Prompt:
You are given a story, which can be either a novel or a movie script, and a question. Answer the question asconcisely as you can, using a single phrase if possible. Do not provide any explanation.

Story: Produced by John Bickers and Dagny

PIERRE GRASSOU

By Honore De Balzac

Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Dedication

To The Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery, Periollas, As a Testimony of the
Affectionate Esteem of the Author,

De Balzac

PIERRE GRASSOU

Whenever you have gone to take a serious look at the exhibition of works
of sculpture and painting, such as it has been since the revolution
of 1830, have you not been seized by a sense of uneasiness, weariness,
sadness, at the sight of those long and over-crowded galleries? Since
1830, the true Salon no longer exists. The Louvre has again been taken
by assault,--this time by a populace of artists who have maintained
themselves in it.

In other days, when the Salon presented only the choicest works of art,
it conferred the highest honor on the creations there exhibited. Among
the two hundred selected paintings, the public could still choose: a
crown was awarded to the masterpiece by hands unseen. Eager, impassioned
discussions arose about some picture. The abuse showered on Delacroix,
on Ingres, contributed no less to their fame than the praises and
fanaticism of their adherents. To-day, neither the crowd nor the
criticism grows impassioned about the products of that bazaar. Forced to
make the selection for itself, which in former days the examining
jury made for it, the attention of the public is soon wearied and the
exhibition closes. Before the year 1817 the pictures admitted never went
beyond the first two columns of the long gallery of the old masters; but
in that year, to the great astonishment of the public, they filled the
whole space. Historical, high-art, genre paintings, easel pictures,
landscapes, flowers, animals, and water-colors,--these eight specialties
could surely not offer more than twenty pictures in one year worthy of
the eyes of the public, which, indeed, cannot give its attention to a
greater number of such works. The more the number of artists increases,
the more careful and exacting the jury of admission ought to be.

The true character of the Salon was lost as soon as it spread along
the galleries. The Salon should have remained within fixed limits of
inflexible proportions, where each distinct specialty could show its
masterpieces only. An experience of ten years has shown the excellence
of the former institution. Now, instead of a tournament, we have a mob;
instead of a noble exhibition, we have a tumultuous bazaar; instead of
a choice selection we have a chaotic mass. What is the result? A great
artist is swamped. Decamps' "Turkish Cafe," "Children at a Fountain,"
"Joseph," and "The Torture," would have redounded far more to his credit
if the four pictures had been exhibited in the great Salon with the
hundred good pictures of that year, than his twenty pictures could,
among three thousand others, jumbled together in six galleries.

By some strange contradiction, ever since the doors are open to every
one there has been much talk of unknown and unrecognized genius. When,
twelve years earlier, Ingres' "Courtesan," and that of Sigalon, the
"Medusa" of Gericault, the "Massacre of Scio" by Delacroix, the "Baptism
of Henri IV." by Eugene Deveria, admitted by celebrated artists accused
of jealousy, showed the world, in spite of the denials of criticism,
that young and vigorous palettes existed, no such complaint was made.
Now, when the veriest dauber of canvas can send in his work, the whole
talk is of genius neglected! Where judgment no longer exists, there is
no longer anything judged. But whatever artists may be doing now, they
will come back in time to the examination and selection which presents
their works to the admiration of the crowd for whom they work. Without
selection by the Academy there will be no Salon, and without the Salon
art may perish.

Ever since the catalogue has grown into a book, many names have appeared
in it which still remain in their native obscurity, in spite of the ten
or a dozen pictures attached to them. Among these names perhaps the most
unknown to fame is that of an artist named Pierre Grassou, coming from
Fougeres, and called simply "Fougeres" among his brother-artists, who,
at the present moment holds a place, as the saying is, "in the sun," and
who suggested the rather bitter reflections by which this sketch of
his life is introduced,--reflections that are applicable to many other
individuals of the tribe of artists.

In 1832, Fougeres lived in the rue de Navarin, on the fourth floor of
one of those tall, narrow houses which resemble the obelisk of Luxor,
and possess an alley, a dark little stairway with dangerous turnings,
three windows only on each floor, and, within the building, a courtyard,
or, to speak more correctly, a square pit or well. Above the three or
four rooms occupied by Grassou of Fougeres was his studio, looking over
to Montmartre. This studio was painted in brick-color, for a background;
the floor was tinted brown and well frotted; each chair was furnished
with a bit of carpet bound round the edges; the sofa, simple enough, was
clean as that in the bedroom of some worthy bourgeoise. All these things
denoted the tidy ways of a small mind and the thrift of a poor man. A
bureau was there, in which to put away the studio implements, a table
for breakfast, a sideboard, a secretary; in short, all the articles
necessary to a painter, neatly arranged and very clean. The stove
participated in this Dutch cleanliness, which was all the more visible
because the pure and little changing light from the north flooded with
its cold clear beams the vast apartment. Fougeres, being merely a genre
painter, does not need the immense machinery and outfit which ruin
historical painters; he has never recognized within himself sufficient
faculty to attempt high-art, and he therefore clings to easel painting.

At the beginning of the month of December of that year, a season at
which the bourgeois of Paris conceive, periodically, the burlesque idea
of perpetuating their forms and figures already too bulky in themselves,
Pierre Grassou, who had risen early, prepared his palette, and lighted
his stove, was eating a roll steeped in milk, and waiting till the frost
on his windows had melted sufficiently to let the full light in. The
weather was fine and dry. At this moment the artist, who ate his bread
with that patient, resigned air that tells so much, heard and recognized
the step of a man who had upon his life the influence such men have
on the lives of nearly all artists,--the step of Elie Magus, a
picture-dealer, a usurer in canvas. The next moment Elie Magus entered
and found the painter in the act of beginning his work in the tidy
studio.

"How are you, old rascal?" said the painter.

Fougeres had the cross of the Legion of honor, and Elie Magus bought his
pictures at two and three hundred francs apiece, so he gave himself the
airs of a fine artist.

"Business is very bad," replied Elie. "You artists have such
pretensions! You talk of two hundred francs when you haven't put six
sous' worth of color on a canvas. However, you are a good fellow, I'll
say that. You are steady; and I've come to put a good bit of business in
your way."

"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," said Fougeres. "Do you know Latin?"

"No."

"Well, it means that the Greeks never proposed a good bit of business
to the Trojans without getting their fair share of it. In the olden time
they used to say, 'Take my horse.' Now we say, 'Take my bear.' Well,
what do you want, Ulysses-Lagingeole-Elie Magus?"

These words will give an idea of the mildness and wit with which
Fougeres employed what painters call studio fun.

"Well, I don't deny that you are to paint me two pictures for nothing."

"Oh! oh!"

"I'll leave you to do it, or not; I don't ask it. But you're an honest
man."

"Come, out with it!"

"Well, I'm prepared to bring you a father, mother, and only daughter."

"All for me?"

"Yes--they want their portraits taken. These bourgeois--they are crazy
about art--have never dared to enter a studio. The girl has a 'dot' of a
hundred thousand francs. You can paint all three,--perhaps they'll turn
out family portraits."

And with that the old Dutch log of wood who passed for a man and who was
called Elie Magus, interrupted himself to laugh an uncanny laugh which
frightened the painter. He fancied he heard Mephistopheles talking
marriage.

"Portraits bring five hundred francs apiece," went on Elie; "so you can
very well afford to paint me three pictures."

"True for you!" cried Fougeres, gleefully.

"And if you marry the girl, you won't forget me."

"Marry! I?" cried Pierre Grassou,--"I, who have a habit of sleeping
alone; and get up at cock-crow, and all my life arranged--"

"One hundred thousand francs," said Magus, "and a quiet girl, full of
golden tones, as you call 'em, like a Titian."

"What class of people are they?"

"Retired merchants; just now in love with art; have a country-house at
Ville d'Avray, and ten or twelve thousand francs a year."

"What business did they do?"

"Bottles."

"Now don't say that word; it makes me think of corks and sets my teeth
on edge."

"Am I to bring them?"

"Three portraits--I could put them in the Salon; I might go in for
portrait-painting. Well, yes!"

Old Elie descended the staircase to go in search of the Vervelle family.
To know to what extend this proposition would act upon the painter, and
what effect would be produced upon him by the Sieur and Dame Vervelle,
adorned by their only daughter, it is necessary to cast an eye on the
anterior life of Pierre Grassou of Fougeres.

When a pupil, Fougeres had studied drawing with Servin, who was
thought a great draughtsman in academic circles. After that he went to
Schinner's, to learn the secrets of the powerful and magnificent color
which distinguishes that master. Master and scholars were all discreet;
at any rate Pierre discovered none of their secrets. From there he went
to Sommervieux' atelier, to acquire that portion of the art of painting
which is called composition, but composition was shy and distant to him.
Then he tried to snatch from Decamps and Granet the mystery of their
interior effects. The two masters were not robbed. Finally Fougeres
ended his education with Duval-Lecamus. During these studied and
these different transformations Fougeres' habits and ways of life were
tranquil and moral to a degree that furnished matter of jesting to the
various ateliers where he sojourned; but everywhere he disarmed his
comrades by his modesty and by the patience and gentleness of a lamblike
nature. The masters, however, had no sympathy for the good lad; masters
prefer bright fellows, eccentric spirits, droll or fiery, or else gloomy
and deeply reflective, which argue future talent. Everything about
Pierre Grassou smacked of mediocrity. His nickname "Fougeres" (that
of the painter in the play of "The Eglantine") was the source of much
teasing; but, by force of circumstances, he accepted the name of the
town in which he had first seen light.

Grassou of Fougeres resembled his name. Plump and of medium height, he
had a dull complexion, brown eyes, black hair, a turned-up nose, rather
wide mouth, and long ears. His gentle, passive, and resigned air gave a
certain relief to these leading features of a physiognomy that was full
of health, but wanting in action. This young man, born to be a virtuous
bourgeois, having left his native place and come to Paris to be clerk
with a color-merchant (formerly of Mayenne and a distant connection of
the Orgemonts) made himself a painter simply by the fact of an obstinacy
which constitutes the Breton character. What he suffered, the manner in
which he lived during those years of study, God only knows. He suffered
as much as great men suffer when they are hounded by poverty and hunted
like wild beasts by the pack of commonplace minds and by troops of
vanities athirst for vengeance.

