1720-1879
OK. Let’s boil down the culture of one hundred and sixty years to just one thing per decade. No regrets. Just living our best lives, one terrible opinion at a time.
1720s: Bit of an obvious one, but I’m going to say, Bach’s cello concertos. Great on record but heard live they floor you with their beauty.
1730s: Roskilde Royal Mansion, all symmetrical, and yellow.
1740s: I was going to say Handel’s Messiah, but this was also the decade that William Cullen came up with the basis for modern refrigeration. Tough choice, divine music or cold food? I’m going to have to say… both.
1750s: Which means I can’t recommend anything from the 1750s. Sorry, Voltaire.
1760s: John Spilsbury invents the jigsaw puzzle. Underrated, your jigsaw.
1770s: Nobody knows which architect designed the Piece Hall in Halifax, which is a shame, because it is a brilliant building and it would be nice to give somebody credit for that. The scale of it has allowed it to be reinvented several times. An absolute jewel.
1780s: William Herschel discovered Uranus, and the solar system of our imagination grew slightly, and with it the possibilities of existence.
Oh, yeah, and ‘your anus, more like’ etc.
1790s: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.8. You know, the Succession one. Like the Bach, it’s not exactly a hipster choice. Also, like the Bach, it bangs.
1800s: First one-inch-map produced. The pre-metric precursor of OS Explorer maps, the thinking person’s Google Maps.
1810s: The invention of crisps.
1820s: Chopin starting composing his Etudes.
1830s: Thomas Fearnley painted a cactus.
1840s: The Communist Manifesto. Because you’ve got to start somewhere, haven’t you? (wink).
1850s: Invention of Tipsy Cake. Perfected a century and a half later by Heston Blumenthal. Still on the menu at Dinner. Very much recommended for a significant birthday treat. Possibly the greatest thing I have ever eaten.
1860s: Brighton West Pier. Beautiful at every stage of its existence and demise. When I lived in Brighton it was just a black frame in and above the sea, covered in starlings. Lovely stuff.
1870s: One of the great art trends of this era was the massive cow picture. My personal favourite is probably Lady Fragrant at Seven Years Old.
Next week, 1880-1899
Benjamin Judge's judgements 