In Search Of Michael: by Sue Purkiss

Tonight, while a few people might be watching Sweden v England on the television, I'll be watching a history programme: Michael Wood's The Great British Story: a People's History. Well, I'm a History Girl - you'd expect nothing less. It's exactly what the title says it is:  a history of Britain from the point of view not of the kings and nobles and upper classes, but of the ordinary people. There's one particular technique it uses that I think works very well: it has the ordinary people of today reading the testimony of the ordinary people of long ago. It's a simple but brilliant way of breathing life into the words of dusty ancient documents. If you've read other posts of mine, you'll know that I'm always banging on about history being about ordinary people as well as the well-known movers and shakers, so you'll understand why this appeals to me.

Michael and I go back a long way. In 1981 - over thirty years ago: can it really be true? - he made a documentary called In Search of the Dark Ages. In nine programmes, Michael leapt about all over Britain in a very fetching sheepskin jacket, exuding enthusiasm about such luminaries as the Sutton Hoo Man, Alfred the Great, Athelstan and Eric Bloodaxe. I did Anglo-Saxon as part of my English degree, and I've always felt drawn in some way to the Scandinavian strands of our heritage. (Still am: The Killing, anyone? Or The Bridge?) So perhaps I was an easy target.

But I think there was something new and innovative about those documentaries and the way they presented history. Suddenly, figures from the dim and distant past were brought to new and vivid life: Michael's enthusiasm was infectious. The way they were photographed added to the air of Scandinavian moodiness and grimness: you can see that on the cover of the hardback of the series. I think this particular shot is of the ridge above Ethandun (now Eddington) where Guthrum the Viking leader woke up one morning to see Alfred and all his forces ranged up on the skyline, about to descend like an eagle onto its prey. Years later, when I wrote a book about Alfred, Warrior King, I went to see this ridge; it's still just as atmospheric. I wonder if the seed for the book was sown when I watched that programme? I didn't think so at the time, I thought it had other roots; but looking back, I'm not so sure.

Since then, of course, there have been masses of popular history programmes on television - David Starkey, Simon Schama, Mary Beard, Helen Castor and many more. But I think perhaps that In Search of the Dark Ages was the mould-maker, with its charismatic presenter using every means at his disposal to convey his enthusiasm for his subject, with its delight in showing us the context and the settings and the artefacts which help to bring history to life. Isn't that what they all do now, to a greater or lesser degree?

And Michael kept on making programmes. I remember my sons cheering when he went in search of Alexander the Great, plunging into the sea fully clothed, climbing mountains, eating lamb cooked on a spit over the fire and then turning to the camera, his eyes shining, to share his excitement: 'Here I am, doing just what Alexander might have done, in the place where he might have done it!!' 


And now he's taking a fresh approach again, involving people in finding out their own local history, and showing us along the way what life was like for most people in centuries past. The old sheepskin jacket - or a worthy successor - is still occasionally in evidence, often accessorised now with a floaty turquoise scarf. I think he's great. He's certainly far more inspirational than any of my history teachers ever were, bless them!