Irving Finkel and the Chamber of Lewis Chessmen I Curator's Corner S 2 Ep9  

The real treasure in the British Museum is Irving Finkel. Who else agrees?

Irving Finkel so works for the ministry of magic.

*THE FILM THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED*

British Museum Shop should have Irving Finkel Fan Club T-shirts. ;)

"And on a completely unrelated note, I am most certainly not the former headmaster of a wizarding school who faked his death in 1997 and assumed a new identity as a muggle museum curator! Because that would be preposterous."

In which, Irving Finkel shows he is the master of the HUMBLE BRAG.

Next time the British Museum wants to do a public fund raiser they should auction off the opportunity to play chess with Dr. Finkel. I would bid.

What we need now is a full reproduction of The Lord of The Rings but with Irving Finkel starring as Gandalf.

"Irving Finkel" is a name that simply screams 'wizard.' Perfect for this man. What an absolutely wonderful person, I love his sense of humor.

"You will have seen them in that cursed horrible film which name i forget about some kid with glasses" I just realized he's referring to Harry Potter, lmao

People are saying Irving Finkel is straight from Harry Potter but I think he's more like one of these adorable, friendly wizards from Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

Seeing how passionate this wizard is about his chess pieces makes me feel like I'm missing out on an entire dimension of life

The effects budget of this series must be enormous. Never been more proud to be a member of the British museum.

I love Irving Finkel so much. He is so engaging and is the one who inspired me to start studying Mesopotamian culture. Also, he has the best beard.

I, too, long for open fields and yoghurt after a long walk around the museum. It's a science fact!

This is the cutest Curator's Corner yet. The Wizard's Chess cut had me laughing out loud all alone on my porch with my dogs watching on as if I had clearly lost my mind.

Irving is my spirit animal

I'm a simple man, I see Irvin Finkel, I click like

Irving Finkel is an amazing person, he is so entertaining.

I didn't even notice the miniature Finkel at 4:18 the first time I watched this. He *is* a wizard!

That sketch was hilarious!

Who's up for founding/joining the 'Irvin Finkel' Society for the Protection of Great British Eccentrics ?

Finkel is such a character! I love him :D

this is great! shout out to German RU-vidr coldmirror for referring to this video whilst analyzing the first Harry Potter movie frame by frame

Irving Finkel 's life stories should be listed as some of England's greatest treasures. When he retires they will probably keep him in the museum and put him on display as an exhibit. OR. Perhaps they could build a lifelike animatronic replica that would recount all of his stories to an eager public.

A youtube series of Dr.Finkel presenting historical games would be my idea of heaven!

Coldmirror

Dr.Finkle has a magical gift of his own, the gift of bringing history to life.

driest of the dry humor ... love it! "longing of open-fields and yogurt"

Gosh I love this guy, and his enthusiasm.

Of course, in the novel that the film was based on, the chess pieces do talk, and occasionally argue amongst themselves, especially if the player controlling them is inexperienced.

Dr. Finkel, you are a treasure. I could even imagine you sitting in a pub and, like the bards of old, captivating a large crowd of people with your wonderful stories.

I demand more Finkel!, if my demands aren't met I shall boycott the museum.. (The science museum mainly, but that's not the point) boycott I tell thee. BM, you have been warned!

Brilliant video as usual. This is easily my favorite RU-vid channel. Who woulda thought.

And the humorist which lurks underneath just adds depth to the character fit.

Yay, by far my favorite presenter in the entire museum.

When I woke up today, I didn't expect a Curator's Corner video would be the highlight of my whole week

Why has this been recommended to me 3 years late? His enthusiasm for things is quite glorious to see.

Irving Finkel is always excellent. He should have his own channel.

Hat sich noch jemand nach dem neuen Harry Podcast hierher verirrt ?

Irving has become one of my favorite personalities. Would love to meet him someday in person.

What an amazing man is mr Finkel,straight out of a magical history book!

Thanks for this wonderful presentation and for showing me the Lewis Chessmen. I'm planning a trip to London for summer '19 and The British Museum will be my first stop! In no small part because of the Curator's Corner videos.

I could legit listen to Irvin Finkel for hours. Please get this man a podcast at the very least!!

Beautiful film, Irvings passion is beguiling! Wonderful chess pieces too. I'd love a set!

Irvin Finkel reminds me of my favorite professor during my time studying for my Bachelor's degree. Whenever you walked into his office you're immediately transported to a museum and library. Every inch of wall space was covered with books and relics of his travels and collections. I miss him.

I've just discovered Irving's videos and I am absolutely delighted. *actually sips tea* And I am not even British. Thank you, sir. I am having a terrific time learning about your work, in all seriousness.

Irving Finkel. One of the best curators ever. He drags so beautifully our attention to culture and history.

Irving Finkel is always a delight to listen to. I think one of the best things I've heard about the Lewis Chessmen is how apparently another pawn was found in a lady's cupboard, and that's as far as Wikipedia would inform me. The lack of information makes this discovery very funny to me.

I love his rant about the "forgotten" movie while holding the Queen with utter gusto and that the queen was a force to be reckoned with.❤❤ Irving Finkel shall have his own gallery in the BM.

"Content warning: wizard's chess" is perhaps the best disclaimer ever posted on this website

I truly admire this guy. More Curator's corners, please! I finally found a reason to go to London someday!

