Gazzola | 08 Jun 2015 2:29 a.m. PST |
What a great start to the week. I turned on the TV to watch the popular TV talk show The Wright Stuff on channel 5, and there was Andrew Roberts destroying the negative myths about Napoleon, such as his height and blame for starting all the wars. Absolutely brilliant! His three part TV documentaries start this Wednesday on BBC2 at 9.30pm. Can't wait, especially after watching the Wellington Exposed documentary. We should all bury the hatchet and enjoy the Anniversary year. I doubt any of us will be around for another one. |
MajorB | 08 Jun 2015 2:31 a.m. PST |
Napoleon on TV!! It must have been a pain to get the cameras out to the battlefield … or did they just film him in the palace in Paris? Does he interview well? |
MajorB | 08 Jun 2015 2:32 a.m. PST |
Or maybe it's all just a myth and Napoleon was never on TV … |
Calico Bill | 08 Jun 2015 2:57 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the info Gazzola. |
Jcfrog | 08 Jun 2015 3:36 a.m. PST |
Truth coming from TV? Who is the sponsor? |
Dave Jackson | 08 Jun 2015 5:12 a.m. PST |
Peter Hofshroer? (Sorry, gratuitous humour I know…I enjoy all of Peter's books!) |
NappyBuff | 08 Jun 2015 8:39 a.m. PST |
What is the name of the series? |
MajorB | 08 Jun 2015 12:59 p.m. PST |
What is the name of the series? "Napoleon" Rather unimaginative, I thought. |
Navy Fower Wun Seven | 08 Jun 2015 1:45 p.m. PST |
Napoleon and 'truth' in the same title! I'm still not sure which of his 3 accounts of the Battle of Marengo is the 'truth' – I suspect the first one, when he was still grateful to Desaix for saving the day! |
Navy Fower Wun Seven | 08 Jun 2015 1:45 p.m. PST |
Napoleon and 'truth' in the same title! I'm still not sure which of his 3 versions of the Battle of Marengo is the 'truth' – I suspect the first one, when he was still grateful to Desaix for saving the day! |
ochoin | 08 Jun 2015 1:56 p.m. PST |
Anything Napoleonic on TV is a welcome rarity. Andrew Roberts is a bonus. |
Gazzola | 08 Jun 2015 2:16 p.m. PST |
Navy Fower Wun Seven As grateful as Wellington for the Prussians saving the day at Waterloo. LOL |
Gazzola | 08 Jun 2015 2:23 p.m. PST |
MajorB The programme is about Napoleon. It traces Napoleon's life and his political and military career. You don't need a fancy title for a good programme and we have three of them. And we only got one for Wellington. But we should be pleased we are not moaning about the lack of coverage in this special year. |
Gazzola | 08 Jun 2015 3:01 p.m. PST |
For something different but of the period, there is always the BBC Radio 4FM Drama – Waterloo: The Ball at Brussels by Mike Walker. (2.15-3pm, Wednesday, 17th) Could be okay for listening to when painting your miniatures. It is said to be based on historical fact. Napoleonic stuff on TV and radio. Can it get any better? |
Navy Fower Wun Seven | 08 Jun 2015 11:45 p.m. PST |
As grateful as Wellington for the Prussians saving the day at Waterloo Indeed – although historians have really had to dig and twist to an absurd extent to claim that Lord W subsequently tried to cover his debt – Napoleon's rewrites are there for all to see! (Although rarely mentioned by his fans here!) But you're right of course, even if you don't worship at the little Corporal's feet you can still be grateful for the current level of interest raised by the 200th! |
Gazzola | 09 Jun 2015 4:51 a.m. PST |
Navy Fower Wun Seven The Anniversary Year is for all parties to celebrate and remember. You don't have to be a 'worshipper' of anyone, Napoleon, Wellington or any other great leader. Rewriting history-I guess the historian Peter Snow could be considered an expert on that, when, in a recent documentary he stated that Europe embarked on 100 years of peace after Waterloo. I guess the Crimean War, the Dutch-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and World War One starting in 1914 must have just slipped his mind. LOL. |
MaggieC70 | 09 Jun 2015 5:39 a.m. PST |
And the Boer War…unless that was, like the Zulu Wars, just a minor colonial dust-up. Not to mention all those inconvenient revolutions in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1848 on the basis of 19th century liberalism and nationalism and against the ideals of the Congress of Vienna folks. Rewrites are indeed fun to see. I agree that Naps was a master of revisionism--often it is difficult to keep up. |
Gazzola | 09 Jun 2015 10:14 a.m. PST |
MaggieC70 Peter Snow is not the first make such a gaff. There are others I came across but at least they only said the result at Waterloo lead to 50 years of peace in Europe. You just have to laugh. |
