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By
Luci Cummings
The
Debating Chamber was packed to capacity to hear Dan Cruickshank
speak on the subject of his current BBC television series and accompanying
book, 'Around the World in 80 Treasures'.
The
series follows Cruickshank's worldwide quest for civilisation's
greatest achievements, whether they be in art, architecture, invention,
or continuation of custom. Those of us who have been glued to our
television screens for the last few weeks were eager to hear more,
and to discover what drives someone to go to such extraordinary
lengths.
Unsurprisingly
for an enterprise of this type, Cruickshank began with a few statistics.
His travels took him to six continents in five months - one country
every four days. The speed with which he encountered the 'treasures'
allowed him to make comparisons between cultures and their attitudes
towards the preservation of these objects, and it was this which
formed the basis of his talk. He covered the consequences of war,
neglect and mass tourism on some of the artefacts he had visited,
illustrating his points with numerous slides.
Cruickshank
is an enthusiastic speaker who seems to find fascinating details
in everything he sees. For the most part the audience appeared to
be carried along by his enthusiasm, even through some major digressions
away from the areas he visited whilst filming the television series.
Sadly,
due to time constraints and Mr Cruickshank's passionate diversions
we were left hanging on a slide of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Both
the audience and the speaker would have liked to continue, but it
was not possible. What came across during the hour was Cruickshank's
inexhaustible passion for the places and objects he has seen, and
also for their preservation. It is also plain that choosing only
eighty objects over their fellows was a somewhat ridiculous task.
There
are many more wonderful 'treasures' which deserve to be recognised.
Hopefully Dan Cruickshank will be able to turn his attention to
more of these in the future.
The
views expressed in these comments are those of the contributor's
and not the BBC.
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