on Worst Jobs in History
Why worst jobs?
It was genuinely one of those 'light bulb' moments. Television programmes are usually conceived by bright young people sitting around for hours and coming up with clever ideas. This one was quite spontaneous. For a long time, I've wanted to make a programme about social history, and that meant social history that relates to all of us.
Do you mean not dealing just with the aristocracy?
I was fed up with all the history programmes on telly being about kings and queens and noble people and how, by dint of their glamorous looks and position, they managed to transform the country they were living in. This always seemed to me complete nonsense and absurdly romantic. I always felt that the contribution that ordinary people made to the transformation of the country was equally valid.
When was the 'light bulb' moment?
I was working on a programme about Richard III when there was a pause in the filming. I got talking to David Willcock [executive producer of Spire Films] and, just making conversation, asked him about Agincourt.
I'd never really understood about knights in armour fighting for eight or nine hours. I'd worn armour before and knew how heavy it was. David went on to hypnotise me with all the details of the Formula One-style pit team that a knight would have in support. He mentioned the arming squire whose job it was to hose out the armour after fighting. When you think of it, with no buttons or flaps for relieving yourself, that must have been quite nasty. I looked at David and said: 'That must have been the worst job in history' – and the light bulb went on!
What does Worst Jobs tell us about history?
Well, to me, the arming squire – and all the other horrible jobs – epitomise how I'd always felt about the undercurrent of history, the real people. The series looks at just how interesting some of those worst jobs could be and also tells us about the actual lives of the people who did them and the direction that history was going in when they were around.
