Talk:Bettany Hughes

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[edit] All Greek to me

In the Troy programme her Greek seemed fairly shaky. People who are not specialists should not make programmes about Islamic civilization. Pliny 14:46, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

She is a historian, not a linguist. Just because someone can't speak the language of a country like a native doesn't mean they can't know a lot about it. In any case, Greece is not an Islamic nation, and nor was the Troy of ancient legend, since it existed long before the rise of Islam. Maxwell's Demon 17:09, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I was passing quickly from a comment about the Helen of Troy programme to a comment about the lamentable programme Ms Hughes made about the Moors (zzzzzz). I never dreamt anyone would not think the subject was being changed. I was trying not to use more than the minimum number of words. In the Troy programme she was making some show of knowing some Greek - without being entirely convincing. She has that clunky chunky dumpy slangy Oxford lady classicist manner (often heard on Radio 4's In Our Time) that makes me ashamed to be British. When she talked about anything being 'sexy', I wanted to throw up. Perhaps that is really what got on my nerves. The Moors programme was the same dull dribble about Islamic civilization that always gets trotted out. Fine, so there were some Islamic philosophers (parasitic on the Greeks but who proved a stimulus to a dormant Christian tradition), some nice architecture (partly parasitic on the Greeks and Romans, with gardens and nice fountains at a time when all viewers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail know that Christendom was unwashed,), and some poetry (that Bettany and I can't read). So what? Well, since Bettany can't read Arabic, she has nothing new to contribute. In fact I don't think she has read much Arabic literature or philosophy in translation either. And probably doesn't understand Plato, neo-platonism, and Aristotle either. So she is putting her case, as far as she herself can judge, solely on buildings - and mainly the fact, one suspects, that they had running water. A Waste of Time. I would like to learn something new about Islamic culture (There was a series not long ago by W. Januszczak that at least showed the old favourites in an illuminating way. He wasn't being lazy!) There may have been a historical 'Troy' - but what we know about it is about as 'historical' as what we know about King Arthur. Probably I am being unfair to BH....but until Germany, Brazil and Argentina are knocked out of the World Cup I don't feel like being fair to anyone. Pliny 18:29, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I think her Oxford lady classicist manner is hot. That and her. Oh man, she's that apple in my meow. Hot.

Wow, I wish I had a famous dad so I could be a TV historian.


Troy is not a fairy tale. It did exist, although there's no evidence of Helen or the Horse. Look up Ilion or Wilusa. It was apparently related to the Hittites, and sided with them for defence against Mycenae. In any event, I agree that she doesn't really add anything new to the intellectual party. I did find her last one about Athenian democracy very good, though. It had far less fluff than the Sparta documentary.72.78.6.125 (talk) 09:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Degrees

I'm a little confused as to which degrees she has because there seems to be a mix of colloquial UK usage and Oxbridge usage (which is amongst the biggest source of confusion). Normally an Oxbridge graduate who's been conferred the MA is only referred to as "Foo Foo MA", with the BA ignored (regarded the Masters as effectively an upgrade of the Bachelors, not a separate degree). And the range of postgraduate Masters degrees from Oxford is highly conusing - see Degrees of the University of Oxford#Masters' degree. Timrollpickering 15:00, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article - 'The Spartans'.

I've just submitted the first entry for this documentary - feel free to add to it.

(PS - User 62.64.238.74 .... my 17:11, December 29, 2006 removal of the "lesbian" quote from the 'Trivia' section wasn't "vandalism".)

Gardener of Geda 13:17, 31 December 2006 (UTC)