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An
exciting new project investigating what it means to be Cumbrian.
Programme
2: The Life and Death of Dr Syntax or: The Picturesque Birth of
Baby Tourism
Producer: Andy
Whysall
Listen to
the programme online »
A programme
in a teacup, this one. Or rather a programme from a teacup.
Some
years ago I handed over a couple of quid for an old crock that amused
me to death; a bit of creamware with a transfer on it showing a
gangly old cleric climbing aboard a gangly old horse with a portly
old woman in a mob cap waving a hanky in farewell. The caption on
the other side of the cup explained that this was Dr Syntax setting
out on his tour in search of the picturesque.
Now
I’m one who finds the ridiculous in many things, and when you
take the time to consider you will find that many things are much
more ridiculous than you might first imagine.
It
doesn’t take much to spot the ridiculous in Dr Syntax and I
rather fell in love with the old stick, not realising that his origins
were right on the doorstep of BBC Radio Cumbria.
Curiosity
is a terrible thing, and the internet serves to make one even more
curious; but in the case of Dr Syntax the net assuaged my curiosity
to some degree and pointed me at Scaleby Castle near Carlisle. Oddly
enough I’d been there already to interview its current occupier,
the Conservative peer Lord Henley, about education matters.
I had
no idea at that time that the castle was the birthplace of William
Gilpin, who only after his death was the victim of the satirical
press in William Combe’s wickedly funny verses and Rowlandson’s
fabulously observed cartoons.
Between
birth and posthumous satire Gilpin travelled, wrote, painted and
educated. His pen, pencil or brush were hardly ever still because
he needed the money. But beyond that he felt the need to try to
get people to see things how he saw them, in terms of the picturesque.
And
that’s what this programme is about.
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Dr
Syntax in the wrong lodging house
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It
looks at Gilpin and the others of the time who came to Cumberland
and Westmorland in the 18th Century and tried to open the eyes of
the moneyed classes to the beauties to be found in our own counties,
rather than in the Swiss or Italian lakes. And it worked. Eyes
were opened and the visitors headed north.
Frankly
towards the end of Gilpin’s career, north was better than south
across the Channel because of a couple of minor matters in Europe
called the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
The
script for this programme was first written about five years ago,
but time and staffing and so on got in the way and it languished
in a desk drawer at Radio Cumbria. Then along comes Sense of Place
and all of a sudden the programme had a home. It’s been stacks
of fun to put together, and if you enjoy listening to it half as
much as I enjoyed assembling it, then I’ll have enjoyed it
twice as ... oh, you know.
Andy
Whysall
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Dr
Syntax
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