When the People Dared to Dream ; We're Used to Thinking of the French Revolution as a Time of Hate- Fuelled Excess. but It Wasn't All Blood, Tears and Terror. MARK STEEL Celebrates the Glorious Moment When the Have-Nots Seized Control of Their World

Steel, Mark, The Independent (London, England)

It seems to me that we're not supposed to like the French Revolution very much. My introduction to the subject was on an unemployed afternoon in the late 1970s, slouched in front of Blue Peter. I think it was Peter Purves who introduced an item on Marie Antoinette. She loved beautiful clothes, he said, and was admired for her exquisite taste in jewellery. As a result, she was loved by the people of France.

Then the mood changed, and we were told how "outside agitators" spread untrue stories about the queen's greedy habits. And we were shown a silhouette of a cloaked man on a horse throwing leaflets in a cobbled street; this, apparently, led to the revolution, …

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Publication information: Article title: When the People Dared to Dream ; We're Used to Thinking of the French Revolution as a Time of Hate- Fuelled Excess. but It Wasn't All Blood, Tears and Terror. MARK STEEL Celebrates the Glorious Moment When the Have-Nots Seized Control of Their World. Contributors: Steel, Mark - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent (London, England). Publication date: July 11, 2003. Page number: 2,3. © 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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