The Beginning of History: a Film

Abstract

It was early in 1944 that the production of a film on British prehistory was agreed upon at the Ministry of Education. It may be that war conditions made it easier I to get this unorthodox project adopted—the attention of a possible opposition was distracted. Nevertheless it is remarkable that in the middle of a war two Government departments (the Ministry of Information is the producing agency) should undertake a work apparently so unpractical and so little urgent. It would have been interesting to be present in the Admiralty office in the then very strictly prohibited area of the Orkneys when the request came through for a permit for a film director to visit the island’s prehistoric monuments. He was permitted. If there is a racial generalization which has some truth, it is that the English are a tolerant people.

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