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    <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2014 10:04:52 +0000</pubDate>
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      <title>The First Georgians: I found myself pitying these kings</title>
      <description><![CDATA['They were thrust into a job they hadn’t asked for ... which practically destroyed their personal lives.’ Curator and presenter Lucy Worsley shares her favourite stories about the German kings and queens in the BBC Four documentary. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2014 10:04:52 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/9faf5ae1-4fd9-346e-8798-45b865af012a</link>
      <guid>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/9faf5ae1-4fd9-346e-8798-45b865af012a</guid>
      <author>Lucy Worsley</author>
      <dc:creator>Lucy Worsley</dc:creator>
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    <p>If you work as a curator, as I do, at Hampton Court, you sometimes wonder if there might be more to life than Henry VIII.</p><p>Of course, he’s our biggest character at Hampton Court, and always will be.</p><p>But after our re-display of the Tudor palace in 2009, which was the 500-year anniversary of Henry VIII’s coming to the throne, I began to think it was time we turned our attention to the other, Georgian, half of the building.  </p><p>It is just as extensive and impressive as the Tudor part but much less familiar.</p><p>My colleagues and I at Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which looks after Hampton Court, decided we’d get the palace’s Georgian rooms ready for display by 2014, an important year: the tercentenary of George I’s coming to the throne in 1714.  </p><p></p>
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    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p01ylc6g.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p01ylc6g.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""><p><em>Lucy Worsley admires the Georgian works at The Queen&#039;s Gallery, Buckingham Palace</em></p></div>
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    <p>And, as it turns out, there’s an enormous smorgasbord of Georgian activity celebrating the anniversary this summer.</p><p>As well as our re-displayed Georgian apartments at Hampton Court and Kensington Palace, there’s a wonderful exhibition of Georgian art at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.</p><p>The BBC Four TV series that I’ve presented, <a title="The First Georgians" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wq5xr">The First Georgians</a>, includes architecture and objects from all three palaces. </p><p>The series looks at the important developments of the Georgian age: politics, slavery, satire, stock market bubbles, innoculation against smallpox and the invention of the novel.  </p><p>But I was very keen that the personal stories of <a title="King George I" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3RWQGrN1KFwwX4bb55Hz3h6/king-george-i">George I</a> and George II, and particularly that of his wife, <a title="The First Georgians: Queen Caroline" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/32wPTp6Lvx1X0LhwJysLxXy/queen-caroline">Caroline</a>, were also included. </p><p></p>
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            <em>Queen Caroline: ‘She’s not exactly a fairy-tale princess’</em>
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    <p>I'm extremely fond of Caroline, a bookworm, because I think she's the cleverest and funniest queen consort - as well as the fattest - that Britain's ever had. </p><p>These characters have been rather neglected by historians, but I spent five years researching them all in detail for a book about the Georgian court.  </p><p>As I came to know them well, I found myself pitying, rather than envying these people.  </p><p>They were thrust into a job – being Britain’s Royal Family – they hadn’t asked for, which didn’t suit their personalities, and which practically destroyed their personal lives.</p><p></p>
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            <em>Court gossip: Lucy on the scandalous sexual slander against George I and his household</em>
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    <p>Because of the demands of court politics and the public position in which they lived, George I, George II and their children ended up doing bizarre and horrible things to each other, such as kidnapping a baby.  </p><p>After one ridiculous court quarrel, George I took guardianship of his grandchildren in order to use them as hostages for future good behaviour from his son and daughter-in-law.  </p><p>One of the grandchildren, a baby boy, was then given the wrong medical treatment, and died.  </p><p>In this case farce turned into tragedy, and the baby's mother (then Princess) Caroline was left feeling as if her child had been taken from her and killed. </p><p>As well as this, the Hanoverians did things like locking up a wife for adultery, forcing a teenager to give birth to her first child in a carriage at night, humiliating each other in public.</p><p>You wouldn’t believe it if you saw it in a soap opera.  But there was also some kindness and kissing and even the odd deathbed reconciliation. </p><p>I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d always thought of our Georgian kings - George I, George II and George III - as German, grumpy and slightly indistinguishable from each other.  But I hope you’ll see a bit more of their individuality and their humanity.</p><p><br><em><a title="Lucy Worsley: Personal website" href="http://www.lucyworsley.com/blog/">Lucy Worsley</a> is chief curator of Historic Royal Palaces and presenter of <a title="BBC Four: The First Georgians" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wq5xr">The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain</a>.</em></p><p><em><a title="BBC Four: The First Georgians" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wq5xr">The First Georgians</a> continues on Thursday 8 May at 9pm on <a title="BBC Four: Homepage" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour">BBC Four</a> and <a title="BBC FAQs - HD channels" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/bbchd_channels">BBC Four HD</a>. For further programme times please see the episode guide.</em></p><p><em><strong>More on The First Georgians<br></strong><a title="BBC Four: The 18th Century Season " href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01vqxsg">BBC Four: The 18th Century Season</a>  <br></em><em><a title="BBC Radio 3: The 18th Century Season  " href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wrrz2">Radio 3: The 18th Century Season</a> <br><a title="The First Georgians: Watch clips from the series " href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wq5xr/clips">The First Georgians: Watch clips from the series</a><br></em><em><a title="The First Georgians: A Family Tree " href="The%20First%20Georgians:%20A%20Family%20Tree%20">The First Georgians: A Family Tree</a> <br><a title="The First Georgians: Lucy Worsley on her favourite Georgians " href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4Yg9D8wsR7wrB2rtJcGYbq2/lucy-worsley-on-the-first-georgians">The First Georgians: Lucy Worsley on her favourite Georgians</a> <br><a title="The Royal Collection: Visit the First Georgians Exhibition" href="http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/the-first-georgians-art-monarchy-1714-1760">The Royal Collection: Visit the First Georgians Exhibition</a></em></p><p><em><strong>Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.</strong></em></p>
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      <title>The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II: Restoring an era</title>