Gazzola | 11 Jun 2015 4:28 p.m. PST |
Just watched the first of the three part documentary on Napoleon by Andrew Roberts. I think it is one of the best I've ever seen. It basically covers Napoleon's rise from artillery officer to First Consul. My only complaint with the first episode was the lack of coverage of the military actions. It discusses Napoleon defeating Piedmont, the Battle of Lodi and the important siege of Mantua, but the other victories of 1796 and 1797 did not get a mention. The Egyptian adventure was also covered fairly quickly, again with little discussion on the military actions. Of course you can't please everyone and, although I would have preferred the whole programme to be military history based more than anything else, the political and social side to Napoleon's career and the Napoleonic period is important and not everyone watching it will be as interested in military history as I am. But a great start and I'm really looking forward to the following two episodes. |
Gazzola | 12 Jun 2015 10:06 a.m. PST |
Forgot to mention there is another programme about the great man on BBC Radio 3. Napoleon Rising. 10pm. BBC Radio 3 (Drama) They just keeping popping up. 2016 is going to seem incredibly dull after this. |
Trajanus | 13 Jun 2015 2:59 a.m. PST |
No its not – I feel an avalanche of "The Somme" coming our way. Can't see the 100th Anniversary of the worst day of the British Army and the epitome of the dark side of WW1 passing without comment. |
Supercilius Maximus | 13 Jun 2015 4:05 a.m. PST |
Can't help but agree with you, Trajanus. To the average "I've watched Blackadder, I know what it was like" punter, WW1 consists of Day 1 of The Somme + four years of Passchendaele. That said, I watched part one of "Napoleon" this morning. It was clear that Roberts was going to find an excuse for anything bad the man did, as his stated mission was to challenge the "myths and lies" about Boney. Fair do's, Roberts did not shirk the "whiff of grapeshot" and the Jaffa massacre, but there was no reference at all to why Napoleon left Egypt in a hurry and he seemed to make an awful lot of what a dreadful state France was in when Napoleon "took over". Then I switched over to Trooping the Colour for a chance to watch the winners. |
arthur1815 | 13 Jun 2015 6:22 a.m. PST |
Entertaining viewing and Roberts is an engaging presenter, but…he was clearly an admirer of Bonaparte – and to be fair admitted as much – so not exactly an impartial analysis. |
Supercilius Maximus | 13 Jun 2015 10:59 a.m. PST |
Indeed – unlike your poor old namesake, who got the "warts and all" treatment. In this country we are often far more cruel to our own than they deserve. |
Gazzola | 13 Jun 2015 3:41 p.m. PST |
Find an excuse or tell the truth, for a change? But it was really a nice change from the usual 'unbiased' historian or presenter, who, when describing the life and career of Napoleon, usually referred to him as 'the Corsican Ogre'. And to be fair to Andrew Roberts, he did say he was fed up, as many of us are, with reading the same old negative myths and accounts about Napoleon, which many took to be fact, such as his size and starting all the wars etc. And he can't fit in or describe everything in detail in three one hour episodes. It is a shame there were not more. But it is a very entertaining and revealing series. As for Wellington, a documentary about his life was broadcast earlier, so he does get his share of attention and there are more programmes due to be aired on TV and on the Radio. |
tuscaloosa | 13 Jun 2015 8:24 p.m. PST |
"the Dutch-Prussian War" ? |
Gazzola | 14 Jun 2015 5:19 a.m. PST |
Tuscaloosa Oops-my mistake! Well spotted. I meant the Danish-Prussian War when the Danes fought against the Prussians and Austrians in 1864, sometimes termed the Second Schleswig War. There has been a brilliant TV Drama series called 1864 shown recently by the BBC. Most of it was really good, although I can't comment on how accurate it was historically. But it was certainly one of the best military-drama series I've seen for a long time. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it. |
Old Peculiar | 15 Jun 2015 2:49 p.m. PST |
I turned it off after 40 mins, I found the hero worship to sickly sweet for my palate. |
Gazzola | 15 Jun 2015 4:16 p.m. PST |
Old Peculiar Hero worship? I've never heard anyone who 'worshipped' someone actually mention negative aspects of that person. However, I have heard them do so to those they admire. You can admire someone but still disagree with various aspects of that person or their actions. |