Watchification » commerce http://watchification.com Sun, 31 May 2009 21:50:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Shopping for England http://watchification.com/2008/11/25/shopping-for-england/ http://watchification.com/2008/11/25/shopping-for-england/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:36:02 +0000 Steve Bowbrick http://watchification.com/?p=180 What a lovely, fascinating, useful programme. Proper scholarship (from Mica Nava, a clever historian who was once, in the distant past, my boss for a short while), great stories and really interesting and relevant insights into the translation of Britain from 19th Century manufacturing powerhouse into 20th Century shopaholic paradise.

The two big names featured were both Americans but, between then, transformed Britain: FW Woolworth and Gordon Selfridge. The sad part is that Selfridge lost everything and died a bitter onlooker and Woolworth’s, already long gone in the US, looks like it’s about to do the same here, which makes me wonder what’s going to happen to the amazing Woolworth Archive featured in the programme (and to its passionate honorary archivist, Paul Seaton, who is an IT manager at the firm).

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