Kenneth Clark's Civilisation

Ken Clark's Civilisation is something I've wanted to see for a long time. But guilty pleasures will keep the classics at bay...

I'm posting because I'm astonished at how ridiculous I've been! Civilisation is a narrative as good, if not better, than Gombrich's The Story of Art and puts me in mind more of Johnathan Meades than any of today's screen-filling fatfaces.

I feel gently encouraged in my comparison by finding out as I write this that Clive James describes Meades as

To watch it, go to MyTVBlog and download it. You need to download all four parts and combine them to get the full episode, but you can preview the first 15 mins. It is worth it.

In fact, it's worth it alone for the bit where Clark follows the sinuous line of an oak carving with his hand. I'll say no more - suffice to say, fans of the BBC series Look Around You will love it.