As soon as he thought himself able to fly on his own wings, Fougeres
took a studio in the upper part of the rue des Martyrs, where he began
to delve his way. He made his first appearance in 1819. The first
picture he presented to the jury of the Exhibition at the Louvre
represented a village wedding rather laboriously copied from Greuze's
picture. It was rejected. When Fougeres heard of the fatal decision,
he did not fall into one of those fits of epileptic self-love to which
strong natures give themselves up, and which sometimes end in challenges
sent to the director or the secretary of the Museum, or even by threats
of assassination. Fougeres quietly fetched his canvas, wrapped it in
a handkerchief, and brought it home, vowing in his heart that he would
still make himself a great painter. He placed his picture on the easel,
and went to one of his former masters, a man of immense talent,--to
Schinner, a kind and patient artist, whose triumph at that year's Salon
was complete. Fougeres asked him to come and criticise the rejected
work. The great painter left everything and went at once. When poor
Fougeres had placed the work before him Schinner, after a glance,
pressed Fougeres' hand.

"You are a fine fellow," he said; "you've a heart of gold, and I must
not deceive you. Listen; you are fulfilling all the promises you made in
the studios. When you find such things as that at the tip of your brush,
my good Fougeres, you had better leave colors with Brullon, and not take
the canvas of others. Go home early, put on your cotton night-cap, and
be in bed by nine o'clock. The next morning early go to some government
office, ask for a place, and give up art."

"My dear friend," said Fougeres, "my picture is already condemned; it is
not a verdict that I want of you, but the cause of that verdict."

"Well--you paint gray and sombre; you see nature being a crape veil;
your drawing is heavy, pasty; your composition is a medley of Greuze,
who only redeemed his defects by the qualities which you lack."

While detailing these faults of the picture Schinner saw on Fougeres'
face so deep an expression of sadness that he carried him off to dinner
and tried to console him. The next morning at seven o'clock Fougeres was
at his easel working over the rejected picture; he warmed the colors; he
made the corrections suggested by Schinner, he touched up his figures.
Then, disgusted with such patching, he carried the picture to Elie
Magus. Elie Magus, a sort of Dutch-Flemish-Belgian, had three reasons
for being what he became,--rich and avaricious. Coming last from
Bordeaux, he was just starting in Paris, selling old pictures and living
on the boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle. Fougeres, who relied on his palette
to go to the baker's, bravely ate bread and nuts, or bread and milk, or
bread and cherries, or bread and cheese, according to the seasons. Elie
Magus, to whom Pierre offered his first picture, eyed it for some time
and then gave him fifteen francs.

"With fifteen francs a year coming in, and a thousand francs for
expenses," said Fougeres, smiling, "a man will go fast and far."

Elie Magus made a gesture; he bit his thumbs, thinking that he might
have had that picture for five francs.

For several days Pierre walked down from the rue des Martyrs and
stationed himself at the corner of the boulevard opposite to Elie's
shop, whence his eye could rest upon his picture, which did not obtain
any notice from the eyes of the passers along the street. At the end of
a week the picture disappeared; Fougeres walked slowly up and approached
the dealer's shop in a lounging manner. The Jew was at his door.

"Well, I see you have sold my picture."

"No, here it is," said Magus; "I've framed it, to show it to some one
who fancies he knows about painting."

Fougeres had not the heart to return to the boulevard. He set about
another picture, and spent two months upon it,--eating mouse's meals and
working like a galley-slave.

One evening he went to the boulevard, his feet leading him fatefully to
the dealer's shop. His picture was not to be seen.

"I've sold your picture," said Elie Magus, seeing him.

"For how much?"

"I got back what I gave and a small interest. Make me some Flemish
interiors, a lesson of anatomy, landscapes, and such like, and I'll buy
them of you," said Elie.

Fougeres would fain have taken old Magus in his arms; he regarded him as
a father. He went home with joy in his heart; the great painter Schinner
was mistaken after all! In that immense city of Paris there were some
hearts that beat in unison with Pierre's; his talent was understood and
appreciated. The poor fellow of twenty-seven had the innocence of a lad
of sixteen. Another man, one of those distrustful, surly artists, would
have noticed the diabolical look on Elie's face and seen the twitching
of the hairs of his beard, the irony of his moustache, and the movement
of his shoulders which betrayed the satisfaction of Walter Scott's Jew
in swindling a Christian.

Fougeres marched along the boulevard in a state of joy which gave to his
honest face an expression of pride. He was like a schoolboy protecting
a woman. He met Joseph Bridau, one of his comrades, and one of those
eccentric geniuses destined to fame and sorrow. Joseph Bridau, who had,
to use his own expression, a few sous in his pocket, took Fougeres to
the Opera. But Fougeres didn't see the ballet, didn't hear the music; he
was imagining pictures, he was painting. He left Joseph in the middle
of the evening, and ran home to make sketches by lamp-light. He invented
thirty pictures, all reminiscence, and felt himself a man of genius. The
next day he bought colors, and canvases of various dimensions; he piled
up bread and cheese on his table, he filled a water-pot with water,
he laid in a provision of wood for his stove; then, to use a studio
expression, he dug at his pictures. He hired several models and Magus
lent him stuffs.

After two months' seclusion the Breton had finished four pictures. Again
he asked counsel of Schinner, this time adding Bridau to the invitation.
The two painters saw in three of these pictures a servile imitation
of Dutch landscapes and interiors by Metzu, in the fourth a copy of
Rembrandt's "Lesson of Anatomy."

"Still imitating!" said Schinner. "Ah! Fougeres can't manage to be
original."

"You ought to do something else than painting," said Bridau.

"What?" asked Fougeres.

"Fling yourself into literature."

Fougeres lowered his head like a sheep when it rains. Then he asked and
obtained certain useful advice, and retouched his pictures before taking
them to Elie Magus. Elie paid him twenty-five francs apiece. At that
price of course Fougeres earned nothing; neither did he lose, thanks to
his sober living. He made a few excursions to the boulevard to see what
became of his pictures, and there he underwent a singular hallucination.
His neat, clean paintings, hard as tin and shiny as porcelain, were
covered with a sort of mist; they looked like old daubs. Magus was out,
and Pierre could obtain no information on this phenomenon. He fancied
something was wrong with his eyes.

The painter went back to his studio and made more pictures. After seven
years of continued toil Fougeres managed to compose and execute quite
passable work. He did as well as any artist of the second class.
Elie bought and sold all the paintings of the poor Breton, who earned
laboriously about two thousand francs a year while he spent but twelve
hundred.

At the Exhibition of 1829, Leon de Lora, Schinner, and Bridau, who all
three occupied a great position and were, in fact, at the head of the
art movement, were filled with pity for the perseverance and the poverty
of their old friend; and they caused to be admitted into the grand salon
of the Exhibition, a picture by Fougeres. This picture, powerful in
interest but derived from Vigneron as to sentiment and from Dubufe's
first manner as to execution, represented a young man in prison, whose
hair was being cut around the nape of the neck. On one side was
a priest, on the other two women, one old, one young, in tears. A
sheriff's clerk was reading aloud a document. On a wretched table was a
meal, untouched. The light came in through the bars of a window near
the ceiling. It was a picture fit to make the bourgeois shudder, and
the bourgeois shuddered. Fougeres had simply been inspired by the
masterpiece of Gerard Douw; he had turned the group of the "Dropsical
Woman" toward the window, instead of presenting it full front. The
condemned man was substituted for the dying woman--same pallor, same
glance, same appeal to God. Instead of the Dutch doctor, he had painted
the cold, official figure of the sheriff's clerk attired in black; but
he had added an old woman to the young one of Gerard Douw. The cruelly
simple and good-humored face of the executioner completed and dominated
the group. This plagiarism, very cleverly disguised, was not discovered.
The catalogue contained the following:--

     510. Grassou de Fougeres (Pierre), rue de Navarin, 2.
     Death-toilet of a Chouan, condemned to execution in 1809.

Though wholly second-rate, the picture had immense success, for it
recalled the affair of the "chauffeurs," of Mortagne. A crowd collected
every day before the now fashionable canvas; even Charles X. paused to
look at it. "Madame," being told of the patient life of the poor Breton,
became enthusiastic over him. The Duc d'Orleans asked the price of
the picture. The clergy told Madame la Dauphine that the subject was
suggestive of good thoughts; and there was, in truth, a most satisfying
religious tone about it. Monseigneur the Dauphin admired the dust on
the stone-floor,--a huge blunder, by the way, for Fougeres had painted
greenish tones suggestive of mildew along the base of the walls.
"Madame" finally bought the picture for a thousand francs, and the
Dauphin ordered another like it. Charles X. gave the cross of the Legion
of honor to this son of a peasant who had fought for the royal cause
in 1799. (Joseph Bridau, the great painter, was not yet decorated.) The
minister of the Interior ordered two church pictures of Fougeres.

This Salon of 1829 was to Pierre Grassou his whole fortune, fame,
future, and life. Be original, invent, and you die by inches; copy,
imitate, and you'll live. After this discovery of a gold mine, Grassou
de Fougeres obtained his benefit of the fatal principle to which society
owes the wretched mediocrities to whom are intrusted in these days the
election of leaders in all social classes; who proceed, naturally, to
elect themselves and who wage a bitter war against all true talent. The
principle of election applied indiscriminately is false, and France will
some day abandon it.

Nevertheless the modesty, simplicity, and genuine surprise of the good
and gentle Fougeres silenced all envy and all recriminations. Besides,
he had on his side all of his clan who had succeeded, and all who
expected to succeed. Some persons, touched by the persistent energy of a
man whom nothing had discouraged, talked of Domenichino and said:--

"Perseverance in the arts should be rewarded. Grassou hasn't stolen his
successes; he has delved for ten years, the poor dear man!"

