What object tells the story of life in 2010?
A History of the World in 100 Objects tells two million years of history through one hundred objects from the British Museum's collection.
For the 100th object, the British Museum wanted to choose an object to that told the story of the ingenuity and the challenges that shape humanity in the 21st century.
We asked the audience which object they would choose and why.
- 17:50 16th September 2010 I've been trying to think what I would put in a museum that summarises and expresses the hopes, the aspirations and the aesthetic of our period. And I've decided the most representative object would be a pair of Dame Edna's diamante glasses - Barry Humphries
- 17:37 16th September 2010 A Sharpie - it's… I'm going to use the word iconic annoying as it is, a form of magic marker and for some reason they've taken over the world in the last few years. Any amount of writing you have to do on a shiny surface, and I'm afraid that includes signing photographs, is going to be done these days with a Sharpie. And to be perfectly honest one of the good things about them is the smell when you take the lid off.- Stephen Fry
- 19:37 15th September 2010 I would probably pick something like an iPhone or an iPad just in terms of the ubiquitousness of it and the transformation it's had in people being connected to the internet - Mark Harper, Minister for Political & Constitutional Reform
- 19:16 15th September 2010 Unfortunately, I'd pick the computer because it has changed everybody's life. People have their entire personal life on it, their entire sexual life, their entire work life. When it goes wrong, you have a nervous breakdown and have to find the youngest person in the room because they can always fix it better than you can - John Waters, Filmmaker
- 18:38 15th September 2010 Those skyscraper shoes that I keep seeing more fashionable women than myself teetering around in because I think they are just the most absurd and fantastic thing about 2010 - who would be mad enough to do that?! And I think in the future people will look back and say "Did they really?" - Anne McElvoy, Evening Standard Executive Editor
- 18:36 15th September 2010 Thinking about things I'd love not to have to use in the future but something that is particular to this period in our lives, I think I'd choose the satnav - Ed Balls, Labour MP
- 18:34 15th September 2010 The mobile phone and all that followed from it (iPhone, BlackBerry). It's changing the nature of communication in a way that's been as revolutionary as the railways, flight and telegraphy - Gyles Brandreth, Broadcaster
- 18:33 15th September 2010 I'd suggest a football, a round object that has the capacity when it's used properly to inspire excite, enthuse and engage absolutely millions of people right around the planet - Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC
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