SEOUL, South Korea - Halfway through a video from North Korea, the camera pans on a propaganda portrait of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's leader, magnificent in his general's dress uniform with gold epaulets.
Both series, in magnificent resistance to the general Cowellisation of television, are impressively brainy: Peston manages to make the dropping of Retail Price Maintenance fascinating, while Schama compellingly lays out the long division in Judaism between orthodoxy and personal interpretation.
And if the Gates had been fashioned from solid gold, which might be more beautiful to the eyes of a miser, and in general more magnificent, this would not be satisfactory for a draughtsman, since a bronze without a patina will be filled with reflections and false lights which only confound one's sight".
As the immaculately dressed Dutch commander hands over the keys of Breda, the even finer Spanish general bows with magnificent condescension and a chivalry worthy of Don Quixote himself.
The BBC's new director general, Tony Hall, called Moore "generous and magnificent".
In Mexico on Tuesday, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora called the arrest "magnificent news," and said his government would press for Mr. Ye Gon's extradition.
"It is a magnificent and noble institution, the office of attorney general, as it is truly the lawyer for the people.
The collection was not magnificent, but it was enough to give you a general overview, and to remind you that you pretty much sucked.
Beyond the museums and magnificent art, there was outstanding architecture, beautiful churches and general impressiveness, everywhere we walked in this city of cities.
President Bush telephoned the secretary general to congratulate him this morning on "a magnificent honor," the White House said.
