Sorry to those of you that don't have access to some of the BBC's content however they have been having a bit of a run of programmes related to WHS at the moment.

Hill Railways of India on BBC Four

This one is very specific. It is a three part series about the Hill Railways of India, with one programme focusing on each of the three inscribed locations Darjeeling, Nilgiri and I assume Shimla will be the last.

I just watched the first episode based on Darjeeling, it was filmed during the 2009 election and was really interesting. It focuses more on the lives of people who work around the railway, so for me it was much more interesting than the usual engineering explanations of the railways or an 'intrepid traveller' talking about how slow the trains are.

For those of you that have the ability to watch it I would thoroughly recommend it.


I gave this post a more generic title so if anyone else comes across WHS related stuff on the BBC they can add it to this.

London is going a little royal wedding crazy at the moment, but on the up side it means that a World Heritage Site will be seen by a large worldwide audience. To celebrate this the BBC has put up this little tour of Westminster Abbey in case you wanted to have a look.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12819684

There is a good little section on Skellig Michael on Coast at the moment.
I wouldn't normally mention it as WHS feature on that show regularly, however, there is an interview with Des Lavelle regarding Valentia Island, who was the boatman that took me out to Skellig Michael.
Also the shots on Skellig Michael are very impressive, and the casual way in which Alice Roberts negotiates the rather precarious stairways just adds to my respect for her.

Sorry for those that don't have access to BBC i-player I would recommend hunting down the hill railways of India series that I started this tread off with, it really is very good.

The current Jerusalem: Making of a Holy City is excellent. I assume it will be in 3 parts, I have watched the first 2 and already know so much more about the history of the place as a religious centre.

I hope there is some way for non-UK based people to watch it.

OSUN-OSOGBO
Readings from Noo Saro-Wiwa's book about her experiences when visiting her country of origin - Nigeria. In episode 2 she visits Osun Osogbo. The first part is about a visit to a decrepit amusement park - but stay with it . The full set of readings are worthwhile for anyone interested in the paradoxes and problems of Africa - writ largest in Nigeria!! I am looking forward to reading the whole book!
I believe that BBC iPlayer usually works outside UK for Radio programs apart from those with sporting rights etc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018wy48/Book_of_the_Week_Looking_for_Transwonde rland_Episode_2/

For those interested this link will tell you something about Noo Saro-Wiwa and her father. I note she has done journalism training at Columbia and worked for Rough Guides and Lonely Planet as well as having been to Roedean (UK's "girls" equivalent to Eton!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/31/noo-saro-wiwa-kens-daughter-nigeri a

Not surprised I have missed this one so far, but anyway someone may be interested:

Jedward's Big Adventure

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/shows/jedwards-big-adventure

"CBBC airs hair-raising guide to World Heritage Sites
Children's TV channel CBBC has just begun broadcasting Jedward's Big Adventure, a series in which the former X-Factor twins John and Edward ('Jedward') Grimes "battle it out to be the best tour guides in the country" as they visit various World Heritage Sites across the UK.
Episode One saw the twins guide unsuspecting visitors around the Tower of London, with future episodes set to cover places such as Hadrian's Wall, the Jurassic Coast, and Blaenavon. Heritage Minister John Penrose said it all in his latest blog post: "The learning pill is well sugared, yes, but the key facts are got across.""

I watched this documentary about transport in Mumbai the other day, and it features Victoria Terminus (CST) pretty heavily.

It seems to be from the same team that did the wonderful Indian Hill Railways mentioned above. I've just seen they are now available on DVD or if you wanted to have a look at some extended clips (or more) they can be found here. These shows have been wonderful and really bring the World Heritage Sites to life.

It also reminded me about how much I loved my brief trip to Mumbai, maybe time to start looking into a return to India.

I know that non-UK resident readers of this Forum will be unable to access BBC TV programs unless they have an appropriate satellite/cable subscription or kid the iPlayer catch-up service via a VPN or proxy server but it may be of interest to some to know of a 3 part series on Fossil sites which is currently airing and is significantly about 2 WHS.

