Thomas Jefferson possessed an extraordinary breadth of intellectual accomplishment, mastering classical scholarship, natural history, agriculture, architecture, and multiple languages, embodying Kenneth Clark's description of him as the 'universal man' and 'emblematic genius of the age.'

4:14civilization the landmark BBC series in the episode on the revolutionary era he described Jefferson as the emblematic genius of the age he described him as a universal man and when you look at the range of Jefferson's accomplishments you can see what Clark was on about so Jefferson was a scholar whose learning embraced classical scholarship he was a brilliant classical scholar he was fascinated in history and natural

4:39history in agriculture in philosophy, in architecture, very enthusiastic architect uh music, philosophy, law, meteorology, palion. I mean basically there is no limit to the range of his interests. >> Mhm. >> He knew Latin, he knew Greek, he knew Italian, he knew French, he knew Spanish. He was also a very keen gardener. Um he was a pioneer in the culture of the tomato. >> Wow. >> Which um at this time Americans viewed

5:07the tomato with great suspicion. And as far as I know, he's the only founding father to have written down a recipe for ice cream. >> Surely Aaron Burr had an excellent ice cream recipe. [laughter] >> Now, this mention of ice cream um may prompt listeners who've heard um our episode on George Washington. >> Yeah. >> To wonder what Jefferson's teeth were like. >> American teeth. Poor. >> And um Dominic, you've been using the

5:31terrible state of his teeth as a bit of a metaphor, haven't you? >> Yeah. >> So, it would delight you to know that Jefferson's teeth are excellent. So even in old age um he could boast that his mashes were in a superb condition. He'd only lost one tooth, he said with the rest continuing sound. >> He had the teeth of a horse. No. And indeed he resembled he looked like a

5:51horse >> like a surplus horse. He had no flesh is one of the comments on him. So he's a very lean rangy man. >> Yeah. Aquin. >> Yes. A kind of aqualine as well. A kind of horse eagle I guess you could get. Kind of a fusion. >> Right. And this is because um as well as being a devity of ice cream, he's a very firm believer in a brisk fitness regime,

6:11which again is kind of very American, isn't it? In America, it seems to me you're either guzzling ice cream or you're obsessively fit. Jefferson is the embodiment of both. Um so he wrote to a friend in 1786, if the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong. The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise. And of all the exercises, walking is best. And he is not wrong. Do