Illuminations

John Wyver writes: One of the pleasures of the past weeks was a day’s ‘churching’ with friends in Suffolk, during which we visited the tiny thatched church of Thornham Parva. Behind the altar is the astonishing and exquisite Thornham Parva Retable (above), the largest medieval altarpiece in England. This is thought to have been made in the 133os for a Dominican priory, and it escaped later iconoclasts by being removed from the church. It was only in 1927 that it was rediscovered, hidden in a…

John Wyver writes: Welcome to this week’s collection of articles and more that I have found engaging and enriching over the past seven days. My header image is Hurvin Anderson’s ‘Audition’, 1999, seen at the artist’s really exceptional retrospective at Tate Britain, which closes today. If you’ve missed it, do take a look at Tate’s short video: • Locarno Film Festival 2026: 17 urgent Hollywood Blacklist films: at RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates offers a very welcome round-up of the films in…

John Wyver writes: The usual Sunday helping of stuff that I have found engaging and enriching over the past week. The header image is of two Hylaeosaurus dinosaurs on the Tidal Lakes Trail in Crystal Palace Park, which we visited last weekend. The recently restored Victorian monsters look wonderful. • So you want to build an AI star?: a completely fascinating, and disturbing, report by Reggie Ugwu for The New York Times [gift link] about the creation of fake personas on screen… • Are you a…

John Wyver writes: Come with me a little further down the rabbit hole that is Studio BB in the original Broadcasting House. This post follows my two-part ‘This temple of the arts and muses’, the first element of which is here and the second here. And it is prompted by the presence of the grand piano in the photos of Studio BB, as below. This is the story of who played that piano for much of the time during the television years of 1932 to 1934. And unlike the majority of posts on this blog it…

John Wyver writes: In my previous post I enthused about Elizabeth Darling’s new book Palace of the Ether: Broadcasting House and the Architecture of the BBC, 1922-1932. Here I want to focus on just one aspect that Darling throws some light on, but which I am keen to explore further: the use from August 1932 of Studio BB (above, and in the images below) in the newly constructed BH for regular television transmissions by Baird’s 30-line mechanical system. BH officially opened on 15 May 1932 (the…

John Wyver writes: As I manage to do on most Sundays here is a collection of links to stuff that I have found interesting and rewarding over the past week. The header image, which seems suitably seasonal, is ‘Paddling at the beach in Zandvoort’ by the German firm of Knackstedt & Näther, from 1900 – 1905; the image is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. • Red & Black – Hollywood Left and the Blacklist: Ehsan Khoshbakht’s retrospective for this year’s Locarno Film Festival…

John Wyver writes: ‘This Temple of the Arts and Muses’ is the opening phrase of the dedication, displayed in Latin and supposedly written by John Reith, at the entrance to Broadcasting House. Sited on an irregular plot in Portland Place, just north of Oxford Circus, the BBC’s headquarters was opened in May 1932. Palace of the Ether: Broadcasting House and the Architecture of the BBC, 1922-1932 is Elizabeth Darling’s handsome and fascinating study of the building and its contexts.. Beautifully…

John Wyver writes: My usual compendium of links to stuff that this week has caught my eye and engaged my brain. My header image is of Collage for Losing the Garden, 2026, oil on paper, from the glorious exhibition ‘Garden without Seasons’ of recent work by Clare Woods that opened this week (until 8 November) at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery. Beautiful paintings, collages and screenprints, beautifully displayed in beautiful spaces. I wasn’t sure whether to highlight the Odyssey articles that…

John Wyver writes: When the BBC television service at Alexandra Palace began operations officially on 2 November 1936, it was fitted out with four Emitron electronic cameras supplied by the recently-established joint venture company Marconi-EMI. One or more of these cameras was mounted on a crude dolly, and so was minimally mobile. There were two further cameras linked with a pair of film projectors to provide telecine facilities to play in film sequences. And the six vision channels were…

