Yesterday I mentioned Waterways Routes, the first in a new series of cruising guide DVDs on particular canals.
But what if you want an overview of what the English canals are all about, of their history and culture, and their broader place in England? What if you've recently come to this country from abroad, and you want a souvenir of the whole canal culture to take home. Anything to declare?
I have. I was recently sent a (free) copy of The Heritage of the Inland Waterways, a 65-minute video that explores the canals - both as they were and as they are now.
There are several DVDs that attempt to do this. I've seen a couple, and they tend to follow a formula, but none yet that are definitive. Although I got this one free, I have to declare it one the best I've seen so far - it's a good blend of archive footage, modern leisure boating scenes, interviews with tradtional waterways craftsmen and boatyard folk, and it's done with a lot of skill and charm.
But the best bit, knitting it all together, is presenter John Noakes, erstwhile of Blue Peter. I don't know what he's done since then and he's somewhat greyer and creakier than I remember him from the 1970s. Yet the unruly mop of hair is still there, and he still has that same convivial, conspiratorial, contrived daft enthusiasm that he brought to every daredevil Blue Peter stunt.
Where to buy it? It's a great pity; producers Trent Television have made an excellent production, but they don't have a slick distribution chain, and you won't find it in the shops or on one of the big Amazon-style one-click-to-buy shopping sites.
You can get it from the IWA Shop on this page (don't get distracted by the other, similar products on the page as you scroll to the bottom), you can buy it here on canalcargo.co.uk, or on this page from canalshop.co.uk. I notice that Towpath Talk offered it as a competition prize this month.
I briefly met the producers at the Saul Festival last year, where I they were filming for the video, and they asked me if I knew where to find any working boat archive footage (I didn't).
They must have seen and remembered folk duo Jane Rouse and Tim Christian, who appeared at Saul and whom they hired to do the music for the film. (You can see and hear Jane and Tim perform and talk in a short video here on the BBC Oxford web site).
I enjoy folk music when I stumble upon it, for free - that is, as real folk music with all folk participating. I think it sounds best when it's overhead, not 'performed'.
But a little of the squeezebox and the traditional quavering, nasal folk singer goes a long way for me. Unfortunately it goes a very long way in this programme (and, to be fair, in almost every historical film of the waterways). Why is traditional cardy/beardy-style accordion folk music the stereotypical cover music for this sort of programme?
I know, I know, I shouldn't be such a churl; they do it very well. And it comes from their instruments and not from loudspeakers, which is more than you can say for most music on boats these days.
PS: The traditional anti-folk jibe is 'finger in the ear', but do they ever stick their finger in their ear or is that an urban legend?
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