That exclamation of "poor dear man!" counted for half in the support
and the congratulations which the painter received. Pity sets up
mediocrities as envy pulls down great talents, and in equal numbers.
The newspapers, it is true, did not spare criticism, but the chevalier
Fougeres digested them as he had digested the counsel of his friends,
with angelic patience.

Possessing, by this time, fifteen thousand francs, laboriously earned,
he furnished an apartment and studio in the rue de Navarin, and painted
the picture ordered by Monseigneur the Dauphin, also the two church
pictures, and delivered them at the time agreed on, with a punctuality
that was very discomforting to the exchequer of the ministry, accustomed
to a different course of action. But--admire the good fortune of men who
are methodical--if Grassou, belated with his work, had been caught by
the revolution of July he would not have got his money.

By the time he was thirty-seven Fougeres had manufactured for Elie Magus
some two hundred pictures, all of them utterly unknown, by the help of
which he had attained to that satisfying manner, that point of execution
before which the true artist shrugs his shoulders and the bourgeoisie
worships. Fougeres was dear to friends for rectitude of ideas, for
steadiness of sentiment, absolute kindliness, and great loyalty; though
they had no esteem for his palette, they loved the man who held it.

"What a misfortune it is that Fougeres has the vice of painting!" said
his comrades.

But for all this, Grassou gave excellent counsel, like those
feuilletonists incapable of writing a book who know very well where a
book is wanting. There was this difference, however, between literary
critics and Fougeres; he was eminently sensitive to beauties; he felt
them, he acknowledged them, and his advice was instinct with a spirit
of justice that made the justness of his remarks acceptable. After
the revolution of July, Fougeres sent about ten pictures a year to the
Salon, of which the jury admitted four or five. He lived with the most
rigid economy, his household being managed solely by an old charwoman.
For all amusement he visited his friends, he went to see works of art,
he allowed himself a few little trips about France, and he planned to go
to Switzerland in search of inspiration. This detestable artist was an
excellent citizen; he mounted guard duly, went to reviews, and paid his
rent and provision-bills with bourgeois punctuality.

Having lived all his life in toil and poverty, he had never had the time
to love. Poor and a bachelor, until now he did not desire to complicate
his simple life. Incapable of devising any means of increasing his
little fortune, he carried, every three months, to his notary, Cardot,
his quarterly earnings and economies. When the notary had received
about three thousand francs he invested them in some first mortgage, the
interest of which he drew himself and added to the quarterly payments
made to him by Fougeres. The painter was awaiting the fortunate moment
when his property thus laid by would give him the imposing income of two
thousand francs, to allow himself the otium cum dignitate of the
artist and paint pictures; but oh! what pictures! true pictures! each a
finished picture! chouette, Koxnoff, chocnosoff! His future, his dreams
of happiness, the superlative of his hopes--do you know what it was?
To enter the Institute and obtain the grade of officer of the Legion
of honor; to side down beside Schinner and Leon de Lora, to reach the
Academy before Bridau, to wear a rosette in his buttonhole! What a
dream! It is only commonplace men who think of everything.

Hearing the sound of several steps on the staircase, Fougeres rubbed up
his hair, buttoned his jacket of bottle-green velveteen, and was not a
little amazed to see, entering his doorway, a simpleton face vulgarly
called in studio slang a "melon." This fruit surmounted a pumpkin,
clothed in blue cloth adorned with a bunch of tintinnabulating baubles.
The melon puffed like a walrus; the pumpkin advanced on turnips,
improperly called legs. A true painter would have turned the little
bottle-vendor off at once, assuring him that he didn't paint vegetables.
This painter looked at his client without a smile, for Monsieur Vervelle
wore a three-thousand-franc diamond in the bosom of his shirt.

Fougeres glanced at Magus and said: "There's fat in it!" using a slang
term then much in vogue in the studios.

Hearing those words Monsieur Vervelle frowned. The worthy bourgeois drew
after him another complication of vegetables in the persons of his wife
and daughter. The wife had a fine veneer of mahogany on her face, and
in figure she resembled a cocoa-nut, surmounted by a head and tied in
around the waist. She pivoted on her legs, which were tap-rooted,
and her gown was yellow with black stripes. She proudly exhibited
unutterable mittens on a puffy pair of hands; the plumes of a
first-class funeral floated on an over-flowing bonnet; laces adorned
her shoulders, as round behind as they were before; consequently, the
spherical form of the cocoa-nut was perfect. Her feet, of a kind that
painters call abatis, rose above the varnished leather of the shoes in a
swelling that was some inches high. How the feet were ever got into the
shoes, no one knows.

Following these vegetable parents was a young asparagus, who presented
a tiny head with smoothly banded hair of the yellow-carroty tone that a
Roman adores, long, stringy arms, a fairly white skin with reddish spots
upon it, large innocent eyes, and white lashes, scarcely any brows, a
leghorn bonnet bound with white satin and adorned with two honest bows
of the same satin, hands virtuously red, and the feet of her mother. The
faces of these three beings wore, as they looked round the studio, an
air of happiness which bespoke in them a respectable enthusiasm for Art.

"So it is you, monsieur, who are going to take our likenesses?" said the
father, assuming a jaunty air.

"Yes, monsieur," replied Grassou.

"Vervelle, he has the cross!" whispered the wife to the husband while
the painter's back was turned.

"Should I be likely to have our portraits painted by an artist who
wasn't decorated?" returned the former bottle-dealer.

Elie Magus here bowed to the Vervelle family and went away. Grassou
accompanied him to the landing.

"There's no one but you who would fish up such whales."

"One hundred thousand francs of 'dot'!"

"Yes, but what a family!"

"Three hundred thousand francs of expectations, a house in the rue
Boucherat, and a country-house at Ville d'Avray!"

"Bottles and corks! bottles and corks!" said the painter; "they set my
teeth on edge."

"Safe from want for the rest of your days," said Elie Magus as he
departed.

That idea entered the head of Pierre Grassou as the daylight had burst
into his garret that morning.

While he posed the father of the young person, he thought the
bottle-dealer had a good countenance, and he admired the face full
of violent tones. The mother and daughter hovered about the easel,
marvelling at all his preparations; they evidently thought him a
demigod. This visible admiration pleased Fougeres. The golden calf threw
upon the family its fantastic reflections.

"You must earn lots of money; but of course you don't spend it as you
get it," said the mother.

"No, madame," replied the painter; "I don't spend it; I have not the
means to amuse myself. My notary invests my money; he knows what I have;
as soon as I have taken him the money I never think of it again."

"I've always been told," cried old Vervelle, "that artists were baskets
with holes in them."

"Who is your notary--if it is not indiscreet to ask?" said Madame
Vervelle.

"A good fellow, all round," replied Grassou. "His name is Cardot."

"Well, well! if that isn't a joke!" exclaimed Vervelle. "Cardot is our
notary too."

"Take care! don't move," said the painter.

"Do pray hold still, Antenor," said the wife. "If you move about you'll
make monsieur miss; you should just see him working, and then you'd
understand."

"Oh! why didn't you have me taught the arts?" said Mademoiselle Vervelle
to her parents.

"Virginie," said her mother, "a young person ought not to learn certain
things. When you are married--well, till then, keep quiet."

During this first sitting the Vervelle family became almost intimate
with the worthy artist. They were to come again two days later. As they
went away the father told Virginie to walk in front; but in spite of
this separation, she overheard the following words, which naturally
awakened her curiosity.

"Decorated--thirty-seven years old--an artist who gets orders--puts his
money with our notary. We'll consult Cardot. Hein! Madame de Fougeres!
not a bad name--doesn't look like a bad man either! One might prefer a
merchant; but before a merchant retires from business one can never know
what one's daughter may come to; whereas an economical artist--and then
you know we love Art--Well, we'll see!"

While the Vervelle family discussed Pierre Grassou, Pierre Grassou
discussed in his own mind the Vervelle family. He found it impossible to
stay peacefully in his studio, so he took a walk on the boulevard, and
looked at all the red-haired women who passed him. He made a series of
the oddest reasonings to himself: gold was the handsomest of metals; a
tawny yellow represented gold; the Romans were fond of red-haired women,
and he turned Roman, etc. After two years of marriage what man would
ever care about the color of his wife's hair? Beauty fades,--but
ugliness remains! Money is one-half of all happiness. That night when he
went to bed the painter had come to think Virginie Vervelle charming.

When the three Vervelles arrived on the day of the second sitting the
artist received them with smiles. The rascal had shaved and put on clean
linen; he had also arranged his hair in a pleasing manner, and chosen
a very becoming pair of trousers and red leather slippers with pointed
toes. The family replied with smiles as flattering as those of the
artist. Virginie became the color of her hair, lowered her eyes, and
turned aside her head to look at the sketches. Pierre Grassou thought
these little affectations charming, Virginie had such grace; happily she
didn't look like her father or her mother; but whom did she look like?

During this sitting there were little skirmishes between the family
and the painter, who had the audacity to call pere Vervelle witty. This
flattery brought the family on the double-quick to the heart of the
artist; he gave a drawing to the daughter, and a sketch to the mother.

"What! for nothing?" they said.

Pierre Grassou could not help smiling.

"You shouldn't give away your pictures in that way; they are money,"
said old Vervelle.

At the third sitting pere Vervelle mentioned a fine gallery of pictures
which he had in his country-house at Ville d'Avray--Rubens, Gerard Douw,
Mieris, Terburg, Rembrandt, Titian, Paul Potter, etc.

"Monsieur Vervelle has been very extravagant," said Madame Vervelle,
ostentatiously. "He has over one hundred thousand francs' worth of
pictures."

"I love Art," said the former bottle-dealer.

When Madame Vervelle's portrait was begun that of her husband was nearly
finished, and the enthusiasm of the family knew no bounds. The notary
had spoken in the highest praise of the painter. Pierre Grassou was, he
said, one of the most honest fellows on earth; he had laid by thirty-six
thousand francs; his days of poverty were over; he now saved about ten
thousand francs a year and capitalized the interest; in short, he was
incapable of making a woman unhappy. This last remark had enormous
weight in the scales. Vervelle's friends now heard of nothing but the
celebrated painter Fougeres.

