Jonathan Meades on France starts tonight

A new series by him is a television event, but the BBC has allowed Jonathan Meades on France little publicity.

So let me tell you that you can see the first part, Fragments of an Arbitrary Encyclopaedia, on BBC Four tonight at 9 p.m. The BBC Four website tells us:

Jonathan Meades travels through Lorraine and explains why, although close to its eastern border, it has become the symbolic, or even mystical, heart of France and a stronghold of a romantic nationalism that is also expressed by such diverse means as typography, music, engineering, exquisite urbanism and, above all, a sensitivity to Germany's proximity.

The second film, to be shown next week, is A Biased Anthology of Parisian Peripheries and third remains a mystery for now.

You can read an interview with Meades about the series on The Dabbler and there is plenty more from the great man at the MeadesShrine on Youtube.