Thursday 10 September 2009

Take a strong draught of Meades

I'm agitating to get Jonathan Meades an honorary doctorate next year. What do you think? He's the sharp-suited, sunglassed, freakish architecture fan, food writer, offbeat Victorianist and cultural historian who alone justifies the licence fee. He even wrote presented a documentary about Birmingham called Heart By-Pass.

Watch some of his work at the Meades Shrine. His books include Filthy English, English Extremists, and Incest and Morris Dancing. Documentaries include: Jerry Building: Unholy Relics of the Third Reich, Queen Victoria died in 1901 but is alive and well today, Surrealism and Magnetic North, in which he explored the cultures of Northern Europe, to stunning effect.

He's also a leading secularist and humanist.

Here's a taste of Heart By-Pass:

4 comments:

Dan said...

There was some new Meades stuff on BBC4 last night, though it was hidden away at one in the morning and I only saw it was on by chance. I wish they'd advertise this stuff a bit better. It is however repeated later in the week (Sunday I think).

It's part of a new mini-series about Scotland - last night's was about the architecture of Aberdeen. Part 2 is on next week. I'm sure they'll turn up at the Meades Shrine in due course.

Dan said...

This is great.

See also this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZ1xn2ml10

The Plashing Vole said...

Excellent - the link is Telly Savalas doing Birmingham!

Benjamin Judge said...

Meades eh? Perhaps an honory deification? The man is a legend.