John Wyver writes: In the global scheme of things, the concern I want to highlight this morning is little more than a mote. But apart from the irritation it has provoked, it is a small but potentially significant sign of a shift in the relationship between the BBC’s television channels and BBCiPlayer. It also has implications for the discovery of arthouse films on the corporation’s streaming service. Until recently, on the Films page for iPlayer there was a ‘Sort by’ dropdown menu with the…

John Wyver writes: A splendid wedding on Saturday and generally just life got in the way of producing my usual Sunday collection of stuff that has interested me in the past week. So here it is a day late. The header image is a 1916 English landscape by Walter Sickert, Chagford Across Fields, hanging in British Landscapes: A Sense of Place, until 1 November, at Chichester’s Pallant Gallery. I found the show as a whole disappointing, but this is one of its surprising treasures. • Florentina…

John Wyver writes: To the ICA on Saturday last for another fascinating programme in Michael Witt’s Jean-Luc Godard: Unmade and Abandoned series. This has been a revelatory season, shown more or less monthly, of films by Godard and others that, as Witt claims, ‘sheds light on the huge and varied phantom body of unmade and abandoned ventures that lies behind or in the intervals in his completed oeuvre.’ The screenings have been spun off from Michael Witt’s essential book Jean-Luc Godard’s Unmade…

John Wyver writes: Just over a fortnight since The Cultures of Early Television wrapped, with much – although far from all – of the admin done, and with the distractions of a weekend in Paris and the World Cup now past, I have finally settled down to reflect briefly on the conference. For those of you just joining us, this was a two-day University of Westminster conference about television before the Second World War in Britain, the United States, continental Europe and the Soviet Union. Two…

John Wyver writes: Something of a catch-up today, and even so my posting is both late and melancholy. The past few weeks have been somewhat consumed by The Cultures of Early Television conference, and only now am I getting back to the blog and a selection of Sunday links. I’ll aim to do better going forward, but here are pointers to stuff that has engaged and interested, and it has to be said saddened me recently. No Andy B and no AI, or only glancingly, but those are topics to which we’ll most…

John Wyver writes: After months of preparation The Cultures of Early Television conference takes place at Portland Hall in London on Thursday and Friday this week. A University of Westminster conference, supported by The British Academy, this two-day event will explore television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. I am delighted to say that the full, 24-page conference programme, with a schedule, detailed abstracts and biographies…

John Wyver writes: For the second Sunday running I have simply been too busy to compile the Sunday dozen. Apologies. But the preparations for The Cultures of Early Television conference next Thursday and Friday at the University of Westminster have rather taken over my life. I think those attending are in for a treat, with a host of exceptional scholars and archivists talking about television before the Second World War in Britain, the United States, Italy, Hungary and the Soviet Union. I will…

John Wyver writes: Happy Birthday, America! I think. At least that’s the title of a delightful small exhibition at London’s Mayor Gallery, which includes the artwork in the header above. It’s Billy Apple’s ‘The Presidential Suite: Johnson & Humphrey at L.B.J. Barbecue, 1964’, Xerography and paint on linen. • An extended apprenticeship: a lovely piece of writing by Farran Smith Nehme about the director John Sturges at Columbia between 1946 and 1949, originally published in the Locarno Film…

John Wyver writes: I’m delighted to unveil the schedule for the The Cultures of Early Television, a University of Westminster conference that I am convening on 2 and 3 July at Portland Hall in London. Organised with the support of The British Academy, this two-day gathering focuses on television before the Second World War in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. With presentations, panels and screenings of rare archival material, the event marks the centenary of…

John Wyver writes: Technical troubles meant that I missed posting last weekend – apologies. But I’m back today with another group of articles that have engaged and interested me, along with — as a hommage to the changeable weather of the past few days — John Constable’s wondrous ‘Study of Clouds, 30 September 1822’, photographed at the recent Turner & Constable show at Tate Britain, but now presumably safely back with its guardians, The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. • Television…