The day on which Fougeres began the portrait of Mademoiselle Virginie,
he was virtually son-in-law to the Vervelle family. The three Vervelles
bloomed out in this studio, which they were now accustomed to consider
as one of their residences; there was to them an inexplicable attraction
in this clean, neat, pretty, and artistic abode. Abyssus abyssum, the
commonplace attracts the commonplace. Toward the end of the sitting the
stairway shook, the door was violently thrust open by Joseph Bridau; he
came like a whirlwind, his hair flying. He showed his grand haggard face
as he looked about him, casting everywhere the lightning of his glance;
then he walked round the whole studio, and returned abruptly to Grassou,
pulling his coat together over the gastric region, and endeavouring, but
in vain, to button it, the button mould having escaped from its capsule
of cloth.

"Wood is dear," he said to Grassou.

"Ah!"

"The British are after me" (slang term for creditors) "Gracious! do you
paint such things as that?"

"Hold your tongue!"

"Ah! to be sure, yes."

The Vervelle family, extremely shocked by this extraordinary apparition,
passed from its ordinary red to a cherry-red, two shades deeper.

"Brings in, hey?" continued Joseph. "Any shot in your locker?"

"How much do you want?"

"Five hundred. I've got one of those bull-dog dealers after me, and if
the fellow once gets his teeth in he won't let go while there's a bit of
me left. What a crew!"

"I'll write you a line for my notary."

"Have you got a notary?"

"Yes."

"That explains to me why you still make cheeks with pink tones like a
perfumer's sign."

Grassou could not help coloring, for Virginie was sitting.

"Take Nature as you find her," said the great painter, going on with his
lecture. "Mademoiselle is red-haired. Well, is that a sin? All things
are magnificent in painting. Put some vermillion on your palette, and
warm up those cheeks; touch in those little brown spots; come, butter it
well in. Do you pretend to have more sense than Nature?"

"Look here," said Fougeres, "take my place while I go and write that
note."

Vervelle rolled to the table and whispered in Grassou's ear:--

"Won't that country lout spoilt it?"

"If he would only paint the portrait of your Virginie it would be worth
a thousand times more than mine," replied Fougeres, vehemently.

Hearing that reply the bourgeois beat a quiet retreat to his wife, who
was stupefied by the invasion of this ferocious animal, and very uneasy
at his co-operation in her daughter's portrait.

"Here, follow these indications," said Bridau, returning the palette,
and taking the note. "I won't thank you. I can go back now to d'Arthez'
chateau, where I am doing a dining-room, and Leon de Lora the tops of
the doors--masterpieces! Come and see us."

And off he went without taking leave, having had enough of looking at
Virginie.

"Who is that man?" asked Madame Vervelle.

"A great artist," answered Grassou.

There was silence for a moment.

"Are you quite sure," said Virginie, "that he has done no harm to my
portrait? He frightened me."

"He has only done it good," replied Grassou.

"Well, if he is a great artist, I prefer a great artist like you," said
Madame Vervelle.

The ways of genius had ruffled up these orderly bourgeois.

The phase of autumn so pleasantly named "Saint Martin's summer" was
just beginning. With the timidity of a neophyte in presence of a man of
genius, Vervelle risked giving Fougeres an invitation to come out to
his country-house on the following Sunday. He knew, he said, how little
attraction a plain bourgeois family could offer to an artist.

"You artists," he continued, "want emotions, great scenes, and witty
talk; but you'll find good wines, and I rely on my collection of
pictures to compensate an artist like you for the bore of dining with
mere merchants."

This form of idolatry, which stroked his innocent self-love, was
charming to our poor Pierre Grassou, so little accustomed to such
compliments. The honest artist, that atrocious mediocrity, that heart
of gold, that loyal soul, that stupid draughtsman, that worthy fellow,
decorated by royalty itself with the Legion of honor, put himself under
arms to go out to Ville d'Avray and enjoy the last fine days of the
year. The painter went modestly by public conveyance, and he could not
but admire the beautiful villa of the bottle-dealer, standing in a park
of five acres at the summit of Ville d'Avray, commanding a noble view
of the landscape. Marry Virginie, and have that beautiful villa some day
for his own!

He was received by the Vervelles with an enthusiasm, a joy, a
kindliness, a frank bourgeois absurdity which confounded him. It was
indeed a day of triumph. The prospective son-in-law was marched about
the grounds on the nankeen-colored paths, all raked as they should be
for the steps of so great a man. The trees themselves looked brushed and
combed, and the lawns had just been mown. The pure country air wafted
to the nostrils a most enticing smell of cooking. All things about the
mansion seemed to say:

"We have a great artist among us."

Little old Vervelle himself rolled like an apple through his park, the
daughter meandered like an eel, the mother followed with dignified step.
These three beings never let go for one moment of Pierre Grassou
for seven hours. After dinner, the length of which equalled its
magnificence, Monsieur and Madame Vervelle reached the moment of their
grand theatrical effect,--the opening of the picture gallery illuminated
by lamps, the reflections of which were managed with the utmost care.
Three neighbours, also retired merchants, an old uncle (from whom were
expectations), an elderly Demoiselle Vervelle, and a number of other
guests invited to be present at this ovation to a great artist followed
Grassou into the picture gallery, all curious to hear his opinion of the
famous collection of pere Vervelle, who was fond of oppressing them with
the fabulous value of his paintings. The bottle-merchant seemed to have
the idea of competing with King Louis-Philippe and the galleries of
Versailles.

The pictures, magnificently framed, each bore labels on which was read
in black letters on a gold ground:

               Rubens
     Dance of fauns and nymphs

                         Rembrandt
     Interior of a dissecting room. The physician van Tromp
             instructing his pupils.

In all, there were one hundred and fifty pictures, varnished and dusted.
Some were covered with green baize curtains which were not undrawn in
presence of young ladies.

Pierre Grassou stood with arms pendent, gaping mouth, and no word upon
his lips as he recognized half his own pictures in these works of art.
He was Rubens, he was Rembrandt, Mieris, Metzu, Paul Potter, Gerard
Douw! He was twenty great masters all by himself.

"What is the matter? You've turned pale!"

"Daughter, a glass of water! quick!" cried Madame Vervelle. The painter
took pere Vervelle by the button of his coat and led him to a corner on
pretence of looking at a Murillo. Spanish pictures were then the rage.

"You bought your pictures from Elie Magus?"

"Yes, all originals."

"Between ourselves, tell me what he made you pay for those I shall point
out to you."

Together they walked round the gallery. The guests were amazed at the
gravity in which the artist proceeded, in company with the host, to
examine each picture.

"Three thousand francs," said Vervelle in a whisper, as they reached the
last, "but I tell everybody forty thousand."

"Forty thousand for a Titian!" said the artist, aloud. "Why, it is
nothing at all!"

"Didn't I tell you," said Vervelle, "that I had three hundred thousand
francs' worth of pictures?"

"I painted those pictures," said Pierre Grassou in Vervelle's ear, "and
I sold them one by one to Elie Magus for less than ten thousand francs
the whole lot."

"Prove it to me," said the bottle-dealer, "and I double my daughter's
'dot,' for if it is so, you are Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian, Gerard Douw!"

"And Magus is a famous picture-dealer!" said the painter, who now saw
the meaning of the misty and aged look imparted to his pictures in
Elie's shop, and the utility of the subjects the picture-dealer had
required of him.

Far from losing the esteem of his admiring bottle-merchant, Monsieur
de Fougeres (for so the family persisted in calling Pierre Grassou)
advanced so much that when the portraits were finished he presented them
gratuitously to his father-in-law, his mother-in-law and his wife.

At the present day, Pierre Grassou, who never misses exhibiting at the
Salon, passes in bourgeois regions for a fine portrait-painter. He earns
some twenty thousand francs a year and spoils a thousand francs' worth
of canvas. His wife has six thousand francs a year in dowry, and he
lives with his father-in-law. The Vervelles and the Grassous, who agree
delightfully, keep a carriage, and are the happiest people on earth.
Pierre Grassou never emerges from the bourgeois circle, in which he
is considered one of the greatest artists of the period. Not a family
portrait is painted between the barrier du Trone and the rue du Temple
that is not done by this great painter; none of them costs less than
five hundred francs. The great reason which the bourgeois families have
for employing him is this:--

"Say what you will of him, he lays by twenty thousand francs a year with
his notary."

As Grassou took a creditable part on the occasion of the riots of May
12th he was appointed an officer of the Legion of honor. He is a major
in the National Guard. The Museum of Versailles felt it incumbent to
order a battle-piece of so excellent a citizen, who thereupon walked
about Paris to meet his old comrades and have the happiness of saying to
them:--

"The King has given me an order for the Museum of Versailles."

Madame de Fougeres adores her husband, to whom she has presented two
children. This painter, a good father and a good husband, is unable to
eradicate from his heart a fatal thought, namely, that artists laugh at
his work; that his name is a term of contempt in the studios; and that
the feuilletons take no notice of his pictures. But he still works on;
he aims for the Academy, where, undoubtedly, he will enter. And--oh!
vengeance which dilates his heart!--he buys the pictures of celebrated
artists who are pinched for means, and he substitutes these true works
of arts that are not his own for the wretched daubs in the collection at
Ville d'Avray.

