Blog posts by year and monthJuly 2011
Posts (9)
Hilary Devey: Becoming a Dragon
Being told that I was going to be a Dragon on Dragons' Den was one of the highlights of my life, as I had been a fan of the show for many years. In the late 1990s, I founded Pall-Ex, a distribution network that revolutionised the process of transporting goods across the UK and Europe, making...
The Code: Revealing the secret
When I was 12 my maths teacher took me aside after one lesson and let me into a secret that changed my life forever. Mathematics, it turned out, was more than just the long division we were practicing in the classroom. He started to tell me fantastic stories that were written in the lang...
Restoration Home: Being the private eye of the past
The private eye of the past, in Caroline Quentin's words, is my role in Restoration Home. As the social historian on the series, my job is to investigate the histories of the six properties on the show, and the people who lived in them. Each one has been an incredible journey of discover...
British Masters: My one big chance to get even
A few years ago I was at a conference on 20th Century painting. As I queued up for a coffee in the canteen I overheard a French historian describe Britain as "the land without modern art". His friends all laughed in agreement. I was livid. And ever since I've been determined to prove them wro...
At the mercy of The Great British Weather
Do cows really lie down on the ground before it rains? Does a farmer in Cumbria really rely on a red sky at night? I'm the specialist meteorological reporter on BBC One's The Great British Weather, where we put weather folklore like this to the test and demystify some of the science behind el...
Roger: Genocide Baby
The idea for Roger: Genocide Baby sparked to life as I sat watching BBC Breakfast, munching on some oats. A young British actor, Roger Nsengiyumva, was promoting his new film Africa United and I heard him say something like, "Yes, I was born in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide." I put my...
How we transformed Lark Rise's sets for The Night Watch
I am the production designer on The Night Watch and prior to that I was production designer on Lark Rise To Candleford. This was convenient really because, as you will see later, the two shows are inextricably linked. I am responsible for the look and feel of the show. It is my job to convinc...
Pointless: How I became the co-host
Richard Osman tells the story of going from "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC Two" to "Whassisname, that bloke from that thing on BBC One"
Stolen: I work with trafficked children
For the past six years I have been the Director of ECPAT UK - End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking. We are a leading children's rights organisation campaigning against child exploitation. Over the years there has been a variety of films, TV programmes and books focusing on the ...
