The thrill of it all....

There is something deeply satisfying being reunited with a very old friend, somebody you grew up with - so it is with Roxy Music. I was an avid Roxy fan when I was younger had all their albums and so on. However, over the years I moved on and, whilst not forgetting the band they slowly dropped into the subconscious. Then comes a programme on BBC4 and it has all come rushing back. All the wonderful album including the most famous one ' Country Life' - "....the closest thing to porn at my age...' John Taylor - Duran Duran. Suddenly I was back there and so I had to go and buy the first three albums - probably the best period but of course now a days you just down load the music rather go and buy the LP - an experience in itself. So very indulgent but what the heck.

Yet another good night on BBC4

Women with Fire Masks, Devonshire Hill, London - Lee Miller

Another treat for any person interested in serious photography - BBC4 on Saturday 27th June 2009 had a wonderful selection of documentaries about female photographers. As usual with these documentaries the styles were different, and some of the producers/directors just don't know who to produce a documentary about an art subject without making the documentary 'arty'. None the less the evening as a whole was a sucesses. Dispite all that is written in the Murdoch owned media the BBC does have a relevence and should be allowed to produce and transmit programmes like this.

I'm in overload - the BBC at its best

North Devon - James Ravilious

What a night of programmes...what a night.  Last night was photography night on BBC4 and we were treated to some first rate documentaries.   This was on top of the rerun of the excellent series of Genius of Photography.   This was so much information I was in overload.

• Jacques Henri Lartigue: The Boy who Never Grew Up - still available on iPlayer
  
• James Ravilious: A World in Photographs - still available on iPlayer
  
• The Photographer, his Wife, her Lover
  
• ROBERT CAPA: IN LOVE AND WAR
  
• The Lost Pictures of Eugene Smith
  

I have to say it was all too much for me to take in at one sitting so I have several hours to work through on the Sky+ box over the next week.  The favourite programme that I watched last night was the James Ravilious documentary.   His photographs were superb, I have already mentioned my appreciation of his father's paintings in previous blogs. I also found the characters reminiscent of people I knew when I was growing up.  It is a cliche but they really don't make them like that anymore.   This was the BBC at its best.