There are many mediocrities more aggressive and more mischievous than
that of Pierre Grassou, who is, moreover, anonymously benevolent and
truly obliging.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

     Bridau, Joseph
       The Purse
       A Bachelor's Establishment
       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
       A Start in Life
       Modeste Mignon
       Another Study of Woman
       Letters of Two Brides
       Cousin Betty
       The Member for Arcis

     Cardot (Parisian notary)
       The Muse of the Department
       A Man of Business
       Jealousies of a Country Town
       The Middle Classes
       Cousin Pons

     Grassou, Pierre
       A Bachelor's Establishment
       Cousin Betty
       The Middle Classes
       Cousin Pons

     Lora, Leon de
       The Unconscious Humorists
       A Bachelor's Establishment
       A Start in Life
       Honorine
       Cousin Betty
       Beatrix

     Magus, Elie
       The Vendetta
       A Marriage Settlement
       A Bachelor's Establishment
       Cousin Pons

     Schinner, Hippolyte
       The Purse
       A Bachelor's Establishment
       A Start in Life
       Albert Savarus
       The Government Clerks
       Modeste Mignon
       The Imaginary Mistress
       The Unconscious Humorists

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pierre Grassou, by Honore de Balzac

Now, answer the question based on the story asconcisely as you can, using a single phrase if possible. Do not provide any explanation.

Question: Who doe the Vervelle couple believe Grassou is the perfect match for?

Answer:


Prompt:
Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

The following are given passages.
Passage 1:
Live at the Electric
Live at the Electric is a British comedy series that aired on BBC Three from 31 May 2012 and 28 February 2014 and is hosted by Russell Kane who performed stand-up in between comedy sketches from a variety of performers such as Joe Wilkinson and Diane Morgan's double act Two Episodes of Mash. It also featured comedy duo Totally Tom serving as backstage crew for the show.

External links
Live at the Electric at BBC Online
Live at the Electric at British Comedy Guide
Passage 2:
Start-rite
Start-rite is a brand of children's shoes. The shoemaker, purportedly Britain's oldest and one of the first manufacturers in Norfolk, was established in 1792 in Norwich, England, by James Smith. His grandson, James Southall, gave the firm its current name; it rose in prominence during the 20th century thanks in part to an iconic poster, reading Children's shoes have far to go, which was displayed on the London Underground for 20 years from 1947. Controversy exists around the origins of the image in this poster. It has been attributed to artists  Andy Wood, William Grimmond, Joe Wilkinson of Stanley Studios, Susan Pearce, Nancy Gardner and to the company's own advertising agent.In 1955 Start-rite was granted a royal warrant by Queen Elizabeth II to supply footwear for the young Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.  The company was granted a second royal warrant in 1989 by the Prince of Wales to supply children's footwear for Prince William and Prince Harry. This royal warrant was withdrawn in 2003 on production being moved from the UK. In 2016 Prince George was pictured wearing Start-rite shoes in an official portrait taken to commemorate the 90th birthday of the Queen.In 2003 the company ceased production in the UK, outsourcing its operations to India and Portugal. The cost cutting move came amid a £600,000 annual loss, which the company reversed the following year to turn a £1.5 million profit. Sales further increased by 20% to 2007.The company focuses on correctly fitting shoes to children's feet, and was the first to introduce variable width fittings for children's shoes. It once maintained concession stores in the now-defunct children's clothing retailer Adams.
Passage 3:
Nora Lewin
Nora Lewin is a fictional character on the TV show Law & Order, played by two-time Academy Award winning actress Dianne Wiest from 2000 to 2002. She appeared in 51 episodes (48 episodes of Law & Order, one episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). Her character was particularly notable for the fact that she was the first woman in the program's history to hold the position of New York County District Attorney (no woman has held the position in real life). Pursuant to New York law, an interim District Attorney is appointed by the Governor.

Role within Law & Order
Prior to her appointment as interim DA, Lewin was a law professor, which often provoked her critics to dismiss her as a detached academic with no practical experience. Lewin's term as DA is defined by a liberally directed program of legal application to many notable criminal cases, which often brings her into political and legal dilemmas. While she is an idealist, however, she is not prepared to subvert the correct application of the law due to her personal beliefs. In a 2001 episode, she is confronted with the decision to pursue the death penalty in a conviction of an 18-year-old murderer. While she personally opposes the death penalty, she realizes that her office would be seen as soft on crime, and reluctantly succumbs to political pressure. The young man is found guilty and sent to death row.Lewin works closely with Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Abbie Carmichael (Angie Harmon). Her political beliefs often put her into conflict with both of them, especially the latter, a staunch political conservative. After Carmichael leaves the DA's office, Lewin replaces her with Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm), whose liberal idealism more closely resembles her own political philosophy.She has a niece, indicating that she has at least one sibling.

Departure
In September 2002, after two years of her term as District Attorney, Lewin departs the office. The manner in which she departed the show is never specified on screen. However, in his tie-in book Law & Order: Crime Scenes, Dick Wolf wrote that his intention for the character was that Lewin found herself disenchanted with the position of D.A., and opted not to run for election following her interim term. Fred Dalton Thompson subsequently joined the cast as Republican Arthur Branch. Wiest later stated, in the book Actors at Work, written by Rosemarie Tichler and Barry Jay Kaplan, that she was tired of the role and wished to move on to other projects.
In her first scene, Lewin is introduced to McCoy by Mayor Rudy Giuliani (playing himself in a cameo appearance), who praises Lewin's record and assures her that she will do a fine job as District Attorney.

Appearances on other TV series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Season One
Episode 1: "One"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season Three
Episode 10: "Ridicule"
Season Four
Episode 1: "Chameleon"
Passage 4:
Lucy Davis
Lucy Clare Davis (born 17 February 1973) is an English actress best known for playing Dawn Tinsley in the BBC comedy The Office (2001–2003).
She is also known for her roles as Hilda Spellman in the Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–2020), Dianne in the horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004), and Etta Candy in Wonder Woman (2017). She is also currently playing the role of Eva in Disney Channel's action comedy series The Villains of Valley View, which premiered on 3 June 2022.

Career
Davis appeared briefly in an episode of The Detectives, a show created for and starring her father (Jasper Carrott). She played Maria Lucas in the BBC's 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice, and also had a role in the 1996 Christmas special of One Foot in the Grave. After her breakthrough role as Dawn Tinsley in The Office, Davis appeared in the films Sex Lives of the Potato Men and Shaun of the Dead in 2004, whilst continuing to play Hayley Jordan in The Archers on BBC Radio 4. She gave up this last role when her other acting responsibilities made it impossible to continue, and the part was recast in September 2005.
Davis appeared in the third-season episode "Elephants and Hens" of UK TV programme Black Books. In 2006, Davis appeared as the "Fashion TV" host on ABC's Ugly Betty, and later that year played writer Lucy Kenwright in NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2008, she appeared in several episodes of the US series Reaper. In 2010, Davis starred in ITV's six-episode comedy drama, Married Single Other, and also appeared in a guest role in The Mentalist alongside her then-husband Owain Yeoman. Davis also appears in the John Landis-produced thriller Some Guy Who Kills People. In 2012, Davis had a guest voice part in Family Guy for the episode "Be Careful What You Fish For". Davis appeared in series two, episode eight of the BBC series Death in Paradise (2013). She became a Patron for the performing arts group Theatretrain in 2012.Davis plays the role of Etta Candy in the 2017 film Wonder Woman. Her performance marked the first live action cinematic portrayal of that comic book character. Davis has said of the character: "She's a woman in a man's world and so being heard and seen aren't the easiest things, but it kind of doesn't deter her. Etta is unapologetically herself and I think that that's the thing that has drawn me to her the most... it took quite a while in my life to be unapologetically myself."Davis appeared in the Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as Hilda Spellman, which aired from 2018 to 2020. She is starring as Eva, known as the supervillain Surge, on the Disney Channel sitcom The Villains of Valley View which premiered on 3 June 2022.

Personal life
Davis is the daughter of Hazel Jackson and comedian Robert Davis, better known as Jasper Carrott. In December 1997, Davis underwent a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with kidney failure during a medical examination. Her mother donated the kidney. Around Christmas 2005 she was hospitalised once again because of kidney failure, but later recovered. Davis also has type 1 diabetes.On 9 December 2006, Davis married Welsh actor Owain Yeoman at St Paul's Cathedral, London. The wedding was attended by fellow The Office cast members and writers. Davis was entitled to marry there as her father is an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and St Paul's contains the chapel of the order. The couple separated in January 2011 and divorced in October 2011.In 2007, Davis posed nude in the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals's campaign against the Guards Division's continued use of traditional bearskin caps.

Filmography
Film
Television
Radio
Passage 5:
Diane Morgan
Diane Morgan (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress, comedian, television presenter, and writer. She is best known for playing Philomena Cunk on Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe and in other mockumentaries, as Liz in the BBC Two sitcom Motherland, and Kath in the Netflix dark comedy series After Life. She also wrote and starred in the BBC Two comedy series Mandy.

Early life
Morgan was born in Bolton, Greater Manchester on 5 October 1975, daughter of a physiotherapist and a stay-at-home mother; she has one brother. She grew up in nearby Farnworth and Kearsley, and attended George Tomlinson School in Kearsley. When she was 20, she studied at the East 15 Acting School in Loughton. She said in a 2020 interview, "There were a few actors on [my father]'s side of the family: Julie Goodyear, Frank Finlay and Jack Wild. What a dynasty. We're like the Redgraves. Julie's got a touch of the Mandys, actually. Maybe I could cast her as Mandy's mum."

Career
Morgan had a small part as Dawn in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights before a spell working various jobs, including as a dental assistant, a telemarketer, a potato peeler at a chip shop, selling Avon, and boxing up worming tablets in a factory. She subsequently made her first attempt at stand-up comedy. She was placed second in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year award in 2006, and as runner-up in the 2006 Funny Women Awards.Morgan and Joe Wilkinson later formed a sketch comedy duo called Two Episodes of Mash. From 2008, they performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for three consecutive years, and in 2010, they appeared on Robert Webb's satirical news show Robert's Web. In 2012, the act completed its second BBC radio series (co-starring David O'Doherty), and appeared in BBC Three's Live at the Electric. In the same year, she appeared in Him & Her, which featured Wilkinson, and in 2013, she played Nicola in the TV series Pat & Cabbage. In 2014, she made an appearance in the TV series Utopia, as Tess, and in 2015, she appeared in two episodes of Drunk History.

