Lucy Wormsley

When asked what excites her about history, Lucy said there are three main reasons for this kind of study: pure enjoyment, analytical skills and an undeniable sense of perspective. Although she says there’s plenty to learn from all kinds of history, her favorite is the “nitty gritty dirty detail of everyday life.” She knows visitors to historical sites often expect to ask questions about topics like the politics of the Reformation, “but what they really want to know about is the toilets!”

Lucy is also known for a love of costuming. “It’s an art form,” she says, “and a fabulous little window into a lost world.” Of course, this is just one of many ways she tells her stories — and this enthusiasm makes her a perfect addition to the PBS family.

 

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”

– Sterling Hayden