From Renaissance masterpieces to banned black pudding

It isn’t often that a TV programme has me finding a book I bought in 1967 and thinking it's time I finished it.

But Renaissance: the Blood and the Beauty (BBBC2) has prompted me to re-read  Burckhard’s classic book on that flowering of artistic talent. The artists of that period took Europe from the medieval into the early modern era by embracing the inspiration of the classical art left by the Greek and Roman Empires.

The script of this stylish docu-drama is mainly based on Michelangelo's surviving writings and other contemporary sources. Charles Dance plays the old Michelangelo. He conveys the envy and competitive spirit that spurred the artists vying for recognition and reward in late fifteenth-century Italy.

Reconstructions of dramatic scenes, one of two a little distasteful, are interspersed with commentary from experts ranging from modern artists to academics, one of whom is even a historian of sexuality.

We now take Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael for granted as great artists, but at several points, their lives and works were inextricably intertwined and their reputations precarious. They and their art had to navigate the choppy waters of the rivalry between the warring Italian states.

These three artists, and others of that generation created some of the most well-known art of all time and set standards rarely equalled by later generations.

Michelangelo's talent could sometimes become torture, especially because of his ambivalent sexuality. Many of his works, the statue of David for example, were high-risk projects displaying a homo-erotic interpretation of the male body. A very interesting three-part series, not too heavy, but well worth a catch-up.

If you want to know more about the Renaissance, Michelangelo: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (BBC4) provides a more cerebral examination of some of his major works, including the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. One little surprise is that a British artist, Gary Bevans, has painted a reproduction of Michelangelo’s work on the ceiling of the English Martyrs church in Goring-by-Sea in Sussex.

Whilst art and culture were flowering in Italy, here in England the miserable struggle for the throne between the various strands of the Plantagenet family was drawing to its tragic end.  In Princes in the Tower: a Damning Discovery (Channel 5), historian Tracy Borman attempted to “solve” one of the greatest mysteries of all time: who killed the twelve-year-old King Edward V and his brother?

The Tudor propagandists have always pointed the finger at the boys’ uncle who was crowned as Richard III.  It is an interesting programme, but claims that it provides “concrete evidence” the children were killed on Richard’s order, felt over-ambitious.

Some surviving, almost random, pieces of paper and a reiteration of the well-rehearsed circumstantial speculation, don't provide the evidence to secure a conviction which is beyond reasonable doubt.  One day, this ultimate cold case may be finally solved, but not this time.

Until fifteen days ago, Gregg Wallace, the star of MasterChef (BBC 1) and Inside the Factory (Channel 5) was on his way to becoming a national treasure.

Wallace’s rags-to-riches story of building a multi-million-pound vegetable business was the stuff of legend. His break into broadcasting came when he emerged as a star on a Veg Talk (Radio 4).

Dismissed by some as “fake, barrow-boy bonhomie”, it became immensely popular and Wallace was asked to present the reality cooking competition that turned him into a household name.

In each MasterChef episode, Wallace comes across as a strict timekeeper but is paternalistic and kind to those contestants who are struggling. Only once did I hear an ill-judged sexualised comment and that was by a well-known woman comedy actor, who was seventy-two at the time and sixteen years Wallace’s senior.

Wallace may have survived. It could have been a one-day wonder. However, he destroyed himself with a poorly worded statement that the complaints were coming from “middle-class women of a certain age”. After that, more serious allegations emerged.

There should be absolutely no attempt to excuse Wallace’s off-screen behaviour if, after due process, the allegations prove to have any substance.

I share with Wallace and Jay Blades, another celebrity who was cancelled earlier this year, a similar chaotic council house London childhood, a poor education and the wrong sort of accent. We know that the “barrow boy bonhomie” can only take us so far. But once we try to break through the glass ceiling, members of the middle class, male or female, of any age, will fire at the target on our back. Sadly, Wallace doesn’t understand that.

Last year those who enjoy BBC wireless generously donated £5 million to the St Martin’s-in-the-Fields charity for helping homeless people. Christmas Appeal: Making a Difference (Radio 4) tells some inspiring stories of how that money made a difference.

The pub WhatsApp group burst into life as one of our members let us know that the chef Rick Stein was about to speak about tripe on Saturday Kitchen Live (BBC1). For Lewis, a plateful of tripe is a gastronomic delight, and he lets us know whenever he cooks up a plate of it.

Rick then moved on to cows' heels and black pudding. A  lively theological debate followed when I pointed out that Methodists don't eat black pudding. Within minutes Steve found an entire book about it on Amazon! He was surprised that a full seventy-nine pages were devoted to our forbidden food.

This article frist appeared in the Methodist Recorder, 13 December 2024.