Philomena Cunk
Morgan is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Philomena Cunk, an extremely dim-witted and ill-informed interviewer and commentator on current affairs. The character first appeared in a regular segment on Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe (2013–2015). Cunk has since appeared in other mockumentary contexts. In December 2016, she presented BBC Two's Cunk on Christmas. In April 2018, the five-part historical mockumentary Cunk on Britain began broadcasting on BBC Two. Also in 2018, Morgan wrote Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena, published by Two Roads on 1 November. In December 2019, Morgan appeared as Cunk for short episodes of Cunk and Other Humans, once again on BBC Two. She returned in a one-off episode of Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe titled "Antiviral Wipe", about the COVID-19 pandemic, in May 2020. Another series, Cunk on Earth, began broadcasting in September 2022. For her performance in the latter, Morgan was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.

Other roles
Morgan played David Brent's public relations guru in the film David Brent: Life on the Road (2016). She has appeared in several short films, including The Boot Sale, which was shortlisted in the Virgin Media Shorts film competition 2010.In 2016, Morgan played Mandy in Sky One's comedy Rovers, appearing in all six episodes of the first series. She also appeared in the pilot for the BBC2 comedy We the Jury as Olivia. She also plays receptionist Talia in Sky's comedy drama Mount Pleasant and Liz in the BBC2 sitcom Motherland.
Morgan plays Kath in the Netflix black-comedy series After Life, written by Ricky Gervais. She starred in the Gold sitcom The Cockfields, again alongside Wilkinson, and in comedy-drama Frayed in 2019. In 2019, she wrote, directed, and starred in the BBC2 comedy short Mandy, described as "a comedy by Diane Morgan about Mandy, a woman who really, really wants a sofa, and will stop at absolutely nothing to get it". Carol Decker appeared as herself in the short. The character returned in August 2020 for the full series Mandy, with Shaun Ryder, Maxine Peake, and Natalie Cassidy in guest roles. A Christmas special, We Wish You a Mandy Christmas, loosely based on A Christmas Carol, was broadcast in December 2021.Also in 2020, Morgan played Gemma Nerrick in the British mockumentary Death to 2020, created by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones. She reprised the role in Death to 2021. She voiced the character 105E in the 2021 animated Cartoon Network series Elliott from Earth.
In April 2022, Morgan starred as Donna in the first episode of the seventh series of Inside No. 9. In December 2022, Morgan reprised her role as Liz on Motherland for the Christmas special.

Personal life
Morgan lives in the Bloomsbury district of London with her boyfriend, BBC comedy producer Ben Caudell.Interviewed by Stuart Jeffries for The Guardian' in 2016, she said, "I've always wanted to make people laugh. It's been my only ambition, ever since my dad introduced me to the genius of the great comedians: Tony Hancock, Woody Allen, people like that. While other kids were into New Kids on the Block, I was into Harold Lloyd and Stan Laurel. I'm still like that. I don't have any hobbies."

Filmography
Passage 6:
My Family (series 10)
The tenth series of the BBC family sitcom My Family originally aired between 9 July 2010, and 27 August 2010, with a Christmas special that went to air on 24 December 2010. The series was commissioned following consistent ratings from the previous series. The opening episode, "Wheelie Ben", re-introduces the six main characters, with the addition of regular appearances from Kenzo Harper, played by Tayler Marshall. However, the character of Roger Bailey only made an appearance in the series finale. All episodes from the tenth series are thirty minutes in length, with the exception of the Christmas Special. The series was once again produced by Rude Boy Productions, a company that produces comedies created by Fred Barron. Unlike previous series of the show, which were filmed on a yearly basis, both Series 10 and 11 were filmed back-to-back. For the first time in the show's history, two episodes of the series remained unaired for some time. At the time of release, the DVD of the series contained two episodes that had yet to be broadcast on television. On 17 June 2011, one of these two episodes were aired, and the remaining one aired on 22 July 2011. The series averaged 4.55 million per episode; however, they managed to get over 6.00 million viewers for the Christmas Special.

Episode Information
Notes
Passage 7:
David Earl (actor)
David Geoffrey Earl (born 20th March 1974) is a British actor and comedian, best known for his comedy character Brian Gittins. He has featured in several projects associated with Ricky Gervais, most notably as Kevin "Kev" Twine in the comedy-drama Derek, and in smaller roles in Extras, After Life and the film Cemetery Junction. Earl also works frequently with comic Joe Wilkinson. Together they co-wrote and starred in the sitcom Rovers, and the comedy series The Cockfields. They also host three podcasts called Gossipmongers, Chatabix and My New Football Club. He also co-wrote and starred in the feature film Brian and Charles where he plays an isolated inventor who builds a robot.

Early life
Earl was born in Crawley in 1974. Before undertaking any acting roles, Earl worked as a gardener and as a van driver, delivering building tools.

Comedy career
One of Earl's earliest online videos featured him playing a character called Graham, which he sent to a friend who showed it to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. They liked the video and Gervais asked Earl to play an obsessive fan, based on the character from the video, who talks to Andy Millman in a pub in an episode of Extras. Around this time Earl played Tony Queen in the film The Penalty King.Earl went on to create a number of online videos in character as Brian Gittins and played this role in the film Cemetery Junction. In 2012 a sitcom pilot entitled Gittins was broadcast on Channel 4. In the pilot Gittins works as a taxi driver: previously the character had been a cafe owner and this discrepancy is highlighted in an episode of the podcast Flatshare Slamdown, in which Earl appears as Brian. He releases regular Brian Gittins and Friends podcasts.Another of Earl's characters is Steve "Cumbo" Cumberland, who features in a number of online videos, including a Channel 4 Comedy Blaps series, co-written with Brett Goldstein.In 2011, Earl was revealed to be the person behind the popular Twitter account of Dr Peter Thraft, a supposed sex therapist.

Personal life
Earl has three children and lives in Devon.

Filmography
Podcasts
The Brian Gittins Show
A live radio show hosted on Spreaker from 2012-2017, where Brian played the role of 'the worst radio presenter in the world'. Callers would Skype in from around the world, and these included David Edwards and Charles Petrescu.

Brian Gittins and Friends
Brian, David Edwards and Charles Petrescu have a chat with various comedians. It started in 2016, with guests including John Kearns, Lolly Adefope, and Scroobius Pip.

Gossipmongers
In 2019, David Earl, Joe Wilkinson and Poppy Hillstead began a podcast called Gossipmongers, a weekly podcast where listeners send in unsubstantiated rumours. At the end of each episode they choose their favourite piece of gossip from that episode. In 2020 Poppy was booted from the podcast by Joe and David.

Chatabix
In 2021, David Earl and Joe Wilkinson began a podcast called Chatabix, a daily weekday podcast recorded very early in the morning.

My New Football Club
In 2021, David Earl and Jon Beer began a podcast called My New Football Club. A weekly podcast about David becoming a new fan of Exeter City.
Passage 8:
7 Day Sunday
7 Day Sunday (7 Day Saturday in 2013) is a British comedy radio talk show hosted by Al Murray on BBC Radio 5 Live. Broadcast weekly on Sunday mornings, the show takes an irreverent look at the topical news stories of the past seven days.
Originally presented by Chris Addison: he was joined by regular guests Sarah Millican and Andy Zaltzman, and a fourth special guest each episode. It premièred in January 2010 to mixed reviews. It returned for a second series in September 2010. Al Murray served as host for the last five episodes of the second series, joined by regular guests Rebecca Front and Joe Wilkinson. The show returned for a third series in January 2012 with Murray hosting alongside Andy Zaltzman and Rebecca Front as the regular guests. A fourth series followed from September 2012.

History
7 Day Sunday was announced as a new show on 11 December 2009, to be hosted by Addison and broadcast for an hour in the 11 am to 12 noon slot. The guests for the opening episode were to be Zaltzman, Millican, and a special guest. It was to replace another comedy show The Christian O'Connell Solution, hosted by Christian O'Connell with Bob Mills. The new show was to begin on 10 January 2010, as part of the wider re-organisation of 5 Live's schedule which had already begun to be announced in October 2009, the largest since controller Adrian Van Klaveren joined the station in April 2008.The show is produced for 5 Live by Avalon Television. It was initially commissioned for a 20-week run. This first series duly ran from 10 January 2010 until 6 June 2010. After three months it resumed for a second series on 5 September 2010 until 3 April 2011. The third series began 8 January 2012.In press interviews during March 2010 while promoting his upcoming stand-up tour, Addison explained that doing a radio show was a childhood ambition, and that as a "current affairs junkie", hosting 7 Day Sunday was ideal, more relaxed than television and good fun, with the weekly deadline being a good motivation.

Format
When the show was announced, it was cast as a topical news series aiming to "pull apart the week's big news stories and see what makes them tick", with Addison describing it as "four relatively ill-informed idiots fail to take the news seriously for an hour".

Hosts and regulars
The following people have hosted the show during its run:

As well as the host there are usually two other regulars plus a guest.  For series 1 and 2 regulars were Andy Zaltzman and Sarah Millican.  For series 3 Rebecca Front replaced Sarah Millican.

Broadcasts
Last updated January 2018The show aired on Sundays from 11 am to noon. It once aired at 9 pm on 31 January 2010. The series occasionally missed a week for sporting events (Formula 1 Grand Prix, London Marathon, etc.).
Series One featured 20 episodes which were broadcast between 10 January 2010 and 6 June 2010.  There were no episodes broadcast on 7 February 2010, 25 April 2010.Series Two consisted of 26 episodes, broadcast between 5 September 2010 and 3 April 2011. There were no episode broadcast on 19 September 2010, 3 October 2010, 26 December 2010, 2 January 2010 and 30 January 2010.Series Three had 15 episodes which were broadcast between 8 January 2012 and 6 May 2012. No episode was broadcast on 25 March 2012.Series Four also had 15 episodes, began on 9 September 2012, and ended on 16 December.
In 2013, the show returned for a new, slightly different series: it was moved to Saturdays, renamed 7 Day Saturday, had 11 episodes between 8 June and 24 August, kept Al Murray as host, and featured Andy Zaltzman and two guests each programme. There was also a Christmas special, 7 Days of Christmas, broadcast on 24 December 2013.
Series Five only had 5 episodes, broadcast between 11 May and 8 June 2014.
The last edition of 7 Day Sunday was broadcast on 9 August 2015. This edition was hosted by Jenny Eclair, with the final guests included Andy Zaltzman, Holly Walsh and Stephen Grant.
The show was made available on the BBC's iPlayer service and as a podcast, which features additional material.

