This blog of mine is intended to be about connectedness (see my blog’s quote tab), so it was near inevitable that someone of my age would have more than a flicker of a memory of the series called “Connections” first broadcast on UK television in 1978.
It was written and presented by James Burke and it was styled as a fast-paced narrative joining ideas, inventions and technological breakthroughs throughout human history complete with global locational whistle-stop tours and historical re-enactments, all compered by James Burke himself in his brown shirt, white suit and flairs and constant air of excited discovery.
I bought the DVD box set as a lockdown treat and managed to interest my younger son in working through the series with me, despite the 1970s cringe-effect fashion. Even if occasionally the connections seemed a tiny bit contrived (sorry, heresy I know), it did give a palpable sense of the progressions that led to a world that was also shaped in some weird way by the Bay City Rollers.
But there is a particular clip that has been doing the rounds on Twitter recently – at least, within the regions of Twitter I follow. It is a piece of television that has achieves breath-taking timing but without any chance of a retake if done wrong and no CGI interventions of any sort. To see what I mean, have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoDQBhJCVQ.
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