BBC DocumentariesCruikshank: 1,000 Ways of Getting Drunk in England
2001 • E73 Jun 2, 2001 60m
Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals a fascinating history of the nation's love affair with the bottle as George Cruikshank 's forgotten masterpiece The Worship of Bacchus goes on show in the Tate Modern. Cruikshank's little known work depicts Victorian society's ambivalent relationship with the "demon drink" and still hits a nerve in contemporary Britain because it pinpoints the moment in our nation's history when going out to become intentionally drunk became the British leisure activity of choice.