Sir: I was sorry to see that Peter Jones did
not like the story of Alexander the Great as told by Michael Wood on BBC 2. He makes of it the criticism I myself have often made of television programmes, especially on scientific matters, that the pictures do nothing but distract viewers from the story told by the words. But to criticise the Alexander series on such grounds seems to me to miss the point entirely.
Alexander's greatness lay in his victories over opposing armies and over the most forbidding terrains. Admittedly his tactics on the field may well be better told by the historians than by television reconstruc- tions. But his victories over hostile geogra- phy can best be told by revisiting the moun- tains, deserts, passes and rivers he con- quered, especially when there has on the whole been little change of scene over the centuries.
I also found Michael Wood • quite bril- liant in his choice of local and timeless colour. The wild frolics and gorgeous dress- es of a wedding crowd in Central Asia were exactly the right background to the story of Alexander's marriage to Roxana.
The legend of Alexander is just as much a historical fact as his battles and journeys, and I found it delightful to be shown that his exploits were still being declaimed by local bands with Homeric vigour.
Eric Phillips
46 Platts Lane, London NW3
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