Victoria and Albert's quirky cornucopia of treasure: An adorable 120-year-old stuffed elephant is just one of the 星／主役にするs in a new series celebrating some of the 2 million items at the V&A

  • Fascinating six-part BBC2 series 調査するs London’s Victoria & Albert Museum
  • の中で the 2.3 million ageing artefacts?is centenarian, Pumpie the Elephant
  • Secrets Of The Museum 明らかにする／漏らすs the 技術 and 集中 of the conservators

By TIM OGLETHORPE FOR WEEKEND

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He’s moth-eaten, his stuffing is coming out and his trunk could 落ちる off at any moment. If the 専門家s don’t work on Pumpie the Elephant すぐに his days may be numbered.?

Happily, help is at 手渡す and this special centenarian is soon 支援する on his feet, ready to take centre 行う／開催する／段階 in a new TV 文書の series.

Pumpie is a 星／主役にする of Secrets Of The Museum, a fascinating six-part look at some of the 2.3 million 反対するs at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the 専門家s who look after them.?

He’s a 最高潮の場面 of a new 展示 of children’s toys, but moths have been chewing at him for １０年間s.

Six-part BBC2 series?Secrets Of The Museum, explores the?2.3 million ageing artefacts in?London’s Victoria & Albert Museum such as?Pumpie the Elephant (pictured)

Six-part BBC2 series?Secrets Of The Museum, 調査するs the?2.3 million ageing artefacts in?London’s Victoria & Albert Museum such as?Pumpie the Elephant (pictured)

‘He’s around 120 and made of felt, 支持を得ようと努めるd shavings and cork, which weren’t designed to last this long,’ says conservator Jo Hackett, ‘but I think we’re just in time.’?

New, 特に dyed fabric is used to patch up Pumpie’s faded felt trunk, and it has to be painstakingly pulled into place from the insi de so the join won’t show.?

‘It’s like trying to put a pair of socks on through a letter box,’ sighs Jo.

Alistair Pegg, the show’s (n)役員／(a)執行力のある 生産者, says, ‘We live in an age of distraction, so to see the 技術 and 集中 of the conservators is consoling. They go to unbelievable lengths.’

Other ageing artefacts 要求する 類似の 量s of imaginative thinking.?

Buried in the V&A’s storerooms but making a grand re-入り口 is a Victorian peep show 許すing the テレビ視聴者 to 観察する the 広大な／多数の／重要な 展示 of 1851.?

‘It’s made of paper and card with a 前線 パネル盤, a 支援する パネル盤 and a bellows in between,’ explains special collections curator Catherine Yvard.?

‘Once they’re 拡大するd you get a 十分な, 手渡す-painted 見解（をとる） of the 展示.?

Among the featured artefacts is Beyonce's butterfly ring (pictured) and the?contents of Kylie Minogue’s dressing room at Wembley, circa 2007

の中で the featured artefacts is Beyonce's バタフライ （犯罪の）一味 (pictured) and the?contents of Kylie Minogue’s dressing room at Wembley, circa 2007

'It was 事実上の reality for the 19th century, and it 許すd a very special event in British history to be shown in 3D.’

The problem is the cardboard 事例／患者 that houses the contraption is in danger of 崩壊（する）, 要求するing conservator Anne Bancroft to fill a 洗浄器／皮下注射／浣腸器 with a natural paste made from wheat ーするために glue the whole thing together.

Alistair Pegg and his team spent six months filming Secrets Of The Museum, and with so many items to choose from they could have made 100 programmes rather than six.?

‘And we could have 調査／捜査するd more of the building itself,’ he says.

‘The place is like the Tardis. I never seem ed to go 負かす／撃墜する the same 回廊（地帯） twice!’

の中で the other featured items are the handlebars from 小旅行する de フラン 勝利者 Bradley Wiggins’s bicycle, the contents of Kylie Minogue’s dressing room at Wembley, circa 2007, and Beyonc?’s バタフライ （犯罪の）一味, which appeared to take flight when she moved her fingers.

The V&A has the world’s largest exhibition of Mary Quant dresses, pictured a style from the brand's 1964 collection

The V&A has the world’s largest 展示 of Mary Quant dresses, pictured a style from the brand's 1964 collection

There are some anxious moments.?

The 巡礼者 Outside The Garden Of Idleness, a 19th-century oil 絵 by Edward 燃やす-Jones, 重さを計るs a ４半期/4分の1 of a トン and 要求するs a team of 12 to carry it up 多重の staircases so it can be rehung on one of the upper 床に打ち倒すs.?

And the 1,400 elements of an ornate chandelier by glass artist Dale Chihuly that’s hung in the museum’s 入り口 hall since 1999 を受ける their 年次の clean by a staff member 一時停止するd 40ft above the ground.

いつかs, though, the problem is the V&A doesn’t have what it needs.?

An 展示 of dresses by 60s icon Mary Quant 脅すs to 攻撃する，衝突する the 衝撃を和らげるものs because of a major omission.?

‘We’ve got the world’s largest 展示 of Mary Quant dresses but we’re 行方不明の a 決定的な part of the 進化 of the miniskirt, the dress that in 1964 took the design from on the 膝 to just above it,’ says curator Stephanie 支持を得ようと努めるd.

It’s only after a request for dresses on 無線で通信する 4’s Woman’s Hour that listener Jenny Fenwick steps 今後.

She bought her lacy Mary Quant 小型の ? the very type the V&A were looking for ? at 最高の，を越す Shop in Sheffield in 1964 for eight guineas (about £150 today).

The dress becomes the 最高潮の場面 of the Mary Quant 展示.?

‘I was only 17 when I bought the dress and I kept it in a polythene 捕らえる、獲得する in my loft for １０年間s,’ says Jenny.?

‘It never crossed my mind to throw it out. It was part of my past and to see it here now, in the 展示, is 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の.’??

Secrets Of The Museum will be on next month on BBC2.

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