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Stephen Fry, best known (to me anyway) for playing Jeeves in the P.G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster, recently hosted a BBC4 documentary on the Gutenberg Press entitled The Machine That Made Us. The title refers to the movable-type printing press invented by Johann Gutenberg in the fifteenth century.
In the course of the one-hour documentary, Fry travels through Europe to understand Gutenberg’s story. He also builds a modern replica of the press, which turns out to be a tough job. You can watch the entire documentary online via YouTube (embedded videos below — one hour spread across six ten-minute clips), or if you’re in the UK you can watch via the BBC’s iPlayer.
This documentary is an interesting exploration of Gutenberg and his invention; the story of the printing press is one we don’t often think about, but of course it’s central to the development of modern thought and education. Have a look:
You can read more about Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press at Wikipedia. See also: the Gutenberg Bible.
(Via Kottke.org.)
Steven Fry is definitely one of my heroes
posted by Jordan on 4-21-2008 at 5:53 pm
I agree - Fry is great.
What a wonderful documentary!
posted by Stephanie on 4-22-2008 at 12:27 pm
Looking forward to watching this when I get home this evening (unfortunately, work blocks all things YouTube). I’m also glad I’m not the only one who loves Stephen Fry as Jeeves…that also suggests I’m not alone in remembering a pre-”House” Hugh Laurie as Wooster.
posted by Jen on 4-23-2008 at 7:10 am
Higgins
I can not recommend Fry highly enough.
He is considered something of a national treasure here in the UK.
he came to prominence through comedy in the sho A Bit of Fry and Laurie, the Laurie being Hugh Laurie, now known as Dr Gregory House.
If you enter Fry’s name into you tube there is basically no entry that isn’t an excerise in excellence.
posted by Polx on 4-23-2008 at 7:32 am
Here is an interesting post on the documentary;
www.graphicstart.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=99
posted by Bob on 4-23-2008 at 8:47 am