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The historian and presenter recalls how Michael Wood’s revelatory documentaries and Blue Peter made an impression on her despite a television-light upbringing
My parents weren’t keen on me watching television when I was growing up, in the 70s and 80s, which is ironic given that I’ve ended up working in it. My dad was a lecturer at Reading university and my mum worked at the Workers’ Educational Association. They grew all their own vegetables and were awfully middle class. TV was rationed in our house – I would play the piano instead, for an hour a day. My brother wanted to watch the TV so much that he would quite happily sit in front of the test card.
As a child, my parents’ attitude rubbed off on me; I have an old teenage diary that marks the moment when my parents decided to buy a colour television. I was very much against it and wrote that it was a waste of money. Continue reading...