Child of our time

Anyone been watching this for the last ten years (obviously gaps within viewing sessions are allowed; I don't mean has anyone been watching this permanently without at least a few screen breaks for the last ten years).

Amazing, isn't it? For those who don't know, it's a study group of children whose parents--before the kids were even born--signed them up to be followed by film crews for the first twenty years of their lives, in order to show us how human personalities evolved.

Last night's programme was a bit of a mixed bag, focusing more on the studio graphics and popular science than on the children--who are all pretty wonderful, and I know I shouldn't have a favourite but how can it not be Helena (see pic)?--but the stats it revealed were pulled from a pretty impressive study. The Beeb has results from more than 200,000 Brits who took part in this personality test, which may not be available at the moment due to millions more who seem to be going onto the site to undertake the test themselves.

Reviewing it all

Serial reviewer David Hebblethwaite has a new, very well organised blog that contains all of his numerous book, film, tv and music reviews. Well worth a regular visit. Find it at http://davidhblog.wordpress.com

Have I got a question of books for you?

A while ago I had the idea of doing a book quiz similarly to popular tv quiz formats; this was before I was aware of BBC4's The Book Quiz, hosted by Kirsty Wark, with an audience that was rejected by Mastermind for being too dull and a group of particularly repressed contestants in the main that have nothing in common more than they have something to do with publishing or fiction and poetry journalism. Of more interest than most is Daisy Goodwin, who spends the majority of the shows she has been in looking at her fingernails and avoiding eye contact with people, like she'd rather be anywhere else. I know not everyone interested in books is a social abomination looking to do no more than further the idea of books as being nerdish, but someone forgot to tell that to the producers of the programme. In some ways it's made me more interested in putting together this little quiz, if only to show that writers can be erudite, witty and personable in reality as well as on the page.