      <description><![CDATA[How precious BBC archive footage was painstakingly restored to match the original broadcast quality of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 31 May 2013 14:51:49 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/4ff45344-857d-3647-bc29-25dbb7b98607</link>
      <guid>https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/4ff45344-857d-3647-bc29-25dbb7b98607</guid>
      <author>Jonathan Wood</author>
      <dc:creator>Jonathan Wood</dc:creator>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="component prose">
    <p>As a colourist with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Studios_and_Post_Production">BBC Studios and Post Production</a>'s digital restoration team, I am used to handling valuable archive footage.</p><p>However it's not very often that something as precious and special as the original black and white coronation footage arrives for me to digitally restore and preserve.</p><p>Amounting to seven and a quarter hours, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p019rmk2">The Coronation Of Queen Elizabeth II</a> is being shown in its entirety by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/parliament/programmes/schedules">BBC Parliament</a> on Sunday, 2 June 2013, exactly 60 years after its original broadcast.</p>
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    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019tfz1.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p019tfz1.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p019tfz1.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019tfz1.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p019tfz1.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p019tfz1.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p019tfz1.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p019tfz1.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p019tfz1.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""><p><em>The central control room in Broadcasting House combined contributions from cameras and microphones</em></p></div>
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    <p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/queen_elizabeth_ii#p00qshsy">The Queen's Coronation</a> was an epoch-making moment in broadcasting history – it was the first time the television audience exceeded the radio audience. It was also the largest outside broadcast that the BBC had ever undertaken.</p><p>In 1953 TV technology was in its infancy and video recording had not been invented, so the only way the BBC could retain a copy of what was transmitted on that day was by filming the output - basically pointing a camera at a 405-line television monitor! </p><p>The BBC did this using 35mm black and white film. Recording the broadcast onto film and storing it for 60 years brings its own problems, like dirt and scratches. </p><p>These film faults were not part of what the public actually saw on the day, therefore our challenge was to restore the pictures as closely as possible to how people would have experienced them at the time.</p><p></p>
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    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019t88w.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p019t88w.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p019t88w.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019t88w.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p019t88w.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p019t88w.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p019t88w.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p019t88w.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p019t88w.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""><p><em>The carriage procession passing the television camera on the Victoria Embankment</em></p></div>
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    <p>The 35mm film rolls only lasted around 10 minutes, so an immense 45 film rolls were used in total. </p><p>After cleaning the rolls I scanned them to make digital files, taking care to capture the full picture area available. </p><p>This revealed more of the image than was seen on previous versions, bringing it in line with the live broadcast in 1953.</p><p>I then painstakingly graded each shot, which involves adjusting the brightness and contrast levels to maintain a consistently good looking image, whilst removing film defects, including fine dust, dirt and occasional damage.</p><p></p>
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    <img class="image" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019t85x.jpg" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/80xn/p019t85x.jpg 80w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/160xn/p019t85x.jpg 160w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/320xn/p019t85x.jpg 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p019t85x.jpg 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640xn/p019t85x.jpg 640w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/768xn/p019t85x.jpg 768w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/896xn/p019t85x.jpg 896w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1008xn/p019t85x.jpg 1008w" sizes="(min-width: 63em) 613px, (min-width: 48.125em) 66.666666666667vw, 100vw" alt=""><p><em>On screen: Queen Elizabeth II in full regalia at her coronation</em></p></div>
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    <p>The film cameras which had been pointing at their own TV screen in order to record continuously had each applied their own particular distortions to the original video image. This resulted in big 'jump-cuts' when the film rolls were joined. </p><p>The original broadcast did not have this problem so I used a digital effect to warp the image each side of the join to match them as closely as possible and then quickly dissolved between the two reels.</p><p>This resulted in a much smoother transition - practically invisible and hopefully achieves the seamless quality of the original broadcast shots. </p><p>The final stage was adding the soundtrack. The audio has survived well and you can hear the subtleties of tones, the hush of the <a href="http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history">Abbey</a>. </p><p>The commentary is very gentle, very considered and very regal – it sounds brilliant. I'm pleased with the results – the pictures are sharper, clearer and now much closer to the original broadcast images seen by 20 million viewers back in 1953.</p><p><em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2234378/">Jonathan Wood</a> is a colourist for </em><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p019rmk2"><em>The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II</em></a><em>.</em></p><p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p019rmk2"><em>The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II</em></a><em> begins at 10.10 am on Sunday, 2 June on </em><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/parliament/programmes/schedules"><em>BBC Parliament</em></a><em>. </em></p><p><em><strong>More on The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II:</strong> <br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/The-Coronation-And-The-BBC">About The BBC blog: How the BBC documented the Queen's Coronation coverage 60 years ago</a> <br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22688498">BBC News: How the Coronation kick-started the love of television</a> <br><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-22709637">BBC News: In pictures: Queen's Coronation 1953</a></em></p><p><strong><em>Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.</em></strong></p>
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