Q-Eye - 7 January 2011
Making connections
Quaker connections
Friends may be enjoying two television programmes that both have interesting Quaker connections.
On Sunday evenings on BBC 1 Rufus Sewell stars as the elegant Italian detective Aurelio Zen in a three part series based on the novels of the late Michael Dibden.
Born in Wolverhampton, Michael Dibden was brought up from the age of seven in the town of Lisburn in Northern Ireland. He attended Friends School Lisburn, one of the few remaining Quaker schools in Ireland. It was established in the late eighteenth century by Quakers who were at the forefront of the linen industry in the town.
Michael Portillo can be seen on the BBC 2 series Great British Railway Journeys. The series also has a Quaker link, for Michael Portillo travels around with one hand firmly clasping his treasured edition of George Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook as he searches the island looking for what remains of Bradshaw’s Britain.
George Bradshaw was a member of the Religious Society of Friends for many years and, while recognised as a cartographer, printer and publisher, he was best known for developing the most successful and longest published series of railway timetables.
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