Heritage - taking possession of the present in the name of the past

摘要

Readers of this column who remember my last diatribe against the purchase of Tyntesfield (AJ 5.9.02), the Dallas-sized, known-only-to-locals home to the late Lord Wraxall, will doubtless have hurried home from work to see Dan Cruickshank's rapturous assessment of the treasure house on television the other week. I say rapturous because the number of 'fantas-tics', 'incredibles', 'unbelievables', 'wonderfuls', 'remarkables' and other simulated orgasms of polite appreciation let loose in 40 minutes must have exceeded even the generous maxima laid down in the current edition of the Heritage Book of Praise - let alone threatened to breach the boundaries of good taste.