"WW1 Uncut: Combat In The Skies" on BBC this coming week

I watched the program referred to. In fairness, it was more of a quickie which seemed to be aimed at kids.

Very much so. A programme that would probably whet the interest of sub-teens, some of whom may go on to search out more information and eventually finish up here.

Nothing that those with a greater breadth of knowledge will find particularly enlightening. Certainly worthwhile, and some of the air-to-air filming was good to watch in itself.

Moggy

Firstly his degree and his rowing blue do not mean he is the right man for the programme he presented nor should his his family connections.
There are good knowledgable specialist presenters and the BBC use them.
A good documentary needs to be lnowkedgably written and well presented. And there are many examples without a well known TV face.

Very well said!

Firstly his degree and his rowing blue do not mean he is the right man for the programme he presented nor should his his family connections.
There are good knowledgable specialist presenters and the BBC use them.
A good documentary needs to be lnowkedgably written and well presented. And there are many examples without a well known TV face.

For those that need light relief after ranting about the BBC, the broadcast is now available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0211xzr/ww1-uncut-8-combat-in-the-skies

It will appear later on YouTube. When it does it will also be accessible via www.biggles-biplane.com

It is easy to slag off people who may not share our detail knowledge of specialist areas, but having worked with Mr. Snow on the latter part of this programme, (mainly as strapper-inner and prop swinger), I was impressed by his depth of research and his efforts to explain WW1 history in plain language.

For the record, Dan has a first in Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford where he also won the boat race as a rower. His great, great, grandfather was none other than David Lloyd George!

Mind you, it was a beggar to squeeze him into the BE-2’s front cockpit and after half an hour of being thrown around taking avoiding action, he most definitely needed a cool lie down!

The fact that Dan Snow researched (presumably!) for a piece about ejection seats and then claimed that Martin Baker invented them suggests that aviation isn’t his speciality!

I watched the program referred to. In fairness, it was more of a quickie which seemed to be aimed at kids. I don’t have any problem with Dan Snow whatsoever, but on a wider scale, presentation of aviation-related subjects on TV tends to be poor. The problem is that it’s a specialist subject in it’s own right. Presenters can be good general historians, but know zip about aviation. I’d much rather have aviation programs presented by aviation people who aren’t going to make glaring errors and who can mug-up on the history. After all, folks would soon kick up a fuss if F1 was being presented by the ‘One Man And His Dog’ team….
Some of the output of the BBC over the years has been astonishingly good. I do think, however, that they try and do too much at times and don’t always play to their strengths. Over recent years there has been a huge proliferation of BBC channels. Most people seem to feel that they’d rather the BBC leant towards quality rather than quantity. That said, the BBC iPlayer site is excellent now. It’s great to be able to choose content at will and look at stuff that one has missed.
Someone mentioned above that the Beeb could be funded directly by the Government, which would make a lot of sense, – just so long as it didn’t become further politicised….

Indeed!

And in response to an earlier point I would agree if the tax was not misspent. Yes some great programmes but a few swallows do not make a Summer of overpaid management, wasted resources and plain dross.

I won’t prejudge the programne although I do not like Dan Snow’s presentational style. However I do criticise the BBC for their attitude. And this will be yet another nail in the coffin of the Charter which will hopefully only be renewed for a radically slimmed down national broadcaster.

Re Dan Snow, I can’t help but agree.
Personally I’d prefer James Holland or even Jules Hudson.

So why not pay for it out of general taxation? The Licence fee is just a tax on top of all other taxes you pay. In fact, it would be cheaper option than collecting the telly tax separately. As for value for money I went off BBC when they lost the rights to Test Match Cricket on TV!

The BBC is an excellent service that costs 41pence per day. What else gives that sort of value? For the average family that is 10 pence each per day. It is less than half the price of a daily newspaper of any quality. Only recently people were praising the quality of the program on Eric Brown. In my opinion it would be a massive loss to the country if the way it is funded and run independent of government or commercial interests is significantly changed. Commercial rivals such as the Daily Fail who rail against it have a vested interest in changing and plug their opinions without explaining they have significant investment in ITV for example.

I won’t prejudge the programne although I do not like Dan Snow’s presentational style. However I do criticise the BBC for their attitude. And this will be yet another nail in the coffin of the Charter which will hopefully only be renewed for a radically slimmed down national broadcaster.

Alan I’m sure. That was said about TV program’s when not everyone had a telly. You obviously use computers or you would not be on here.

I wasn’t talking about myself.
Believe it or not, there are still a lot of people out there who don’t own computers, my father wouldn’t even know how to
turn one on. He would like to see that particular programme though.

The BBC tends to assume that everyone owns a computer, has access to iPlayer, uses Facebook, and knows how to Tweet.

Not sure the BBC can justify the Telly Tax any longer if it’s making programmes paid for by the Licence Fee that are not even going to be put out on the Telly.

FFS? Perhaps I’m behind the times, but I had no idea that the BBC makes programmes that they have no intention of putting out on their television channels. I have now learned something, as I’ve also learned that there are other BBC WW1 Uncut films. I shall have to go and search them out, as I shall eagerly await this one – even if I do share others’ thoughts that Dan Snow seems a bit of an intrusive presence in much of his otherwise rather good work.

My profound apologies for having a less than perfectly informed opinion.

Exactly my point lazy, making a judgment without all the information, including not even seeing it!

Alan I’m sure. That was said about TV program’s when not everyone had a telly. You obviously use computers or you would not be on here.

Ok for those who use or have access to iPlayer.

The BBC has a lot of stuff online (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww1), including a WW1 channel on YouTube (incl WW1 Uncut):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A4nPQbUF8DgbYPfZnFTo9U_n2ELwLXi

I like the podcasts (which are mainly collections of short pieces from various programmes)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/ww1

FFS? Perhaps I’m behind the times, but I had no idea that the BBC makes programmes that they have no intention of putting out on their television channels. I have now learned something, as I’ve also learned that there are other BBC WW1 Uncut films. I shall have to go and search them out, as I shall eagerly await this one – even if I do share others’ thoughts that Dan Snow seems a bit of an intrusive presence in much of his otherwise rather good work.

My profound apologies for having a less than perfectly informed opinion.

I can’t find it on Virgin either. ‘Straight to iPlayer’ doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of it’s quality…

Brilliant, not even been on and already being slagged off!!!!!!! FFS !!!

It going straight to Iplayer because that what it was intended for as are all the rest of the BBC WW1 uncut films.
But as it’s so crap it won’t worry you as you wont want to see it anyway.

I can’t find it on Virgin either. ‘Straight to iPlayer’ doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of it’s quality…

Is this just an iPlayer thing ? I don’t see it listed on the Sky EPG.