Episode description

Tim Smit has admired Humphrey Jennings since seeing Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012.

Jennings was a film maker, artist, and co-founder of the Mass Observation Movement. Many of the scenes in that memorable Olympic ceremony were inspired by his work.

His films about ordinary British life during the Second World War are a poetic testament to the people of the British Isles.

Tim Smit wants to know why Jennings isn’t better known?

Tim Smit is founder of the Eden Project and talks to Matthew Parris.

They're joined by curator Ros Cranston from the British Film Institute, with contributions from Jennings' biographer Kevin Jackson

Producer: Maggie Ayre

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.