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The Genius of Josiah Wedgwood

1 x 59 HD
Broadcaster:  BBC

This Grierson Award nominated film follows Josiah Wedgwood, one of the founding fathers of the Industrial Revolution and the man who revolutionized English pottery. Wedgwood was a self-made, self-educated creative giant, whose other achievements might be better known if he wasn’t so celebrated for his pottery.

Historian A.N. Wilson sets out to tell the story of the man and what he achieved, arguing he was surprisingly modern for his time. Set within the social context of its day, Wilson explores Wedgwood's relationship with the Lunar Men. He argues that Wedgwood was a man with a hand in every part of the revolutionary pie: transport policy, engineering, politics, marketing, education, industrial relations, trade, human rights – and philosophy. And that Wedgwood was one of history’s greatest inventors.

“You may be surprised to see that this hagiography on the great Georgian potter is presented by novelist-historian A.N. Wilson, but in fact he’s the perfect presenter. Wilson grew up in Stoke; his father was production director at Wedgwood in the 1950s, a potter like all the family for ten generations. Steeped in the myth as he is, you can forgive Wilson Jr for worshipping at Josiah Wedgwood’s non-clay feet. His account of how a young artist-industrialist applied science to the craft of pottery and created ‘a Georgian superbrand’ is fascinating. We see drawers full of ceramic fragments – some of the thousands of glaze tests Josiah ran in his search for the perfect finish. We hear of the passion for social justice that drove him to campaign against slavery. And we see plenty of superb pots and vases. ” – Radio Times

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