Simon Schama, 79, makes stance clear on ‘woke’ backlash to rewriting of The Beatles history in new BBC series
Historian Simon Schama has opened up about his contribution to an upcoming BBC series exploring Britain’s art and cultural past.
Simon Schama’s Story of Us is a three-part documentary exploring British society, but the 79-year-old has already admitted it will spark claims of “wokeness,” particularly in regard to The Beatles.
A synopsis for the series reads: “Historian Simon Schama explores how art and culture has captured the transformations of British society since 1945.
“Although the postwar years saw a shared optimism, expressed in the 1951 Festival of Britain, Simon discovers how a common British identity slowly fragmented as different and sometimes clashing voices emerged.
“Writers like Alan Sillitoe depicted working-class life with new authority, while artists like Pauline Boty reflected a new mood of sexual frankness.
“The evangelical Christian Festival of Light fought back against what its leaders viewed as a rising tide of filth, but nothing could stop competing voices from being heard – first on TV, in what were known as ‘open access’ programmes, and today on social media.”
When asked about accusations of being “woke,” Schama responded: “They’ll say he’s rewritten the Beatles’ story in order to make it more ethnically friendly.”
Continuing, he added: “But this is an unknown corner of the Beatles’origin story, and it’s factually correct.”
He went on to argue being correct is important in an age of misinformation.
“The internet is a kind of a reverse matchmaker,” he told Radio Times.
“It creates anger because horrible, screaming arguments are clickbait in a way in which reconciliation and listening to each other are not.
“Every week the division makers go hunting for issues to create rage and that does seem to me an awful turn of events.”
He explained how this caused him to “take stock of where we are”.
Schama also noted how David Attenborough features in the series, with the episode delving into how the 98-year-old opened BBC Two.
“David Attenborough was quite shy about saying it was his idea,” Schama explained.
He went on to add they were “very careful” to include how it had also been the word of others at the BBC.
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When asked if he could persuade Attenborough to join X, Schama admitted it “wouldn’t be a bad idea”.
“I imagine David feels he’s better off with the elephants and the polar bears or the Siberian tiger.
“Much easier to deal with than Elon Musk. But I wish he would.”