'Bland' Fiona Bruce accused of dumbing down BBC arts

THE BBC has leapt to the defence of news anchor and Crimewatch presenter Fiona Bruce after she was accused of being "boring and bland" and responsible for the "dumbing down" of the Beeb's arts programming.

Criticism has come from Lady Lucinda Lambton, who writes and broadcasts about history and architecture, and from the Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak.

Lambton is reported in the Evening Standard complaining that 47-year-old Bruce was "unqualified and not highbrow enough" to front recent BBC TV programmes about Leonardo da Vinci and the royal palaces.

"Why on earth did she get to present that programme on Leonardo da Vinci recently?" asked Lambton, speaking at a Country Life magazine event in London. "It was quite clear she hadn't got a clue what she was talking about."

Lambton then claimed that in the series about royal places, Bruce had failed to mention that the Queen’s dolls’ house at Windsor had been designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. "She does not explain things properly and is boring and bland. I really am against this kind of dumbing down of the arts."

Januszczak also dug the knife in about the Da Vinci documentary. "Watching Fiona Bruce on Leonardo is like being taught art history by a St Trinian's girl," he tweeted.

A BBC spokeswoman responded: "The BBC engages presenters from a wide range of backgrounds to front arts programmes. Fiona's acuity, her expertise in languages, her enthusiasm for arts and history and her journalistic approach, mean that she is well placed to offer new perspectives on arts content.

"As a much-loved BBC presenter across a variety of programmes, Fiona also helps to attract new audiences to BBC Arts programming." ·