Loved this,thank you.I had learnt about them many years ago,and they were one on my list to see at the museum. I came all the way from Australia, and can not get enough of this type and era of history.Fantastic.

When I was about 10, my parents bought the Encyclopedia Britannica. Under "Chess," the encyclopedia had pages of photos of chess sets. One set in particular I remembered as the "Viking" chess pieces. Every now and then, I would open the book and have another look at it. In high school, I made a replica of the Viking set out of ceramic for a project. (It's long gone.) Before I gave away the old Britannicas some years ago (it hurt a little), I removed the page with the photo of the Viking chess pieces. I asked my nephew, a woodworker by hobby and side-hustle, if he would like to make a set like that, but he told me it was too difficult. And today I've discovered via your video that it is the "Lewis" chessmen I love. And I've learned a little of its history from you. Thank you, Irving Finkel!

Curator's Corner is my new favorite thing on RU-vid.

I need Irving every two weeks at minimum.

I just really love Irving Finkell. We need more of him!

I just found this channel 😍. Not much of a history buff but I've been enjoying learning about all these interesting historical pieces

I love the facial expressions on the pieces, especially the knight that is biting in the shield.

More Finkel! Could listen to him all day.

I just found him. I am overjoyed by just Everything about him. Can't get enough. What moxie ! What a great mind and so much fun in the learning.

This man always has my attention. I cant get enough of him.

Could we have Irving Finkel do another curators corner? Can't really get enough of this gem.

The world needs more Irving Finkel.

You have a nice chess set Gandalf

Love that wizard Finkel in the background decorating the tree!

I have to agree that Dr. Finkel is a treasure. It's nice that the Museum has used his charming style to present this group of most fascinating objects.

4:19 LOL, Mr. Finkel in the background like in the movie that shall not be named XD Brilliant.

Adorable explanation, interesting from the beginning to the end!!! definitly he kept captive the audience!!! I loved also when he was standing background levitating with his wand a crystal ball for the Christmas tree!!! :D

I am so happy i have discovered Mr Finkel. What an absolutely enchanting storyteller.

Fascinating. I’m amazed by the detail of those pieces, their expressions.

For the chess players out there: Anyone but me note that at the beginning of the game snippet there is no knight in the middle of the board? Then a second later the knight IS there, but it is on d5, so when it moves, it goes to e7 ... not e5 as the dialog states. A few seconds later, when the queen attacks, it has magically (pun intended) moved to e5.

I can't explain how much I adore this! How am I just now discovering Irving Finkel??

My sister and I have a complete set between us, collected over many years. We each got one or two every time we visited Britain. We each made an oversize chessboard for them, since they don’t fit a standard one. I love them dearly!

I adore how completely insane Mr. Finkel is! I could listen to him for hours.

They have a style that is very similar to modern cartoons, which is quite astounding considering what we often think about medieval art.

Okay that was brilliant. You've just made that moment in the HP films even more magical for me :D

Chess is the king and queen of all games, I learned to play 50 years ago and the game still gives me enjoyment today, thank you for this video.

I love this! Thank you so much. I learned to play on my Dad's replica Lewis chess set. He insisted that we only play chess with the pieces and not some silly children's games. My sisters are still jealous that I wound up with the set!

I can't get enough of these videos. Amazing job from the curators and the museum!

Thank you Irving Finkel for another wonderful, and dare I say, magical look at the British Museum.

i really love when irving goes on his outbursts and rants, it’s quite a laugh

Thanks for what you do, Irving. Great episode.

I have the feeling there will be a lot of German comments soon...

825 likes. No dislikes. If only the Internet held out and held true to how great this man and story is.

Irving reminds me of a drinking pal I had back in the 90s' looked like him, knew a lot about history he read all the time.

i love your voice irving finkel, and your humor.

Irving, this is a brilliant video as are all the ones you appear in. I could follow you around the museum all day and never cease to be fascinated. I'm so glad Tom Scott did a video of you, because I've loved your stuff ever since.

Thanks,Coldmirror! 👌

Love the way Irving gets so excited. I studied English literature at university and I can share his enthusiasm. But it's exciting when your professor /lecturer gets a kick out if something really cool in history. Because the story they tell always seems to contain a little bit more than first meets the eye. Love it!!!

There are a many good stories set down on paper, papirus and stones, but when it comes to telling a good one, Irving Finkel is the man!! What a pleasure!!

We too couldn't afford to buy a replica set when I was young, but my parents did buy a kit so we could make them ourselves, which we did and had many years of play out of them. The kit contained a set of rubber molds and some resin (though sadly I now know they were wrong to include ivory and black resins when it should have been ivory and red). I've no idea if the resin kit was officially sanctioned in any way by the musems though.

This is fantastic thank you. Honestly I came here for some British Museum trivia and I was pleasantly surprised with some Harry Potter.

I appreciate the commitment to the bit

This man's love of chess pieces, and hate of THE FILM THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED is really funny.

COLDMIRROR

You are a wonderful wonder Mr. Finkel.

This fellow is priceless. Hands off, Southeby's!

So much information about the chess pieces themselves. Absorbing.

I've found it. I've finally found it. The most charismatic man imaginable.