 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXCESS BAGGAGE
|
 |
|
 |
MISSED A PROGRAMME?
Go to the Listen Again page |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 Listen to Excess Baggage for
21听JUNE听2008
More than 20,000 people will have travelled to Stonehenge on Friday 20th June to experience its atmosphere on the longest day of the year.听 But how long has this ancient monument been a tourist attraction and what is its significance?听 John McCarthy is joined by Rosemary Hill, author of a new book entitled Stonehenge and Neil McDonald who takes parties of people interested menhirs, to see standing stones around UK and abroad.听 They discuss why the mystery of the stones has such a hold on travellers.
Total solar eclipses are extraordinary events which have awed and terrified people throughout history and until the 16th century the only way to experience one was to be in the right place at the right time.听 More recently people have been able to find out when and where eclipses happen and have been keen to travel to out of the way places all around the world see them.
John meets DJ Annie Nightingale and eclipse veteran Sheridan Williams to discover the kind of experiences, spiritual or otherwise, an eclipse chaser can expect to find.听
Presented by John McCarthy
Photo:听Stonehenge (photographer: Marek Bernat 漏)
This week鈥檚 guests:听
Rosemary Hill is a historian and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians, trustee of the Victorian Society and author of a book on the architect Pugin. Rosemary has always been interested in the history of ideas and her latest book 鈥楽tonehenge鈥 discusses the changing attitudes to the site over the centuries; for example, the 18th century saw it terms of landscape, and the 1960s made it a new age icon. The changing nature of tourism at the monument also reflects society鈥檚 preoccupations.
Stonehenge
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
ISBN-10: 1861978650
ISBN-13: 978-1861978653
Neil McDonald was working in property development when he became fascinated by standing stones. He decided to run tours to some of the megaliths in the North West and Lake District. He later went further afield to rest of Britain and Europe and has since expanded to include other mystic places including Arthurian sites such as Glastonbury and Cadbury Castle, Da Vinci Code locations, the Pendle witches and most recently tours to the Cathar castles in south west France.听
鈥淭he majority of surviving megalithic sites in the UK are to be found in undeveloped areas in the countryside, hills and mountains. Many are in beautiful settings making them very pleasant to visit and explore, these pages describe days out visiting such locations.鈥
听is a radio broadcaster and now the longest serving DJ on Radio 1. Annie started playing house and trance dance music in the early nineties. She has travelled widely to music festivals and made documentaries about her travels to Russia, Romania, Iraq, Chile (about the eclipse), The Philippines and Cuba. In her autobiographies Wicked Speed Annie describes her eclipse experience in the Andes on the border with Peru and Bolivia by a lake ringed with volcanoes.
Wicked Speed
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
ISBN-10: 0283061979
ISBN-13: 978-0283061974
Sheridan Williams is a council member of the British Astronomical Association. He built his own telescope in 1966. Sheridan has travelled around the world to admire ten total eclipses and one annular. Sheridan also lectures on eclipses to astronomy societies and acts as a guide on Eclipse tours. He is author of the latest Bradt Travel Guide Total Solar Eclipse 2008 and 2009
Total Solar Eclipse 2008 and 2009 -听 Bradt Travel Guides
Available only from or by mail order on 01753 893 444The 大象传媒 cannot be held responsible for
the content of external sites |
|
|
|
|
| PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES |
|
|
|
|
John McCarthy is a widely travelled journalist and presenter with a particular interest in the Middle East.
|
|
|
|
|
