Jeremy Paxman: 'Our empire was an amazing thing'

[ovenpaa]

As if a Dane can comment, her country men of old were hardly known for their tact and diplomacy...

[Dougan]

Yes, but when they invaded us, they did it in such a nice way... :P

[Christel]

The Danes are a nation of friendly people, wouldn't hurt a fly, no idea what you two are on about :P

[Dougan]

viking.jpg (6.55 KiB) Viewed 1642 times

[aubrey]

Well, it's all a matter of perspective - take for instance the second Anglo-Boer war; not the best example of the British Empire at work. Started by greed and arrogance and finished by a systematic scorched earth and the murdering of more women and children than combatants....conveniently forgotten. Maybe it would be a good thing to teach that in school, so that it never happens again. Fat chance.

[dromia]

Not owning a TV I have not seen said programme but I did read a less than flattering review of it in one of the broadsheets. It basically said the the "Chinese" Gordon episode about his Sudan sojurn that lead to his death in Khartoum was totally inaccurate and the Paxman just failed to understand the history.

But then TV is like Holywood only interested in viewing numbers at the expense of fact. Never let the truth get in the way of good story or strapline, but then journalists work for TV too so what would one expect.

Then again it was journalist that wrote the review so the authenticity of that has to be in question also. :G

[Christel]

Best bit was the Enfield, he looked like he had done that before

[Dougan]

A nice one too, with a chrome tank

I thought it was pretty good again - it's certainly joining the dots for me on what I already new of the empire...and looking at it from a historical (as opposed to moral) view, I find the scale of it incredable.

Dromia: It is a bit disjointed, and looks at themes rather than just a timeline or country on it's own; so really you need to see all 5 to get the full picture - If you get the chance it's worth a watch (rather than taking the opinion of a single journalist) - it's very interesting...for instance, did you know it was two Scotsmen who caused the Opium Wars...

[Christel]

Not owning a TV I have not seen said programme but I did read a less than flattering review of it in one of the broadsheets. It basically said the the "Chinese" Gordon episode about his Sudan sojurn that lead to his death in Khartoum was totally inaccurate and the Paxman just failed to understand the history.

But then TV is like Holywood only interested in viewing numbers at the expense of fact. Never let the truth get in the way of good story or strapline, but then journalists work for TV too so what would one expect.

Then again it was journalist that wrote the review so the authenticity of that has to be in question also. :G

Somehow I doubt Paxman fails to see anything, it may be that the program failed to put the right point across.

Journalist...haven't we got one on this forum somewhere...

[dromia]

Reading some of the posts here I thought we had a few.