A cultured walk among the Titians
THE surprise guest at the National Gallery’s preview for Civilisations was Sir David Attenborough, who commissioned the original series back in February 1969. He was Controller of BBC2 at the time. In his familiar tones, Attenborough explained the original was actually a decision to turn the British public on to colour TV:
“The intellectual thing to say in 1965 AS VENUES go, the National Gallery was an appropriate choice for last night’s Civilisations screening: it was a nod to Kenneth Clark, the original presenter and former director of the gallery. Among the guests were Transport Minister Jo Johnson, actor Lenny Henry, historian
Bettany Hughes and Defra minister Therese Coffey.
Guests nibbled on fine canapes amidst the Titians, while Gabriele Finaldi, current gallery director, mingled. Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, worked the room. “It was difficult not to giggle,” one guest remarked. “Everytime I look at him I think of W1A.”
was ‘Oh, colour, why do we want that?” he told the audience. “I had to change this. I thought the simple idea would be to get all the loveliest things in colour, put them in a chronological order and to contemporary music and then you would have a series.”
Not everyone succumbed to colour. Mary Beard said she watched it on a black-and-white Radio Rentals telly.