Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? was a popular television game show which ran from 1952 to 1959. In the show, a panel of archeologists, art historians, and natural history experts were asked to identify interesting objects or artifacts from museums from Britain and abroad, and other faculties, including university collections.

The quiz show was presented by the BBC, continuing a long history of bringing contributors to archaeology into the media limelight. Writing in 1953, the critic C.A. Lejeune described the show as having a "a sound, full-bodied, vintage flavour".

The UK television show was modelled on an American TV show called What in the World? that was developed by Froelich Rainey. The first episode of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? was broadcast in October 1952 and was hosted by Lionel Hale and produced by Paul Johnstone. Hale soon stood down as chairman, after an early episode in which he was challenged by Thomas Bodkin about the age of one of the objects shown, in favour of the archaeologist Glyn Daniel, who continued as the regular chairman and scorer for the next seven years.

The most frequent member of the discussion panel was the renowned archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who was voted TV personality of the year in 1954, providing the world of archaeology with its first media star. Daniel won the award the following year.

The last episode of original series was broadcast in 1959, after which the programme was cancelled, partly because of Daniel's association with Anglia Television. It was briefly, and unsuccessfully, revived as A.V.M? in 1971, directed by Bob Toner, with Barry Cunliffe as the chairman.

The person responsible for choosing the artefact for each episode was Sir David Attenborough, who was also the camera director. However, on the Christmas special in 1956, Glyn Daniel and Sir Mortimer Wheeler selected items for Attenborough and other production staff to examine.

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