The first episode concentrated on the Burgess Shale WHS and the 3rd will concentrate on Messel Pit. The second concentrates on Chinese Dinosaur site in Liaoning (I am not sure which - but none are either currently inscribed or on China's T List). The first has already been broadcast but is repeated on Mon 17 Mar.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03y6tg6

I was surprised how inaccessible the original Burgess Shale site was - the presenter arrives by helicopter(though apparently the site can be hiked "up" to)!! Lucky it got overtaken by the larger Canadian Rocky Mountain inscription or we would have found it a difficult site to visit.

By the way Els - the history of this WHS under "Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks" is incomplete on this Web site. The first inscription was in 1980 when the "Burgess Shale site" was inscribed on its own. This was then incorporated into the Rocky mountains site in 1984. This wasn't done as an extension and I can't think of any other WHS which has incorporated a previously inscribed site in this way! The AB for the Rocky Mountains site states "Inclusion of Burgess Shale Site. This small specific feature is included within the nominated area although it was included on the World Heritage List in 1980. The site itself is a very limited area within Yoho National park and is only one of many natural features of the Canadian Rockies nomination." The nearest other example I can think of is the merging of the Mt Cook and Fjordland NZ inscribed sites at the time of a further extension into a single inscription of Te Wahipounamu.

I just caught the end of that the other night. it did look rather promising will have to add it to the i-player queue.

I had looked into it for my upcoming trip to Canada in september: it apparently is a 7hr strenuous (guided) hike

Nowhere else would be interested in this level of geekery, and I doubt anyone here will be that bothered either. However University Challenge had a picture round this evening, there were four pictures of WHS and you had to name the learning institutions housed in them. It was an exciting night in :)

These were the buildings if you wanted a go.

BBC4 has just been repeating a 3 part series on Art Nouveau (I had missed it first time round) - the final episode majored on Vienna and "Sezession" art and architecture. In doing so it spent time in Brussels with a visit to the Horta house (the point being made that Brussels had got into Art Nouveau before Vienna) and then on to the Stoclet Palace. This was relevant because the house and its interior was created by the Wiener Werkstatte led by Hoffman working with his fellow Austrian artists and designers.

I readied myself - would this at last provide an opportunity to see round the interior of the Palace?? No - not even for the BBC could the legal disputes keeping this site closed to visitors be put aside! At this point the BBC adopted a novel approach and employed a drone camera which soared above the surrounding fences and even seemed to fly over the building. I am not sure about Belgian law on the use of drones, so perhaps the drone actually stayed vertically above public property such as roads, and only "appeared" to be flying over the Palace itself.

Anyway it might be of interest to know that the total lock down of this site continues. I presume that the Belgian Government must have got full cooperation from the Stoclet heirs to put forward the nomination since ICOMOS would have wanted to see inside. But the evaluation contains no confirmation, either directly or indirectly that ICOMOS DID actually see inside. The only relevant comment I have found in the Evaluation is
"Two letters were sent to the State Party on 9 December 2008 and 30 January 2009 about the following points:......
6. Providing details about possibilities for visiting the property.
7. Providing details about the cooperation of the owners for the nomination."
Whether point 6 refers to visits by the public or the reviewers is ambiguous. However, since the Nomination file makes it quite clear that the building is NOT open to the public and that there is no intention ever to do so it would seem unnecessary to ask about that aspect of "visiting"! The Nomination File itself ONLY contains photos of the exterior. The AB contains a description of the various rooms and their contents which might, or might not, have been the result of a direct viewing by the reviewer. All very strange.

The program is titled in a rather stupid "come on" fashion "Sex and Sensibility : The Allure of Art Nouveau" - but it is better than the title might suggest! This is the direct link to the program on the BBC Web site which may also help those wanting to find the program without using iPlayer - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dxw0y