham #miles malleson #marianne deeming #nicholas courtney #humphrey morton #ann way #michael wolf #finding myself in something of a Saint burnout I turned to this 4 part mini series from 1964 to freshen my brain. ah good old granada‚#could you be further from the uneasy gloss and polish of ITC? immediately we open on drabby little sets and actors stumbling over their #lines. feels like.. home. based on the play by Housman‚ a fascinating figure (more or less openly gay at a very dangerous time to be so‚#and a passionate supporter of womens suffrage who produced art and propaganda for the cause and was arrested at rallies) the play had been #adapted for American tv a couple of years earlier‚ but the text dated back to 1934 and it's surprising how fresh and modern it feels #almost certainly that's a reflection of Housman's progressive sensibilities. this is no simple hagiography but a study of what it meant for #a woman to be crowned in England in that time. Routledge is superb as the young queen‚ an apparent innocent in the ways of courtly politics #and deferential to her male advisors; but beneath it just the beginnings of a sense of steel at her centre‚ an unwillingness to bend or to #otherwise compromise on a point of principle. also excellent is Cyril Luckham‚ nearly unrecognisable beneath a dashing wig‚ as Victoria's #first PM Lord Melbourne. history has not been especially kind to Melbourne‚ but if he was anything like Luckham's kindly uncle he was ok

The Man in the White Suit (1951)

Director - Alexander Mackendrick, Cinematography - Douglas Slocombe

"Why can't you scientists leave things alone? What about my bit of washing when there's no washing to do?"

Victoria Regina: Summer (1.2, Granada, 1964)

"We can't share everything, Albert. Some things I shall have to do alone: affairs of state in which it would not be right for you to concern yourself."

"So?"

"Yes, dearest, you must take great care. The English are jealous, and to them you are still a foreigner."

"And to you?"

"To me you are everything. Life, happiness, peace and comfort."

#victoria regina #summer #1964 #granada #classic tv #laurence housman #peter wildeblood #stuart latham #patricia routledge #joachim hansen #jolyon booth #geoffrey dunn #jennie linden #james ottaway #barbara couper #john brooking #paul williamson #patricia greene #tom payne #john raven #where part one concentrated on Victoria's ascension to the throne‚ part two is a closer examination of the relationship between her and #Albert. it's both a loving and turbulent relationship‚ complicated by disparate factors: the traditional gender roles of victorian era #marriage in conflict with Victoria's position as Queen over Albert‚ their different nationalities and approach to customs and behaviours‚#as well as the pressures of external influences in politics and court members. this is very much a theatrical piece but it speaks to the #quality of both the writing and the performances that it is very easy to forget that this is basically just 50 minutes of conversations in #a series of different rooms. one aspect of the plot is Albert's (illegitimate) parentage‚ and I do wonder if this is an addition for tv #whilst the theory is not unknown (but unproven) and i believe featured in the more recent Jenna Coleman series‚ I'd be surprised if Housman #had included it in his original play (which appeared after all only 33 years after Victoria's death‚ and required special permission to #even be staged‚ as stage depictions of recent monarchs were considered taboo; it took King Edward VIII himself to overturn the rule).#not having a copy of the play in my collection i unfortunately cannot check but it does seem unlikely to me

Victoria Regina: Winter (1.4, Granada, 1964)

"What is one to do? There are so many of them - far too many, as you say - and social conditions make it so difficult, you can't get rid of ignorance in a day, Mrs. Clayton!"

"No, nor in a lifetime if one does nothing. Indifference, prejudice, class distinction; all help."

"Help?"

"Have helped, most certainly, to make Windsor what no self-respecting place ought to be."

"Would you wish to get rid of class distinction, Mrs. Clayton?"

"I would wish to get rid of anything, ma'am, which prevents people from recognising their responsibilities."

#victoria regina #classic tv #granada #winter #1964 #laurence housman #peter wildeblood #stuart latham #patricia routledge #max adrian #jameson clark #dorothy reynolds #lloyd pearson #kevin brennan #rosamond burne #ernest milton #ian wilson #george curzon #charles cullum #john h. moore #christopher steele #having been in some ways sidelined by the plot of Albert's death in Autumn‚ Victoria is once again centre stage for Winter. dealing with #her final decades as queen‚ the play opens on VR receiving old friend Disraeli (a welcome return for Max Adrian‚ here playing Disraeli as #an old and tired man compared to the twinkling politician of Autumn) before quickly taking in meetings with a reformer of public life and #then a group of bishops. the effect is to present a queen who is as strong of spirit and mettle as she ever was‚ but who is gradually #living out of time and touch with her country; Mrs Clayton is something of a grotesque and the scene clearly has a comic element‚ but she's #also right when she talks about improving conditions for the poor and updating infrastructure. even the bishops are able to appreciate #changing times and evolving views. but Victoria is so steeped in tradition that she risks belonging to an age entirely separate from her #people. Housman was a gay‚ feminist reformer so it's fairly obvious where his sympathies lie‚ but he also lived through the period this ep #covers: his portrait of the queen is not without affection‚ and the series ends on a note of public celebration with the diamond jubilee

Sellafield's tallest chimney coming down The demolition of one of Sellafield’s tallest hazards has started. A chimney on top of the oldest reprocessing plant on the nuclear site, will be crunched away at a rate of 1 metre a week. Full story: http://www.cumbriacrack.com/2017/11/14/sellafields-tallest-chimney-coming/

#Nuvia Ltd #Sellafield Ltd #Stuart Latham #top

Sellafield's tallest chimney coming down The demolition of one of Sellafield’s tallest hazards has started. A chimney on top of the oldest reprocessing plant on the nuclear site, will be crunched away at a rate of 1 metre a week. Full story: http://www.cumbriacrack.com/2017/11/14/sellafields-tallest-chimney-coming/

#Nuvia Ltd #Sellafield Ltd #Stuart Latham #top

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