Reception
After the first show, Jane Thynne of The Independent questioned the lack of variety, covering as it did mainly the heavy snowfall with little political content, which given Addison had made his name in a political satire, she found odd. She ultimately reserved judgement on the show, calling Addison witty but recommending he slow down the pace and stop his "nervous giggling".Chris Campling of The Times criticised the first episode as being a duplicate of the "dismal, desperate" The Christian O'Connell Solution it replaced, with a turgid format. Persevering, he described the second episode as just as dreary with no chemistry and "none of the News Quiz-esque scoring of laughter points, where clever people fall over each other in their desperation to be funnier than the last."After the third episode, Elisabeth Mahoney of The Guardian said the show was "really quite funny" but the listener needed to stay focussed on the content as the four way dialogue was quite involved as it covered a comprehensive sweep of topics. For listeners who might want to multi-task on a Sunday morning, she recommended Dave Gorman's show on Absolute Radio.
Passage 9:
John Jackson (writer)
John Jackson is an English television screenwriter.

Life and career
After leaving Cambridge University, John Jackson developed and script edited the ITV soap Night and Day. Altogether he wrote 35 episodes for the TV Series. In 2009 he wrote the episode The King Is Dead, Long Live the King…  for the BBC One series Robin Hood. From 2010 to 2012 he wrote two episodes of the serial drama Lip Service. From 2011 until 2013 he wrote three episodes for the supernatural drama Being Human. This brought him a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best TV Drama Series. He also wrote two episodes for the Being Human spin off Becoming Human.In 2014 Jackson wrote an episode for another BBC Three series, In the Flesh. He would become a regular writer on ITV's Grantchester, and in 2020, was lead writer on season 3 of Sky's Riviera.

Filmography
Awards and nominations
Awards
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award:

2012: Best TV Drama Series (Being Human)
Passage 10:
Egypt (TV series)
Egypt is a BBC television docudrama serial portraying events in the history of Egyptology from the 18th through early 20th centuries. It originally aired on Sunday nights at 9 pm on BBC1 in 2005. The first two episodes explored the work of Howard Carter and his archaeological quest in Egypt in the early part of the twentieth century. The next two episodes focused on the eccentric explorer "The Great Belzoni" played here by Matthew Kelly. The final two episodes dramatise the discovery and deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion (Elliot Cowan).
The music was recorded by the Warsaw Radio Orchestra and is featured on the CD Timeless Histories by Chappell music, produced by Clare Isaacs.

Production
The series was a major new docudrama series produced by the BBC for the Autumn 2005 schedule.
"The whole idea behind the series was to be able to discover Ancient Egypt through the eyes of Howard Carter – famous for uncovering the tomb of Tutankhamun; The Great Belzoni – an amazing adventurer and explorer; and the scholar Jean-François Champollion, who was the first to decipher the Rosetta Stone and open up the meaning of hieroglyphics."
In order to create a sense of "seeing the treasures of Ancient Egypt for the first time", Dolling and Bradshaw felt it essential to film at the actual archaeological sites referenced in the series.

"We had fantastic help from the Government and a local production crew, they managed to fix it for us to film in areas that, as far as we know, have never been used by other television or film productions."
"Being the first UK TV company to attempt such a project in the most amazing historical sights was very exhilarating, and to be able to return them - with additional sets and some computer imagery - to how they were during the time of the Pharaohs was incredible."
Filming at such invaluable and popular sites created new challenges for the film makers.

"Keeping people out of shot was one — sometimes this was nearing impossible — but we tended to shoot early in the day so disruptions were kept to a minimum. The other was obviously making sure we didn't damage anything, which thankfully we managed!"
"It was difficult keeping such a unique project running so far from home, and it is a tribute to the cast and crew that we managed to succeed. The series really is great and looks fantastic, well worth all the hard work."
The co-production between BBC and The Learning Channel was initially budgeted at around £6.5m but problems filming on location in Egypt, including the weather and illness, meant the producers required another £2million. Post production costs involved in recreating Ancient Egypt meant that the final costs could have resulted in a £5million overspend but the BBC denied this.

"To suggest the overspend is anything in the [range of] £5m is utterly ridiculous — it is simply not true. This was a huge project shot on location in Egypt and, as with any project of such scale, we had contingency funds available to us — so the unavoidable overspend was accommodated for and fully authorised."
"I think it's useful to point out that the cost per hour of Egypt will still be lower than other comparable programmes such as Pompeii, Genghis Khan and Pyramid. In fact, due to the international co-financing, this is actually incredibly good value for money providing full period drama for the budget normally associated with a documentary."
Several multi-media productions were commissioned to tie-in with the series including interactive drama BBC Egypt Interactive, award-winning online-game Death in Sakkara: An Egyptian Adventure, and an interactive exhibition at BBC Birmingham.A companion series Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank, in which architectural historian Cruickshank travels the country to explore some of the intriguing stories that have emerged from ancient Egypt, was broadcast concurrently on BBC Two.

Reception
Reviews
Sam Wollaston writing about episode one in The Guardian said that he "was expecting to hate this show," fearing it would be "narration interspersed with lame reconstruction," but he was pleased to discover it was, in fact, "a proper drama, with a very decent script and real actors." "And it's a great story, too," he states, although he did not enjoy the re-enactments of the life of Tutankhamun, which he described as "olive-skinned actors with non-speaking parts and an awful lot of eye-liner, wandering around in a semi-darkness lit by flickering candles," and claims were not necessary, "but maybe that will help to sell it to America." He concludes that he is "looking forward to part two."David Liddiment writing in The Guardian complimented the cleverly twinning of this docudrama with the more cerebral Egyptian Journeys with Dan Cruickshank on BBC Two but he points out that this was done during the final stages of the BBC's charter renewal review and insists that the corporation should keep up standards after this process is completed.

Ratings
Episode one (2005-10-30): 7 million viewers (29% audience share).
Episode two (2005-11-06): 6 million viewers (24% audience share).
Episode three (2005-11-13): 5.7 million viewers (23% audience share).
Episode four (2005-11-20): 4.8 million viewers.
Episode five (2005-11-27): 4.5 million viewers (18% audience share).

Episodes
Part one: Howard Carter
The story of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter and the popular belief in the Curse of the Pharaohs, a supposed result of Carter's disturbing Tutankhamen's resting place. The episodes include short dramatizations of the life of Tutankhamun.

Episode one: The Search for Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun vanished from history in 1324 BC following his hurried burial and the erasure of his name from all monuments. In the winter of 1898 Carter is at the temples of Deir el Bahri recording wall reliefs threatened by a freak storm when he is thrown from his horse and makes a discovery in the sand. Retired Boston lawyer Theodore M. Davis funds Carter's excavation of Queen Hatshepsut's tomb but it is found to be empty and Carter deprived of further funding is reduced to selling his paintings to tourists on the street.
In 1905 Lord Carnarvon arrives in Luxor to convalesce after a road accident and is shown an artifact bearing the cartouche of the mysterious Tutankhamun discovered by Davis on his new dig. Tutankhamun succeeded his heretical father as pharaoh at the age of 8 and was named in honour of Amun to symbolise his mission to restore the old gods and save the empire from turmoil. An inspired Carnarvon employs Carter but they are denied access to the Valley of the Kings for which only Davis has a permit. Amidst the flurry of construction that marked the beginning of Tutankhamun's reign the most important to the boy Pharaoh would have been that of his tomb. An ailing Davis announces his discovery of this, the final Pharaoh's tomb, prior to his retirement. Carter doubts the find and convinces Carnarvon to take up the concession. The methodical and meticulous excavation commences in 1914 but is quickly interrupted by World War I.
The Carnarvons return to Egypt at the end of the war and Carter recommences his excavation but with a continued lack of results leading to doubts that any undiscovered tombs are left in the valley the funding is finally cut in 1922. Tutankhamun's tomb was well concealed to ensure his undisturbed afterlife. Carter convinces Carnarvon to fund one last season during which the tomb is finally unearthed. When the tomb is opened in the presence of Carnarvon and his daughter it is revealed to be the only unplundered pharaoh's tomb in the valley.

Episode two: The Curse of Tutankhamun
In 1922 Carter goes to the Egyptian Antiquities Service in Cairo to announce his discovery but disagrees with Director Pierre Lacau over the clearance and cataloguing of the contents. The discovery revealed a dark time in the history of Egypt and the death of its boy king. Carter assembles an international team of experts to commence the work under the unwelcome scrutiny of Lacau's inspector and the western press. Carnarvon's cavalier attitude to the finds he considers his property starts to infuriate both Carter and Lacau.
As the finds are slowly catalogued and removed Carter becomes close to Carnarvon's daughter Evelyn but his strictness begins to alienate his team. Tutankhamun was married to his own sister but the union failed to produce an heir to secure the future of the kingdom. Stories of the curse begin to circulate as Carter breaks through into the burial chamber to reveal an intact tomb. As Lacau threatens to take over the excavation and several of the experts quit, Carnarvon questions Carter over his leadership and his relationship with Evelyn. When he came of age Tutankhamun took over control of the kingdom from his military advisor Ay only to die from unknown causes shortly thereafter. Carter rushes to Carnarvon's death-bed where the two make-up. Upon Tutankhamun's death Ay seized the throne and married the widowed queen. Carter, disappointed by Evelyn's engagement to another man, returns to continue his work. Tutankhamun's death came before the royal tomb could be completed so he was hastily buried in the tomb Ay had prepared for himself. Lacau takes over the running of the tomb in 1924 when Carter and his team stop work to protest continued Egyptian interference.
The following year Carter is called back by Lacau to reopen the tomb with funding from Lady Carnarvon. The team start to extract the nested coffins revealing one of them to be made of pure gold that confirms the presence of a Pharaoh. The team begin to notice evidence that the burial was done in a hurry as the body itself is finally uncovered. When Ay died without heir a new dynasty took to the throne that erased all references to the Boy King. In 1932 with his work complete Carter leaves the tomb for the last time and hands the key to Lacau.

