THE VICTORIANS
Along with shouting: "Come on, come on, we haven't got all day" at hairy, unwashed students on University Challenge, one of Jeremy Paxman¹s greatest passions in life is Victorian paintings.
And it's a theme on which he waxes lyrical at the start of this intriguing new series.
"To me they are a gold mine," he explains. "Like nothing else, they show us what it was like to live in those extraordinary times.
They tell amazing stories." And it¹s these stories of Victorian life that Paxman will be exploring in finer detail over the next four weeks, beginning tonight with a journey to Manchester by canal boat.
This opening episode also finds him visiting Glasgow's vast Kelvingrove Art Gallery and exploring the darker side of 19th century London.