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Article: Juvenal's satire
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- August 14, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Something very odd happened the other night. The BBC broadcast
a little programme about Juvenal, the Roman satirist. There was, as
far as I could see, no anniversary to account for this. It didn't
introduce a new series or form part of Scorn Night, a festival of
vituperation through the ages. Juvenal wasn't even billed as the
Ben Elton of the Palatine Hill. Laughter and Loathing (BBC2) had
clearly been broadcast simply because someone thought it might
interest some of the viewers. There was no excuse for it
whatsoever.
It's true that Ian Hislop presented it, rather than some tweeded
academic with cigarette ash in his turn-ups - which might be
thought to count as shameless popularisation. ...