Cast
Stuart Graham as Howard Carter
Julian Wadham as Lord Carnarvon
Caroline Langrishe as Lady Carnarvon
Alex Weaver as Evelyn Carnarvon
Valentine Pelka as Pierre Lacau
William Hope as Theodore M. Davis
Laurence Fox as Leonard

Part two: The Great Belzoni
The story of Italian engineer and circus strongman Giovanni Belzoni who became the most unlikely Egyptologist the world has ever seen, intercut with Flashbacks to the life of Ramses the Great, in whose footsteps Belzoni would continually stray.

Episode three: The Pharaoh and the Showman
A dissatisfied Belzoni leaves England with his wife, Sarah, and servant, James Curtin, to see the world. Finding themselves destitute in the streets of Cairo after work on an irrigation project falls through, they are rescued by the eccentric John Lewis Bukhardt who introduces them to British Consul Henry Salt. Belzoni is hired to recover the massive Head of Memnon, later revealed to a statue of the Pharaoh Ramesses the Great, as a gift for the British Museum. Arriving in Luxor in 1816 amidst a gold rush of black market antiquities dealers Belzoni finds himself unwelcome.
At the Ramesseum Belzoni examines the head and devises a plan for its removal. The local Caimakan, under advice from Belzoni's French rival Bernardino Drovetti, denies Belzoni's permit and initially refuses to supply labour until threats bring him around. Ramesses marriage to his true love Nefertari was fruitful and secured the family line and the country too was fertile thanks to the annual flooding of the Nile. The approaching flood season however threatens to strand the head in the heart of the flood plain bringing an abrupt halt to Belzoni's mission. When the local labourers finally arrive Belzoni immediately sets to work moving the head using the same techniques its builders had used 3,000 years previous. Belzoni sends the ailing Jim back to Cairo to request a bigger boat so that they can collect even more antiquities and with time running out is forced to take greater risks to get the head to the bank of the Nile.
With the head secured the Belzonis heads south along the Nile to Abu Simbal in uncharted Nubia to expand the collection of antiquities. Ramesses built two temples at Abu Simbal; one dedicated his beloved wife and the other to his military prowess in the first victorious campaign. Belzoni locates the entrance to the Great Temple but finds it blocked, and so forced to head back to Cairo he vows to return to excavate the site the following season.

Episode four: The Temple of the Sands
Belzoni, arriving back in Cairo, is informed by Salt that only the head is to be sent to the British Museum while the rest of the antiquities he has collected are to be kept at the consulate. Salt refuses to fund an excavation at Abu Simbal and Belzoni is sent south again with Salt's secretary William Beechey and a local dealer called Yanni. Belzoni, whilst becalmed at Minya. spots Yenni talking to his French rival Drovetti and hastily rides to Luxor determined to get there first. Arriving to late Belzoni discovers that the entire area licensed to Drovetti and he must dig elsewhere.
Belzoni, guided by the image of Ramesses, digs in an unlicensed area and discovers a perfectly preserved bust. An infuriated Drovetti has the local ruler issue an edict against Belzoni. With no other option Belzoni heads south to the Island of Philae to collect the antiquities he has stored there only to discover upon arrival that the French have ransacked them. Funds arrive from Salt to begin excavation at Abu Simbal and Belzoni heads to the site with two British Royal Navy officers. Work progresses slowly in the shifting desert until Belzoni devises a plan to build a palisade to hold back the sand. With the entrance uncovered the group cautiously enter to view the magnificent interior. Belzoni records every detail of the temple decorations, which celebrate the capture of Kadesh that made Ramesses a great warrior king. Back in Luxor Belzoni, reunited with Sarah and Jim, is threatened by Drevetti but undeterred he heads deep into the western hills where he enters the Valley of the Kings. Belzoni learns from Yanni and Beechey that Salt is selling off the antiquities he collects rather than donating them to the British Museum.
Persuaded to go on with his explorations Belzoni constructs a battering ram to break through the thick walls of the valley side and open up an undiscovered tomb. Defying booby-traps Belzoni pushes on into the lavish interior of the tomb where he enters the burial chamber of the Pharaoh Seti I. It was here upon the death of his father that Ramesses started his reign, which would bring peace and prosperity to Egypt. The discovery of Belzoni's Tomb secures the Egyptologist's reputation and makes him a celebrity in his adopted home of London where the British Museum would later honour him.

Cast
Matthew Kelly as Belzoni
Lynsey Baxter as Sarah Belzoni
Nevan Finnigan as James Curtin
Robert Portal as Henry Salt
Richard Dempsey as William Beechey
Thomas Lockyer as John Lewis Bukhardt
Joseph Long as Bernardino Drovetti

Part three: Champollion
Jean-François Champollion uses the Rosetta Stone to unlock the mysteries of the lost civilisation of Ancient Egypt which had been closed off to Europeans for centuries prior to the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. The stone, discovered by the French in 1799, had been created as a work of propaganda by the Greek-speaking Pharaoh Ptolemy V to establish his place in Egyptian cosmology and flashbacks are included to explain this belief system.

Episode five: The Mystery of the Rosetta Stone
The young Champollion, encouraged to develop his gift for languages by his elder brother, becomes obsessed with deciphering hieroglyphs as a means to telling the age of the world and revenging France against the British who had confiscated the stone in 1801. When Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt, he had fuelled local resentment by bringing in a Greek speaking elite to rule. Their descendant King Tutankhamun had commissioned a series of stones written in Greek, common Egyptian and hieroglyphs for temples across the land to extol his virtues and underline his claim to the throne.
Champollion studies under Silvestre de Sacy in Paris but finds the professor who had himself failed decipher hieroglyphs dismissive of further attempts believing them to be symbolic rather than a true language. English scientist Thomas Young uses mathematics to decipher the inscription like a code whilst Champollion believing hieroglyphs to be representative of a spoken language attempts to relate them to the Coptic language of Egypt's ancient Christian communities. Young makes a number of breakthroughs including the spelling of Ptolemy in hieroglyphs while Champollion finds work as assistant professor at the University of Grenoble. France is thrown into political turmoil in 1815 following defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and the republican Champollion is arrested for sedition and exiled to Figeac until 1821. Eccentric Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni discovers an obelisk inscribed with the name of Cleopatra in Greek and hieroglyphs at Philae and sends it back to Young in England.
Young makes a mistake in translating the obelisk setting back his work whilst Champollion using a copy of the obelisk creates a hieroglyphic alphabet that he uses along with Coptic to translate the name of Ramesses the Great from sketches of Abu Simbal. Champollion's discovery arouses the suspicions of the Catholic Church who fear hieroglyphs might disprove the historical accuracy of the Bible. Young wishes Champllion good luck in proving his theories but Sacy and the Church are determined to stop him.

Episode six: The Secrets of the Hieroglyphs
Champollion is determined to travel to Egypt to prove his theory but poor and jobless he is reduced to buying up whatever scraps of papyrus he can find and this obsession alienates his wife. The Dendera zodiac purchased by the French King Charles X threatens to challenge the biblical chronologies of church scholars, as it is believed by some to date to before the Great Flood of 2349 BC. Champollion is called in to confirm Sacy's dating of the antiquity to around 2000 BC; he disputes Sacy's dating but not Church authorities by dating it to some 2,000 years later than that during the Roman period.
Champollion is sent to Turin by the King to value a collection put up for sale by the French Consul to Egypt Bernardino Drovetti. Prior to his departure Champollion's wife announces that she is pregnant and she is not pleased by his new job. Champollion builds a strong reputation for himself in Italy even being invited for an audience with Pope Leo XII. Returning to Paris with a large collection of antiquities for the King he is put in charge of the Egyptian collection at the Louvre. The King finally agrees to fund Champollion's expedition to Egypt on the proviso that he does not publish any finds that contradict the teachings of the Church. Champollion, arriving in 1828, starts by studying the Great Pyramid at Giza discovering it to be a tomb built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2560 BC. At Saqqara he finds the site largely stripped by dealers but in a forgotten tomb he discovers ancient hieroglyphs he translates to prove his theories. Eager to understand the Ancient Egyptians he pushes on to the ancient capital of Thebes where at the sprawling Temple of Karnak he reads the story of Ramesses the Great and the battle against the Hittites at Kadesh.
At Belzoni's Tomb in the Valley of the Kings the ailing Champollion reads the story of Pharaoh Seti I and learns of the burial rites of Pharaohs. He is thus able to comprehend the belief system of the Ancient Egyptians for the first time. Champollion dies back in France 18 months later but his legacy allows Egyptologist to comprehend the meaning behind monuments such as the Great Pyramid of Giza and to decipher papyri that lead to such discoveries as the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter.

Cast
Elliot Cowan as Jean-François Champollion
Stuart Bunce as Jacques-Joseph Champollion

Media information
DVD release
Released on Region 2 DVD by BBC Video on 2006-02-06.Also released on Region 1 DVD (2 discs, but does not include the bonus 'Pyramid') by BBC Worldwide 2006-05-23

Companion book
The 2005 companion book to the series was written by author and archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley expands on the series to tell the full story of the discoveries and the colourful characters who made them.

Selected editions
Tyldesley, Joyce (6 October 2005). Egypt, How A Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered. BBC Books (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-563-52257-7.
Tyldesley, Joyce (1 June 2003). Egypt, How A Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered. BBC Books (paperback). ISBN 978-0-563-49381-5.
Tyldesley, Joyce (18 September 2005). Egypt, How A Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered. UC Press (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-520-25020-8.

See also
Building the Great Pyramid

Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: what is the group called that Dianne Morgan and Joe Wilkinson a part of in the BBC comedy "Two Episodes of Mash"
Answer: