Where’s New Zealand’s ‘Grundy’s Wonders’?
I’m going out on a limb here, but I’d put good money on my hunch that you’ve never even heard of John Grundy, let alone seen Grundy’s Wonders. The show screens here on a Sunday evening, on the Living Channel at 22:30. Tyne Tees Television in the UK has made five series of this programme. Grundy is glibly written off by The Living Channel as “an architectural historian and writer. He casts a comical and critical eye over buildings in England’s fair land. He comes up with interesting snippets on things you never knew about”. He calls himself “a sort of pretendy Geordie”, has a northeastern accent and a way of emphasising his arguments that might fool Kiwis, who confuse passion with bellyaching, into believing he’s whingeing. But New Zealand could use a few more men like Grundy — especially among its town and city planners. More…
posted by Chris Bell at 5:55 PM
7 Comments:
Dunno about orkland, but Wellington has a Grundy of sorts with Tom Beard at http://wellurban.blogspot.com
Thanks for that, Zippy. I've had a quick look at Tom's blog, which is an interesting read, although the bold, blue site links make it a eye-straining read. All we have to do now is get Tom onto New Zealand TV. Is he an architect by trade?
He certainly gives the impression he might be an architect.
BTW - I've always wondered if you & Tom might be the same person, I mean, just going by the photos... or at least related...
The bible here is David Mitchell's 1984 book, The Elegant Shed. Long overdue for an update. Hard to believe that it was a spin-off from a TV show - yes, Virginia, there was once a NZ television series with one of our best architects talking about architecture.
I used to do an impression of an architect, but decided having friends was more important. Me, Grundy, Tom... all blokes with beards are, in fact, the same person, Llew. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed that before.
Talking about architecture is definitely more effective than dancing about it - as Steve Martin once (sort of) observed, Stephen.
Cheers, Chris. I assume Tom's an architect but I can't guarantee it. He does have a passion for it, popping up in The Capital Times regularly lambasting this and that. Judging from how critical he is of Wellington design, I reckon he'd have a field day up in Orkland. Give him a yell.
And yeah, you guys do look pretty similar...
Nope, not an architect!
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