Old school joy

Let’s not beat about the bush: Howard Goodall’s Story of Music (BBC2, Saturday) is landmark television, a documentary series that deserves to rank with such unimpeachable classics as Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation and which, if you haven’t seen it yet, you absolutely must for it will answer so many of the questions that have been bugging you all your life. Questions like: ‘Bach — was he really as good as I think he was?’ ‘So what did music sound like in Roman times?’ and ‘Where did Lurpak butter get its name?’

Of course that last one is a fake question. I’d hazard a fortune you’ve never once asked it — but the answer’s interesting all the same. It’s named after a distinctive blowing horn, developed during the Bronze Age but used by Vikings until at least the Middle Ages. In 1797, six pairs of them dating from 800 to 700 BC were found in a peat bog in Denmark, so perfectly preserved that they were still playable.