Blenheim Palace in film and media
Blenheim Palace has frequently been the setting for books, TV programs and films and other events. These include: Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the Palace as one of his four choices for the 2002 BBC television documentary series "Britain's Best Buildings". Blenheim on film and TV. Other media. The BBC Radio Four programme "Just a Minute" was recorded (twice) at Blenheim with Clement Freud, Derek Nimmo, Peter Jones and Kit Hesketh-Harvey. They were broadcast in 1998. In 2019 Blenheim was the subject of news-coverage concerning the exhibition and later theft of  Maurizio Cattelan's sculpture "America", a gold toilet. "In richly textured description J.P Morgan evokes a period and place - Blenheim Palace in the very early 1900s - rarely (if ever) touched upon in fiction. The characters are a delight: Winston Churchill (in his youth, which prtery much foretells his age); John Singer Sargent (deliciously at his peak); the Duchess of Marlborough (up to no good) among them. A winning mystery." -Martha Grimes, author of the bestselling Richard Jury series. Blenheim in art. American musician Barry Manilow performed a concert for over 40,000 fans on the grounds of the Palace on August  27, 1983. The recorded concert was released on VHS and later on DVD as "Barry Manilow: The Concert at Blenheim Palace." The British painter John Piper (1903–1992) was commissioned to paint scenes in the grounds of the palace during the 1980s. In 2012, an exhibition of the artist's work entitled "John Piper at Blenheim Palace" was held in a room at the palace to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Piper's death. In October 2004, British jazz-pop pianist Jamie Cullum released "Live at Blenheim Palace," a 145-minute live concert DVD of his performance at the Blenheim Palace  Music Festival on 1 July 2004.