Carved With Love: The Genius of British Woodwork TV - Everyday Miracles TV - Fred Dibnah TV - Albert Einstein - Joshua Foer - Misha Glenny - Janina Ramirez TV - Secret Life of the Forest TV -
In the golden age of British furniture – the 18th century – one man defined the age in wood. He stood for luxury, elegance, the finest furniture ever to come from these isles. His name – Thomas Chippendale. Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork I: The Extraordinary Thomas Chippendale BBC 2013
Chippendale was betrayed by the very men he tried so hard to please. ibid.
There was a new wood on the block – mahogany. ibid.
He came to be known as the High Priest of Mahogany. ibid.
The first ever furniture catalogue – The Gentlemen and Cabinet Maker’s Director. ibid.
A leader of furniture design in London. ibid.
Robert Adam: a fresh style which came to be known as neo-classicism. ibid.
A wood carver – his name Grinling Gibbons. Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork II: The Glorious Grinling Gibbons
His carvings adorned the greatest buildings in Britain. ibid.
The greatest wood carver in British history. ibid.
Gibbons had English parents but he was brought up in the Netherlands. ibid.
In the Middle Ages Britain was a land of wood. Carved with Love: The Genius of British Woodwork III: The Divine Craft of Carpentry
The Reformation ... woodwork was destroyed by fire or the axe. ibid.
The Gothic conveyed the glory of God through light, intricate decoration that reached up to heaven itself. ibid.
Plywood is another everyday miracle ... The glue bonds with the wood’s fibres and sets hard ... Strength, flexibility and mouldability ... The Mosquito was the fastest aircraft in the world, and the secret to its success was that it was made almost entirely of plywood ... All because of the remarkable properties of plywood. Everyday Miracles: The Genius of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners I, BBC 2015
At junior school as a small boy I were always top of the class in woodwork ... I’ve always had a great interest in wooden structures. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone: Masters of Their Trade, BBC 2006
People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results. Albert Einstein
Woodworking requires a completely different kind of thinking and problem-solving ability than writing. With writing, you take a set of facts and ideas, and you reason your way forward to a story that pulls them together. With woodworking, you start with an end product in mind, and reason your way backward to the raw wood. Joshua Foer
President George W Bush dealt the most punishing blow to BC’s [British Columbia] economy in recent years by bending to pressure from the American lumber industry and imposing a 27 per cent tax on Canadian softwood sales into the United States. Misha Glenny, McMafia
[Olmec] Accomplished wood carvers. Janina Ramirez, Raiders of the Lost Past III, BBC 2019
In Northumberland, on the border with Scotland, lies England’s largest forest, Kielder. A wild and remote landscape. Home to dense woodland, ancient bogs, and breathtaking waterfalls. And yet one hundred years ago it didn’t even exist. Secret Life of the Forest s1e1: Spring, Channel 5 2023
Kielder now produces half a million tons of timber a year. ibid.