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Gutenberg documentary on BBC tv tonight
Posted by Richard Hards in
14 Apr 2008 — 12:03pm
14 Apr 2008 — 12:03pm
Tonight on BBC Four at 9o'clock, repeated at 01:15 and 02:45am
Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press
Another (better) link
Showing as part of the Medieval season. Stephen Fry goes in search of the story behind the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg, travelling across Europe to find out how Gutenberg kept his development work secret, and how his approach started a cultural revolution.
In order to fully understand the man and his machine, Stephen assembles a team to help him build a copy of Gutenberg's printing press as well as learning how to make the paper and type so that they can print as Gutenberg once did.
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14 Apr 2008 — 12:37pm
Is BBC 4 the equivalent of PBS in the states? Or is British prime-time programming just that much less mind-rotting than ours?
14 Apr 2008 — 1:07pm
No we still watch the same US shows you watch... : )
BBC 4 is a freeview digital channel. Its just finished an extensive season of documentaries about advertising to accompany 'Mad Men' which it also airs. So you get the idea...
14 Apr 2008 — 1:13pm
I will look at BBC America tonight. The interesting thing is that the movie your link points at, is that it shows a technique that appears to be the way Gutemberg printed his bibles, in a way that each spread with 2 or 4 pages was actually printed (pressed) one page at a time. I will certainly look for this documentary. Thanks for the link.
¡ awesome !
14 Apr 2008 — 1:19pm
God bless sky+, thats all i can say here
14 Apr 2008 — 4:02pm
/Ivan collapses to the floor, sobbing relentlessly.
-I don't have BBC!
/Starts banging his head against the parquetry.
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Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com
14 Apr 2008 — 10:05pm
A review... http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/tv-radio-rev...
"Besides, a nation that can boast Stephen Fry as one of its own can never be entirely dismissed as beyond the pale, gentility-wise. In Stephen Fry and the Machine That Made Us, he was at his most engaging, presenting with intelligent wit the story of the man who invented the printing press almost 600 years ago – Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz on the banks of the Rhine , "the silicon valley of medieval Europe"."
15 Apr 2008 — 4:18am
I really enjoyed it. Their decision to make the machine, type and paper was what had me glued to the TV. Great to see Fry gush at the sight of the ‘e’ he produced in print.
15 Apr 2008 — 5:09am
Well Ivan, (and anybody else), you can watch it here:
The programme
Nick Cooke
15 Apr 2008 — 5:40am
Nick: you can watch it here
Nope. ‘Sorry, this programme is only available to play in the UK.’
15 Apr 2008 — 6:13am
Still waiting for the BBC to decide that we American's don't want 'BBC America'...we want 'The BBC'. ;o)
15 Apr 2008 — 6:54am
That's a shame... sorry.
Nick Cooke
15 Apr 2008 — 7:03am
Right now, somewhere, there's a messageboard where some British people are upset that they can't watch When Sexy Animals Attack Celebrities on Fox.
15 Apr 2008 — 10:20am
Now I will have to browse BBC America every day, hoping they will air this ;)
15 Apr 2008 — 10:39am
Hopefully they will sell it eventually in the BBC Shop for all those who are neither US nor UK citizens and can't receive the programmes.
15 Apr 2008 — 1:59pm
Fabulous programme, made even better by Stephen Fry's obvious enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, my recording ended a little early, but I see it's repeated tomorrow, so I'll have another go.
Good to see our own Chris Lozos appearing in the role of Martin Andrews from Reading!
15 Apr 2008 — 2:45pm
Very interesting, and quite a voyage. It is not unreasonable to suggest the printing press is man's most civilising invention. Makes me want to get inky.
I have an mpeg copy recorded yesterday, but it's a bit big at 1.6Gb. Of course, if I could squish it I'd never suggest any of you non-Brits might want to contact me, as that would be plainly contrary to my every moral sinew.
16 Apr 2008 — 3:59am
for those who can receive it, I believe this programme is repeated on BBC2 (so no digital or broadband required) NEXT Friday....
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Ever since I chose to block pop-ups, my toaster's stopped working.
16 Apr 2008 — 8:33am
This sort of thing often shows up (well, eventually!) on BBC World also, which was recently made a Tier 1 (basic) cable channel here in Canada, as well as BBC Canada, which is a premium digital service.
16 Apr 2008 — 12:12pm
Monsterously cool.
16 Apr 2008 — 9:51pm
A torrent of this program is available in the usual places. Or watch it streaming here:
http://www.dontpressme.com/video/gutenberg.html
as shared by some kind person on the LETPRESS mailing list.
17 Apr 2008 — 1:09am
Martin Andrews is a great friendly and knowledgeable man. He was one of my favourite Reading people. Good to see him there in my typeface.
17 Apr 2008 — 3:04am
"Or watch it streaming here:"
Thank you, Andy!
17 Apr 2008 — 7:11pm
If anyone wants to archive this for reference, you can still use the link:http://www.dontpressme.com/video/gutenberg.html
Then download TubeTV for the Mac, and extract it. Watching it on my iPhone now :)
Thanks for the link, I love it.
17 Apr 2008 — 7:26pm
I followed Nick Cooke's link but the bbc-iplay doesn't play if you are outside of the UK...
18 Apr 2008 — 6:31am
In the UK to watch television or when you buy a television device you need a license which is used to fund the BBC.
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/index.jsp
18 Apr 2008 — 8:07am
AGL
Use the link Andy Keck supplied. It works well (it is an hour long, I think, so make sure you have time).
18 Apr 2008 — 1:05pm
ATTENTION----------------
: For anyone wishing to view this program .....
It is currently available to watch online at : www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
just type {Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press} and it should come up.
I watched it yesterday , real interesting stuff....
18 Apr 2008 — 8:45pm
RE: iplayer
Again, this is for folks in the *UK only*.
19 Apr 2008 — 8:49am
There is a very good article by Alan May in the current Journal of the Printing Historical Society, Journal number 11 on his reconstruction of the one-pull press
19 Apr 2008 — 6:26pm
YouTube verion linked to SpiekerBlog...
http://www.spiekermann.com/mten/2008/04/gutenberg_the_movie.html