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History of the world in 100 objects? No, it isn't!

Every now and then I happen to be in the car at the right time and catch one of the BBC's History of the World in 100 Objects series. It's very good - informative and entertaining, but it irritates me that the title is almost entirely incorrect. It's not a history of the world and though it is about 100 objects, it's a misleading label.

I have a personal reason for complaining. They're doing this on local radio too, and I took a local object with real interest for history in a while ago - a lovely pair of ammonites from my previous garden (shown here), found in the chalk. The BBC lot thought they were wonderful, but I wasn't allowed to include them in the local set of objects. Why? Because they weren't man made.

Okay, BBC, now listen very carefully. The vast majority of the history of the world has not involved human beings. And the vast majority of objects are not manmade. What you are actually doing is The History of Humanity in 100 Artefacts. That's fine. I have no objection to you doing that. But please use words a little less carelessly.
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Comments

  1. Fran11 August 2010 at 12:57

    Excellent point but I think this is one of the reasons it's called 'A History of the World' not 'The History of the World.'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian Clegg11 August 2010 at 13:36

    Fair comment, Fran.

    ReplyDelete

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