![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firedbydesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/BBC_History_Of_the_World_Dolly_the_Sheep.jpg?ssl=1\" "\\"BBC_History_Of_the_World_Dolly_the_Sheep\\"")
<\/a>Image from \u201cA History of the World\u201d BBC website <\/p><\/div>\n
At its heart is a landmark series on BBC Radio 4, A History Of The World In 100 Objects, which will broadcast from today, 18 January. This series is a narrative global history told through the British Museum\u2019s unparalleled world collection. The series will tap in to the unique power of objects to tell stories and make connections across the globe.<\/p>\n
A History Of The World In 100 Objects is, unusually, a global history told through, and about, objects. Each of the 100 episodes in the series focuses on a different object from the British Museum\u2019s collection. Writer and presenter Neil MacGregor tells the fascinating stories behind the chosen item, which may be anything from a mundane tool to a great work of art, but which must be man-made. The series is chronological, beginning with some of the earliest objects from Tanzania dating to almost two million years ago, and running up to the present day. The final 100th object has yet to be chosen but will be a contemporary item that will be acquired by the British Museum.<\/p>\n
Image from \u201cA History of the World\u201d BBC website <\/p><\/div>\n
To produce the series, the BBC and the British Museum have come together in an ambitious partnership to ensure the widest possible access and engagement across radio, TV and online.<\/p>\n
Interactive<\/h3>\n
The \u201cA History of the World\u201d website is the hub of the project, drawing together all the major strands. The site will offer a unique combination of opportunities to listen, watch and take part in \u201cA History of the World\u201d, with the Radio 4 programmes available to listen to or download, forever. Through video and a \u2018zoom in\u2019 facility, users will be able to examine photos of the 100 objects in intricate detail. And fascinating insights from curators and experts will be available across each object\u2019s page, to give users the historical context of each item.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Image from \u201cA History of the World\u201d BBC website <\/p><\/div>\n
As well as the British Museum\u2019s 100 objects from the Radio 4 series, hundreds more have been contributed from over 350 museum venues across the UK, all telling a history of the world from their local perspective. For example BBC Scotland has selected 60 objects from Scottish museums representing six areas across the country including comedian Billy Connolly\u2019s banana boots, Dolly the sheep and the world\u2019s oldest football. Many more will join up as the project gains momentum through 2010, with these partnerships reflected across the BBC Local websites. Every day throughout 2010 a changing selection of objects, information and programmes will be available on mobile phones. CBBC and BBC Schools will offer a range of activities, lesson plans and history trails for both children and teachers.<\/p>\n
In an exciting initiative, listeners and viewers will be encouraged to offer pictures of objects they own and explain how these objects can help tell a history of the world. The ambition is to create a unique digital museum online of objects that tell history through the eyes of museums and audiences across the UK.<\/p>\n
Image from \u201cA History of the World\u201d BBC website <\/p><\/div>\n
Story continues on next page…<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Image from \u201cA History of the World\u201d BBC website <\/p><\/div>\n A History Of The World In 100 Objects is written and narrated by the British Museum Director, Neil MacGregor, and produced by Radio 4.<\/p>\n The 15-minute programmes will be broadcast in the key timeslot of 9.45am GMT from Monday to Friday (rpt at 7.45pm). Each programme will focus on one object from the Museum\u2019s extensive collection and will include additional voices from a range of contributors including Bob Geldof, Wole Soyinka, Grayson Perry, Madhur Jaffrey and Seamus Heaney \u2013 and many others. Omnibus editions will be broadcast on the BBC World Service.<\/p>\n Each week of programmes will be tied to a particular theme, such as \u201cafter the ice age\u201d or \u201cmeeting the gods\u201d. Objects have been selected to cover the broadest possible chronological and geographical period, and tell a history of the world from two million years ago to the present day. The 100 programmes will be broadcast in three tranches throughout 2010.<\/p>\n \u201cThis partnership between the BBC and the British Museum is the fulfilment of an Enlightenment dream,\u201d said Neil MacGregor. \u201cParliament set up the British Museum to allow all \u2018studious and curious persons\u2019 both \u2018native and foreign born\u2019 to construct their own history of the world and to find their place in it. Thanks to the incomparable reach of the BBC \u2013 radio, television, World Service and web \u2013 as the series develops, everybody across the UK and across the world will be able to participate, using not just the things in museums, but their own objects as well, to tell their history of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Damazer, Controller of Radio 4, said:\u201dThe partnership with the British Museum has brought to Radio 4 the most exciting history project in my five years as Radio 4 Controller. The idea of a \u2018History of The World\u2019 told through objects is audacious and it has been endlessly stimulating to see two creative organisations \u2013 animated by public service \u2013 coming together to produce what I believe will be thrilling programmes \u2013 not only on Radio 4, but now across the BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n The Radio 4 series has become the starting point for an extraordinarily far-reaching project. Both the BBC and the British Museum are keen to broaden the concept of \u201cA History of the World\u201d and seize the potential for a wider programme of activity focusing on world history.<\/p>\n The project will also seek to encourage listeners to explore not only the global collections of the British Museum but to engage and participate with museums across the country to discover the power of objects.<\/p>\n The project has expanded to include a 13-part CBBC series entitled Relic: Guardians Of The Museum<\/em>, broadcasting from January 2010. In the series, teams of children face the challenge of a lifetime, visiting the Museum at night to unlock the mysteries behind 13 of the objects featured in, and inspired by, the Radio 4 series.<\/p>\n Image from the BBC series \u2018Relic: Guardians of the Museum\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n Accompanied on their journey through the Museum by Agatha, a mysterious and ghostly tour guide, the adventurers must complete challenges and confront visions from the past in their quest for answers. While avoiding the \u201cdark forces\u201d that roam the galleries at night, they will discover the history behind some of the Museum\u2019s most famous exhibits, including the mystery of the Easter Island Statue; how the Rosetta Stone unlocked the secrets of Ancient Egypt and the premonition that led to the discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial. Racing against time, their success will be rewarded by \u201cGuardianship of the Museum\u201d, but if they fail they face incarceration forever within the Museum walls.<\/p>\n CBBC online <\/a>will be producing a website to accompany the TV series, containing further information about the objects featured within the show.<\/p>\n The 44 BBC Local websites across the English Regions have partnered with museums in their area to produce a list of 10 objects each that tell the story of the area\u2019s history. As well as featuring on the websites to coincide with the launch of the Radio 4 series, a series of 12 specially-commissioned half hour regional films have been made for BBC One. Each will highlight and reflect a period of great historical change in the region \u2013 articulated through landscape, people and iconic historical objects.<\/p>\n Fallon won the pitch to create branding and marketing materials across the initiative, a challenging prospect given the diverse nature of the material. In an interview for Design Week magazine, Fallon head of art and design Mark Elwood said that colourwashes were used to provide the highly dissimilar objects with \u2018a sense of unity\u2019. Fallon also designed the typography used throughout the project, which gives a sense of the typefaces evolving from \u2018ancient\u2019 to modern script across the branding. The agency also developed two promo spots for the project, in partnership with Red Bee Media and director W.I.Z. \u00a0Read more about this story on Fired By Design.<\/p>\n Visit the BBC site for more details about A History Of The World In 100 Object<\/a>s<\/p>\nRadio<\/h3>\n
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