I Know, But: “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”

There’s a scene in UK sitcom “Peep Show” where Mark, a socially-awkward credit manager rapidly approaching middle age, finds himself at a history professor’s private soirée, despite his never studying history and living hundreds of miles away—all in the desperate pursuit of a woman who was nice to him, once, in a shoe shop. Professor MacLeish is impressed with his new student’s lust for knowledge and invites him to write a piece for his faculty magazine: “500 words or so, kicking the shit out of Simon Schama.”