Onto some more exciting days out! Caby had told me about a BBC exhibit at the Cardiff Museum months prior, which was still running during my visit (and ran into September 2023). With the family car back in working order temporarily, we, along with her brother Cramble, got a lift to the museum by their dad. We intended to do a whole bunch that day, but wound up only hitting the museum for reasons I'll get to later.
(Customary reminder by now: this is only a couple of the photos I took here! You can find the other, oh, sixty or so at the gallery on cabycammy.somnol. Much good that I couldn't fit here!)
Still, this was plenty exciting on its own—broadcast history is something I love, and the story of the BBC parallels, but is pretty distinct from, the rise of the TV networks we have in the states. This exhibit focused pretty specifically on the story of the BBC in Wales, how Welsh-language programs got broadcast and gained acceptance in the early-mid 20th century, and of course, the formation of BBC Cymru, the headquarters of which we saw while wandering around where Caby went to college.
We saw some 50s TVs and radios the moment we walked in, one of which was retrofitted with a modern LCD panel to show off some kinda introduction to the exhibit (as much as broadcasting a low-power analog TV signal to get those TVs actually showing off the video would've slapped). A lot of the early exhibit was actually about early radio in Wales, but these were too dark for my DSi to get any good photos of.
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Props and puppets
Another big focus of the exhibit was on the BBC's long history of radio and TV for kids. They actually had a ton of models from various British kids shows there, most of which I don't recognize (damn being exotic...). I did see Clangers there though! And Paddington! And Teletubbies... And of course, Caby's favorite, the original sleepy obese cat, Bagpuss:
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The struggle was so real, Caby trying to find a Bagpuss plushie that was accurate to what Bagpuss actually looks like. (If you've never heard the story, Bagpuss was supposed to be orange like Garfield eventually was, but the puppet was accidentally dyed hot pink and they kept it because they didn't have the money for another. Now he's just iconic.)
There was plenty other iconic BBC show paraphernalia at the exhibit though—a buncha Doctor Who stuff, some of the outfits from some of their dramas, and weirdly enough, curled up on a shirt, they had a dead weasel ermine puppet? I have no idea what show that goes to, but he was cute, even if he was aliven't. I'll group in some of the TV gear they had on display, because it's cool and I don't know where else on this page I'd put it.
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Any time I see a TV switchboard, I get wistful for college. Ours was a lot less complicated than that one, though, and probably a lot newer. (Let me know if you recognize what the ermine or the outfits go to and I'll update this page! They had plaques in the exhibit for everything, but I was too busy goofing off with Caby and Cramble to read them.)
Sets
There were a few mini-rooms in the exhibit, which was great. One that Caby and I loved was this hideously loud 70s living room at Christmas with a striped couch and circle patterns on the wall, complete with a period record player, TV, and bright red radio in the back. It was awful. I would have this in my basement if I had a basement.
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They also had the news desk! They let you sit at it and take pictures of yourself and your friends, but the DSi camera has such low dynamic range that I literally appeared pure white when Caby tried to take a picture of me. We were too busy looking at all the exhibit stuff to think of using a different camera. (If you're curious, the papers were just exhibit text talking about BBC News, there was no actual news printed on them.)
What does the BBC mean to you?
Towards the end of the exhibit, there were these boards with pens and stickie notes sitting next to them asking the people visiting what they thought the BBC does best, what it does worst, what they'd miss if it were gone, that sorta deal. These were glorious, because although they had security there trying to clear off any joke answers, they were still effectively real-life shitposting boards. Cramble used his aggressive height to put the stuff he wrote (damned if I could remember what, but it was funny) well out of reach of the security guards, and Caby drew a Bagpuss for each and every one of the boards.
The gift shop...
Ah, always the tempting part when you're on vacation. I might not have bought anything if the cart of Paddingtons didn't melt my heart first:
Now, I'm gonna be real with you folks. I did not grow up with Paddington. I have never read the books, nor have I seen the movies (though they're apparently pretty damn good and I'd like to see them with Caby sometime). But—you don't say no to a bear in a comfy coat and a big hat. The big ones were of course pretty pricy, but...
Yeah, I went home with a pocket Paddington. (Also, a really nice hardcover full-color book chronicling 100 years of the BBC, but that's not as cuddleable.) He's currently about a foot away from my arm on my desk, and he will be traveling with me next time as well, yes. On that note, we caught the rest of the museum! Wasn't as exciting, but there were lots of cute animal taxidermies and neat fishes and sea creatures, so it was definitely worth the trip.
More dinos, more prehistory
Mostly I liked the crazy lighting on these lads. They went with really harsh lights on all the skeletons, so you got these crazy deep shadows on them. There was this little tunnel with other prehistorical beasts (like that mammoth down there), but it was supremely busy, so it was rather difficult to get any pictures in there.
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Forest/sea creatures
Caby and I went nuts over this part of the museum. This was a bunch of models of different habitats with realistic-looking models of UK wildlife in them (plus some sea creatures and fish a bit further ahead). We were very, very happy to see badgers and bunnies, it must be said.
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Some art upstairs
Upstairs in the museum was mostly devoted to pottery and art—pretty dull, if I'm being honest. We really hit the best stuff first. Still, I got a few shots of paintings I thought were neat and maybe could take inspiration from with my own art at some point, and there was this crazy art installation called Unlliw, which is just 6,500 cardboard birdhouses in a big pile. There's apparently globalist environmental concerns attached to the piece, but we just thought it was hilarious.
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I did mention that we'd intended to hit up a few more places that day, but we didn't think to check if that day was a bank holiday and it happened to be such—so all the shops were closed and we just kinda went home. Not to fret, though, because we were right back out the next morning...
My DSi did very pretty things to the colors inside the foyer. Devon said it looked like a still from a VHS tape, and I agree heartily.