fri 29/03/2024

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home, BBC Four | reviews, news & interviews

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home, BBC Four

If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home, BBC Four

Posh country piles and some interesting facts about the living room

Lucy Worsley: Engaging and jolly, and a tiny bit like Queenie in 'Blackadder'

I prefer "living room", but I have a friend who insists on "lounge". For some reason that probably goes deep into the psyche, I cringe at "sitting room". Same goes for "front room". As for "reception room", I’ve only ever seen that in the windows of estate agents. "Parlour", too, is a rarity, confined now to TV period dramas, which is exactly where "drawing room" seems to be heading (or perhaps I’m not mixing in the right circles). And anyone who calls it a "dining room" should surely be consigned to lonely TV dinners in perpetuity.

I prefer "living room", but I have a friend who insists on "lounge". For some reason that probably goes deep into the psyche, I cringe at "sitting room". Same goes for "front room". As for "reception room", I’ve only ever seen that in the windows of estate agents. "Parlour", too, is a rarity, confined now to TV period dramas, which is exactly where "drawing room" seems to be heading (or perhaps I’m not mixing in the right circles). And anyone who calls it a "dining room" should surely be consigned to lonely TV dinners in perpetuity.

As a gentle canter through 700 years of the front room it was all nicely diverting and the views were very pretty

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