John Wyver writes: Just leaving Provence now, which is why there was no Sunday dozen last week. I loved the landscape, and was struck time and again by memories of the artworks of Paul Cezanne. So here is ‘Montagne Sainte-Victoire’, about 1890/95, from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. Remember too that there is a marvellous online free-to-access Catalogue Raisonné of all of Cezanne’s work here. Back in London from Monday night, but meanwhile below is this week’s list of…

John Wyver writes: I am in Provence, deep in the Luberon, which makes me appreciate all the more the wondrous Cezanne above, Hillside in Provence, about 1890-2, hanging in the National Gallery in London. Everywhere I look there are views suggestive of the great artist’s work. It has rained here rather more than we had hoped, which at least has given me time to read a wide variety of bits and pieces, including the following that have attracted my interest and repaid my time. • Why? Because… with…

John Wyver writes: We are en vacances, having driven during three days from London to the small town of Simiane-la-Rotonde in the middle of the beautiful but rather remote landscapes of the Luberon. (Before the envy kicks in too hard, this morning it’s raining. Hard.) On the way here we stopped off for a day in Beaune. Wandering through the backstreets we came across this delightful memorial to Étienne-Jules Marey, who we learn was born in the town in 1830. As Wikipedia says, he was ‘a French…

John Wyver writes: I have started a nearly month-long holiday in France, and after three days’ driving have arrived at the small town of Simiane-la-Rotonde in the Luberon. Which is glorious, and which I will send an occasional update from over the coming days, while also continuing to make the final preparations for The Cultures of Early Television conference in early July, registration for which is open here. Posts will continue but with slightly dodgy connectivity they may be a little late,…

John Wyver writes: I am something of a fan of the Voices of British Ballet podcast, which features oral history recordings made since 2002 as well as new exchanges with dancers, choreographers and critics. A current strand is celebrating the great dancer and choreographer Ninette de Valois, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Ninette de Valois’ Academy for Choregraphic Art in March 1926 and 25 years since de Valois’ death. One recent fascinating edition features Patricia Linton…

John Wyver writes: I am delighted to say that registration is open for The Cultures of Early Television conference at the University of Westminster on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 July You can sign up here for free, thanks to the invaluable support of The British Academy Conference scheme. The Cultures of Early Television is a two-day conference about television before the Second World War in Britain,

John Wyver writes: Ten days ago, with perhaps rather too little fanfare, the Government released a new strategic vision for archives. Commissioned from The National Archives (TNA) and launched by Baroness Twycross, Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling, this involved, as the project’s website notes, ‘an extensive consultation with the sector… in-person roundtable discussions across the country and an online consultation form. We also consulted with a wide range of the sector’s…

John Wyver writes: My header image is of a somewhat-worse-for-wear concrete bench on London’s South Bank. Attached is a precious souvenir of the 2002 launch of BBC Four — nearly a quarter of a century ago! I feature it here as a complement to the first item in today’s list of articles and more that I have found engaging and enriching over the past week. • The disappearance of the public bench: although this excellent Gabrielle Bruney essay for Places journal is focussed on US examples, the…

John Wyver writes: Articles and more encountered and appreciated over the past week. My header image is one of my favourite facades in London, that of the building now known as Tournament House at Paddington Station. Designed by P.E. Culverhouse of the GWR Chief Civil Engineers office and completed in 1935, it was this week revealed again as its covering of scaffolding was removed. • Projections – David Bordwell’s Contributions to the Study of Film: a special open-access edition of the journal…

John Wyver writes: On Friday I was delighted to contibute a paper to the British Silent Film Festival Symposium 2026, immaculately organised by Lawrence Napper and held at the Cinema Museum. My presentation at the end of the day explored the connections between early television and the last days of silent cinema in Britain, in […] The post British television in the end times of silent cinema, 1928-30 appeared first on Illuminations.

John Wyver writes: As usual on a Sunday, here is a selection of media that has engaged and informed me, and enriched my life in small ways, from the past seven days. The header image is a remarkable painting by Ugo Egonu, Piccadilly Circus, 1969, an artist whose work I didn’t know, but which I […] The post The Sunday dozen appeared first on Illuminations.