That’s a Bristol accent? If you can’t say anything nice. . .What happened to Received Pronunciation?
We’re very proud of her.
With that metallic red hair and perfect skin tight jeans you should be. Day-am!!
She’s the best bit about Inside The Factory. Although I do like Cherry Healey.
Inside The Factory also occasionally features Annie Gray, also a wonderful food historian. The English Heritage youtube series she consults for on Victorian cooking is amazing, and has an awesome presenter in Kathy Hipperson
The bolding is mine - where are you getting that idea from? Neil Oliver has made his British nationalism clear for years. He has never missed an opportunity to disparage the Scottish independence movement. He could not have made his views clearer than when he recently signed up to work on the new right wing GB News TV channel, where, by the way, he stated:
“I’m apolitical, but over the lockdown I have had opinions,” he told the newspaper. “I think it is the biggest single mistake in world history, and I’m just horrified by the damage that has been done.”
This gives a hint to the fact that despite marketing himself as a historian, Oliver is not qualified in history and instead studied archeology.
The above mentioned David Starkey has at last been disgraced for his openly racist far-right opinions, which to me were obvious for years. Last year, after these views were being discussed in the media, Neil Oliver tweeted that he “loves” David Starkey.
Dan Snow similarly used the position he had gained as a documentary presenter to try and influence elections, when he told Scottish voters they should vote against independence in 2014. He did not declare the gigantic personal interest he had in a referendum where land ownership was a major issue, in being the son-in-law (now brother-in-law) of the Duke of Westminster, one of the biggest absentee landlords in Scotland. Not a good look, Dan.
… and pop star.
Going way back, among the first presenters (as opposed to narrator) Kenneth Clarke for Civilization. He was snooty, but always conveyed a sense of goodwill for humanity. Probably why in his day job, he admitted that Francis Bacon’s talent, but couldn’t bear the unrelenting pessimism of his paintings.
Since Clark had Western Art, the next up was Science with Jacob Bronowski’s Ascent of Man. The part where he steps into the pond at Auschwitz is available on Youtube. Nobody’s done anything as powerful with television as that.
Also, even further back than those two were the nature presentations by David Attenborough. Whatever happened to him?
And he never, ever exaggerates! 
I never liked David Starkey, long before his racism and political views became public.
From the first time I saw him, he struck me as being pompous and arrogant. Misogynistic too - he is highly dismissive and contemptuous of female historians.
Did you watch this on American TV? Because the British title is Civilisation.
“I may not know what it is, but I think I recognize it when I see it.” —Sir Kenneth Clarke
The first British documentary series I watched was The Ascent of Man back in the '70s. It was written and presented by Jacob Bronowski, and it’s still my favorite.
The second was James Burke’s Connections when I was a freshman in college.
IIRC, Jim Al-Khalili filmed some scenes inside the control room of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in one of his shows. I was in that very room in the summer of 1976, and the memories came flooding back.
Who was it that said in one science show “Oil doesn’t come shittin’ out of the Earth!”? Neil Oliver or that other guy with a heavy Scottish accent? (I can’t remember his name either.)
Do you mean Boaty McBoatface?
Kate Humble raised the question, is there a context where skinny dipping on TV is appropriate?
You mean this bit? It is pretty moving:
Although, having said that, he did suffer a little bit from BBC Documentarian Hands.
Not as badly as David Mitchell, though.
“recognize”? 
Nitpick. It’s Kenneth Clark (without an e). Kenneth Clarke is a politician.
That was incredibly powerful. I had never seen it before.
It is said that science will dehumanise people and turn them into numbers. That is false - tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality - this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods."
I just googled a bit. A few people are saying that it’s the best but of TV ever. Hard to disagree.
It’s a toss-up between that, and James Baldwin on the Dick Cavett show.
I think that sketch is mainly satirising a presenter called Mark Horton. In one episode of Coast, Horton begins one scene standing 3 feet outside what would later become my toilet window. It’s not quite The Ascent of Man.
Iain Stewart does a lot of geology programmes. He doesn’t have a “heavy” accent though, whatever that means.
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[Moderating]
It’s… borderline. To some extent, these people are chosen for their screen presence and entertainment value, which would put them under the actor exception to our rules on comments on appearance. But to some extent, they’re chosen for their subject matter expertise. And in any event, you’re slobbering a lot of drool over the boards… It’s a bit unseemly. It would be best, overall, if you were to dial it back.
EDIT:
This post, in particular, was over the line.
Thanks, but really, THAT one? I’d’ve chosen differently.