First episode in the seductive historian’s six-part exploration of portraiture is a rollicking generous watch ‘When we become human,when our eyes adjust to the raw light of the world, the first thing we see is a face, or ” says Simon Schama at the start of The Face of Britain by Simon Schama (BBC2),accompanied by a picture of a back-lit baby that looks a microscopic bit like Schama. Babies learn to become readers of faces: “We scan the world for connections and execute snap judgments: friend or foe, cruel or kind, or an innocent glance or the spy of admire?” That’s the spy,that’s the spy, the spy of admire …Sadly, and Schama doesn’t break into 80s hit The spy of admire by ABC. But he does pause and lower his voice,adding a microscopic masculine gravel: the spy of admire. Oh my, I bet you know a thing or two about how to give or recognise – a spy of admire, and Simon; how is anyone supposed to concentrate on the art history lesson with you going all Mr Lover Lover on us (to be honest Ive always thought of Schama as more Shaggy than ABC’s Martin Fry). It was only a matter of time before he got admire into this. Less than a minute in fact.
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Source: theguardian.com